Learn which languages are similar to Persian
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| Michael: What languages are similar to Persian? |
| Negar: And are they mutually intelligible? |
| Michael: At PersianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following situation, Ben Lee, a college student, picks up the Persian bestseller, Gorbe, but finds it surprisingly hard to read. He turns to his friend, who is shopping with him, and asks, |
| "Is this in Persian?" |
| Ben Lee: این فارسیه؟ (in faarsi-ye?) |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: این فارسیه؟ (in faarsi-ye?) |
| Sousan Soheyli: نه، این اردو هست. (na, in ordoo hast.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: این فارسیه؟ (in faarsi-ye?) |
| Michael: "Is this in Persian?" |
| Sousan Soheyli: نه، این اردو هست. (na, in ordoo hast.) |
| Michael: "No, it's in Urdu. " |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this conversation, we hear Ben Lee say, |
| Negar: این فارسیه؟ (in faarsi-ye?). |
| Michael: "Is this in Persian?" to which Sousan Soheyli responds, |
| Negar: نه، این اردو هست. (na, in ordoo hast.) |
| Michael: "No, it's in Urdu." |
| Michael: When you're first learning Persian, you may easily mistake words from another language with the target language of Persian. This is because many neighboring languages share similar vocabulary and grammatical structures. In this lesson, we'll talk about the languages that are similar to Persian. |
| Michael: Just like we heard in the dialogue, when we hear Ben Lee confuse a text in Urdu for Persian, the languages of Urdu and Persian are very similar in many ways. In fact, Urdu, |
| Negar: اردو (ordoo), |
| which is spoken primarily in Pakistan, |
| Negar: پاکستان (paakestaan), |
| Michael: is considered a "daughter language" of Persian. Some linguists estimate nearly 70% of the Urdu language originates from Persian. Most linguists regard Urdu as a mix between Persian and Hindi. |
| We have so many Persian words in the Urdu language. For example, |
| Negar: پرواز (parvaaz), |
| Michael: which means "flight," |
| Negar: شادی (shaadi), |
| Michael: which means "happiness," |
| Negar: غم (gham), |
| Michael: which means "sadness," and many more words are identical in both of these languages. |
| In order to realize how close these two languages are, note that the "national anthem" |
| Negar: سرود ملی (sorood-e melli) |
| Michael: of Pakistan is in Persian, and it has only one Indian word. |
| Michael: Arabic, |
| Negar: عربی (arabi), |
| Michael: is another language that shares many, many similarities with Persian. In fact, much like Urdu, it's estimated that Arabic shares more than 70% of its language with Persian. At its height during the 19th century, during the Qajar Dynasty, |
| Negar: سلسله قاجار (selsele-ye qaajaar). |
| Michael: In the recent century, there were many efforts to remove Arabic words from Modern Persian; but the Arabic language still has a vital role in Persian literature. |
| Negar: In fact, without Arabic words, we cannot enjoy the masterpieces of Hafez, Rumi, Khayyam, or Sa'di, some of the greatest Persian poets. |
| Let's hear an example. The greeting "Hello" is the same in both languages: |
| Negar: سلام (salaam). |
| Michael: Also, Hebrew |
| Negar: عبری (ebri) |
| Michael: shared some vocabulary with Persian For example, "lily flower" is |
| Negar: سوسن (soosan) |
| Michael: in the Persian language, and the Hebrew equivalent sounds very similar to it. |
| Michael: Despite the overlapping vocabulary, and historical bonds between Persian, Urdu, and Arabic; They are distinct languages. If a speaker of one of these languages, with no background in the others, looks at a magazine, they might see some familiar words and could roughly understand what the topic is; but they won't be able to grasp the details. Their similarities might be compared to French and English. |
| Other languages, which share some similarities, although not quite as many as the previous three, include Armenian |
| Negar: ارمنی (armani) |
| Michael: and Georgian |
| Negar: گرجی (gorji). |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Negar: خداحافظ (khodaahaafez) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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