How Long To Learn Farsi

When you lot larn one romance language similar Spanish, it becomes much easier to acquire a related language such as Italian. The same is truthful for Arabic and Persian (Farsi), fifty-fifty though they are non related linguistically – i.e. they don't have a common origin. The reason why it is much easier for an Arabic speaker to pick up Persian than say for an English language speaker is that the Farsi linguistic communication has been enriched over the centuries with a vast number of Standard arabic loanwords. So much so in fact that I would estimate that xl% of all words used in Persian are derived from Standard arabic.

As you read this article you lot'll discover exactly how y'all can use your knowledge of Arabic to selection up Persian extremely fast.

Allow'south expect at a brief paragraph taken from an commodity on the BBC'due south Persian website. Effort to identify the words you already know from Arabic and guess the general meaning of the text.

حامد کرزی رئیس جمهوری افغانستان فردا برای یک سفر پنج روزه به آمریکا می رود. مقامهای افغان می گویند که این سفر اهمیت زیادی برای آینده روابط دو کشور و امنیت منطقه دارد. ده وزیر افغان حامد کرزی را در سفر به آمریکا همراهی می کنند. مبارزه مشترک با تروریسم از جمله مسائل مهم مطرح در این سفر خواهد بود

Here's the aforementioned Persian text again, this fourth dimension with some help:

Persian text with Arabic loan words highlighted

In the extract I accept indicated names of countries and persons in light-green, words of Western origin in turquoise and words that Arabic speakers volition recognize in yellow. Of the lx words, 27 are already familiar to someone with knowledge of Arabic. Of class, the remaining 23 words make upwardly a huge part of the text and without knowing their meaning it is difficult to gain a complete understanding. Nevertheless, the xanthous, green and turquoise words alone should be enough to become the gist of what's going on.

Hamid Karzai, president, republic, Afghanistan, journey, America
position, Afghan, journey, importance, relations, and, safety, region
minister, Afghan, Hamid Karzai, journeying, America
duel, shared, terrorism, sum, questions, important, discussed (remember: maTrooH)

As tin exist seen from the example of maTraH, words of Arabic origin need not mean exactly the same in Farsi. However, it is always a proficient idea to wait dorsum at the roots and think of possible alternative usages. For case, maTraH clearly derives from TaRaHa and has as one of its root meanings "to bring up (an issue) for discussion".

The words of non-Arabic origin in the excerpt are in fact relatively simple:

Farsi	pronunciation	significant
فردا	fardâ	tomorrow
برای	barâye	for
یک	yek	one
پنج	pantch	5
روزه	rooze	day
به	be	to
می رود	mi ravad	(he)goes
می گویند	mi guyand	(they)say
که	ke	that
این	een	this
زیادی	ziyâdi	very
آینده	âyande	future
دو	practice	2
کشور	keshvar	country
دارد	dârad	(information technology)has
ده	da	10
را	ra	(grammatical particle)
این	een	this
در	dar	in
همراهی	hamrâhi	accompanying
می کنند	mi konand	(they)make
با	bâ	with
از	az	from
خواهد بود	khâhad bood	(it)will exist

With this help you should be able to understand virtually everything. Of course, some of the effectively grammatical points volition not be immediately clear, but this does not impact the meaning too much:

"The president of the Afghan republic, Hamid Karzai, is going on a five-day trip to America. Afghan sources say that this trip has cracking importance for the future of the two countries' relations and for regional security. 10 Afghan ministers accompany Hamid Karzai on the trip. The articulation fight against terrorism will be ane of a number of important issues that volition be raised in this trip."

And then how can you take advantage of your Standard arabic vocabulary when learning Western farsi? The first footstep is to engage with short Farsi texts that deal with topics you are at to the lowest degree somewhat familiar with. Highlight the words you recognize and try to get the gist of the text. After a while you might notice that a few Western farsi words seem to appear very oft (e.thou. yek – "one"). Look these words upwards in a dictionary and see if you recollect them afterward on.

In a second step you should get hold of a few Persian language courses to acquire the basic words that are in common usage and to acquire a few basic grammer rules (e.g. verbs generally go at the end of a judgement, basic conjugations etc.). Then you lot will be equipped to accept a very proficient reading knowledge of Persian.

Information technology is then upwards to yous to decide whether you desire to larn how to speak in Persian, to understand spoken Persian and to write Persian. Whatever you decide to practice you volition have a huge advantage.