Persian is a language almost as beautiful as its region of origin.

Unique,
poetic and influential, Persian opens the door to one of the most distinctive
Middle Eastern cultures.

Learning Persian won't just enhance your travels within the Persian-speaking
world and its global diaspora, as it has done for me. Persian has remained
unchanged for centuries, so unlike in many other languages, you can
experience world-famous Persian literature in the exact language it was
written.

In this article, you’ll discover many more reasons to consider Persian for your
next foreign language project – as well as few myths about its
supposed difficulty. I'll also highlight a few of its features and quirks, and
provide some starting points for learning Persian (known to native speakers
as Farsi) yourself.

Let’s start by looking at three common myths about Persian…

Myth 1: Hardly Anyone Speaks Persian

Persian refers, logically, to the language of Persia. But Persia hasn’t officially
existed since about 80 years ago, when the King of Persia, Reza Shah,
demanded that his country be referred to henceforth as Iran.

(Hands up if you thought Persia and Iran were two different places? I’ll admit
that I did until quite recently.)

But the old name of the language stuck. So the official language of Iran, to the
English-speaking world, is still Persian. ”Iranian”, on the other hand, refers to
the nationality of Iran’s people.

To complicate matters further, Persian is known as Farsi (‫ )فارسی‬to its native

speakers in Iran, Dari (‫ )دری‬to those in Afghanistan, and Tajik (тоҷикӣ) to
those in Tajikistan. That’s because these countries were once part of the
Persian Empire, and have since developed their own dialects.

Confused yet? All you really need to know is that Persian is the language of
modern-day Iran, as well as a fair bit of the surrounding area. It’s also spoken
in communities the world over, and the majority of its 100 million or so native
speakers call it ‘Farsi’.
Yes – 100 million native speakers. That’s about the same number of people
who speak German.

Myth 2: Persian is Only Spoken in Iran

I once believed that learning Persian would be pointless because of the
limited opportunities to use it. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As well as its widespread use in the Middle East, Persian is still used
throughout the Iranian diaspora, which is enormous. Practically every major
city in the Western world has a strong Iranian community thanks to waves of
migration during the 20th century.

Here in the UK, for example, I can wander around West London and pick out
Iranian grocery stores, restaurants, jewellers, travel agents and barbers.
There are also strong communities in Paris, Vancouver, Sydney, and New
York. Los Angeles and Toronto are such hotspots that they’ve earned the
nicknames ‘Tehrangeles’ and ‘Tehranto’ among Iranians.

This means that you’re unlikely to have to visit Iran itself to find native
speakers to practice with… unless you really want to.

Myth 3: Iran is Really Dangerous

Many people (especially in the US) believe that Iran is a part of the world to be
feared and avoided. This is a misguided view, as I've discovered on numerous
extended visits to the country.

In fact, it’s inspired me to make a film in order to show Iran in precisely the
opposite light, as a place full of incredible landscapes, diverse cultures and
hospitable people. (Click here to watch the film and see what I mean.)

My first visit to Iran was in 2008, when I couldn’t speak a word of Persian
outside ‫ سالم‬/ salaam (hello) and ‫ خیلی ممنون‬/ kheyli mamnoon (thank you very
much). But in 2013, after learning a few introductions and some basic
grammar and vocabulary, I spent two months of language
immersion travelling alone in Iran. I met native speakers by Couchsurfing in
the cities, hitch-hiking between them. I also crammed new vocabulary by
using Anki flashcards in every spare moment.
The people I met were so warm that I was never left alone (even when
I wanted to be alone!). By the end of the trip, I was speaking entirely in
Persian from one day to the next, and had made many friends to whom I’d
never spoken a word of English. After years of failed language learning in the
past, these two months were a revelation.

Good Reasons To Learn Persian

Travel is not the only reason to learn a language, of course. There’s also art,
literature, music, film, and more. Persian cultural expression over the
centuries has given birth to some of the most famous philosophical literature
and romantic poetry ever written in any language.

Rumi, Saadi, Hafez, Ferdowsi, and Omar Khayyam are ancient Persian
writers who command respect among the English speaking world, as well as
being revered by modern-day Iranians. Many Iranians of can quote you any
number of verses by rote. Imagine the pleasure of being able to read the work
of these writers in its original language. It’s especially pleasurable because
Persian is a fluid language that lends itself well to artistic expression.

In Persian, unlike English, today’s literary form of the language hasn’t

changed for centuries. A modern speaker can still read and understand an
original text written a thousand years ago.

There’s modern culture too. Iran’s film scene in particular is intensely strong.
With the Hollywood staples of sex and violence banned, filmic artistry through
dialogue and story has flourished. Iranian director Asghar Farhadi recently
won the Best Foreign Language Oscar for his film A Separation.

How Difficult Is Persian?

If you take the Foreign Service Institute’s rankings at face value, it’s very
difficult. Persian is rated 4 out of 5 (5 is the most difficult).

However, these ‘difficulties’ fade as soon as you reframe them as positives.

Plus, I’ve found plenty of innovative workarounds that make Persian simple.
Let’s look at a few of these…