Department: Yamada Language Center
Number of Users Worldwide: 130 million
Offerings: LT 199 - Self-Study Program

Persian (/ˈpɜːrʒən/ PUR-zhən or /ˈpɜːrʃən/ PUR-shən), also known by its endonym Farsi (فارسی, Fārsī, [fɒːɾˈsiː]), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties, namely Iranian Persian (officially known as Persian), Dari Persian (officially known as Dari since 1964) and Tajiki Persian (officially known as Tajik since 1999). It is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan, as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran. It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet, a derivative of the Arabic script, and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet, a derivative of the Cyrillic script.

Please stay tuned for more details about our Persian/Farsi tutor for this coming academic year!