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I don't know which language to learn (Arabic or Persian)

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Original post by binarythoughts
Thanks for that

Yes, I can speak Farsi. :wink:


It's called Persian. Unless you think it's also correct to write "I can speak Francais/Deutsch/Espanol". But that would be mental. So get it right and stop trolling.
Original post by Democracy
It's called Persian. Unless you think it's also correct to write "I can speak Francais/Deutsch/Espanol". But that would be mental. So get it right and stop trolling.


It's more worrying how much my calling it Farsi is affecting you.
Stop crying.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by binarythoughts
It's more worrying how much my calling it Farsi is affecting you.
Stop crying.

I think it's more the fact that you intentionally use the incorrect variant of the term Persian, which can come across as a bit rude.
Original post by binarythoughts
It's more worrying how much my calling it Farsi is affecting you.
Stop crying.


Troll status: confirmed. I doubt you can speak a word of Persian anyway :rolleyes:
Original post by Democracy
Troll status: confirmed. I doubt you can speak a word of Persian anyway :rolleyes:

The strange thing is that she isn't a troll and I think she can actually speak Persian.
What's popping y'all? Who wants to learn Arabic?
Original post by Democracy
It's called Persian. Unless you think it's also correct to write "I can speak Francais/Deutsch/Espanol". But that would be mental. So get it right and stop trolling.


You're forgetting interchangeability.

"I can speak Persian" and "I can speak Farsi" are perfectly interchangeable.
Original post by Democracy
Troll status: confirmed. I doubt you can speak a word of Persian anyway :rolleyes:


Okay.
Original post by binarythoughts
Okay.


No you are right. You can use them interchangably. Nothing really 'trollie' about your comment
Original post by Enoxial
You're forgetting interchangeability.

"I can speak Persian" and "I can speak Farsi" are perfectly interchangeable.


Original post by TheTruthTeller
No you are right. You can use them interchangably. Nothing really 'trollie' about your comment

"Farsi" or "Persian"?

The Academy of the Persian Language and Literature (Farhangestan) in Tehran has also delivered a pronouncement on this matter and rejected any usage of the word "Farsi" instead of Persian/Persa/Persane/Persisch in the Western languages.

The first paragraph of the pronouncement states: "PERSIAN has been used in a variety of publications including cultural, scientific and diplomatic documents for centuries and, therefore, it connotes a very significant historical and cultural meaning. Hence, changing 'Persian' to 'Farsi' is to negate this established important precedence. Changing 'Persian' to 'Farsi' may give the impression that it is a new language, and this may well be the intention of some Farsi users..."
Original post by Illiberal Liberal


Surprisingly, that article goes in both our favor :lol:

1. It backs me up on Persian and Farsi being interchangeable.

Persian (Iranian) people in the English-speaking countries are the only community who use two different terms to refer to their language, "Farsi" and "Persian."


Just as the German speaking people refer to their language as 'Deutsch', the Greek 'Ellinika' and the Spanish 'Espanol', the Persians use 'Farsi' or 'Parsi' to identify their native form of verbal communication


But many Persians migrating to the West (particularly to the USA) after the 1979 revolution continued to use 'Farsi' to identify their language in English and the word became commonplace in English-speaking countries.


2. The article is dated 2005. To avoid confusion was the main purpose of maintaining the language as Persian but I hardly doubt many (or at least those who can reasonably spot Iran on the map) still think Persian is different from Farsi.

3. The article cites vague examples like Persian rug (Rug from Iran) or Persian gulf (Gulf near Iran), Persian cat (Cat from Shiraz).

Persian can mean "From Iran" and Farsi. The above are all "From Iran" examples.
Original post by Enoxial
You're forgetting interchangeability.

"I can speak Persian" and "I can speak Farsi" are perfectly interchangeable.


You shouldn't when speaking English though, it's just plain illogical.
I will call it Farsi when Iranians say English instead of Engelisi.
Reply 113
Avatar for AniM21
AniM21
4
Original post by linguafranca
I have been studying languages as far as I can remember and speak five fluently and another 4 badly ha.

I am very interested in learning Arabic or Persian, but I can't decide at this point. I kind of want to work in international development so Arabic does make more sense, but I like how Persian sounds more, plus I speak Hindi, so it's more accessible for me.

Arabic cons

1. Don't like the sounds as much.
2. Learning MSA doesn't mean you can speak to Arabic speakers and you need to learn additional dialects depending on where you are.

Persian cons

1. It's not as widely spoken.
2. It's not a UN language and I sort of want to aim towards a career in the UN/similar organisation.

I'll be teaching myself the language and want to start this summer and would really like some advice!


Arabic would definitely be more helpful, and as a hindi speaker some of the words are similar/ the same. Once you learn Arabic i think it would be easy to learn farsi as they are written in a pretty similar script. I do agree with you though, farsi sounds way better!
Reply 114
Avatar for azitah
azitah
1
Hi. As an Iranian myself, I wish to recommend Persian of course! It is melodic and much wasier to learn, and except for the alphabet and most sounds, and the words adopted by the Persian prople after the invasion of the Arab people 1400 years ago, they are very much apart. Persian is the language of the major classic, world_ renowned poets like Rumi and Hafiz and also scientists like Ibn_ Sina ,Ibn_ Rushd. . .We have a history of 7000 years in our country, and our language is an Indo_European language, with a wide range of idioms, expressions, nouns, and has not been changed much since almost 1000 years ago, that is why in the 19 th century, in a cnference held in Berlin, it was given the tiltle of one of the 5 clasdical kanguages of the world, as the kanguage gas remained almost intact through ages, and just the alphabet has been adopted by the Hebrew_Arabic one. I wish I could teach you myself, wish you good luck

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