Many Iranians are also schooled in second languages like English and French. Younger Iranians are particularly likely to speak English, and older generations are likely to have some French abilities, as it was the second official language of Iran until the 1950s.
Most people speak English in Iran. After that, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Arabic are the main languages chosen by people as a third or fourth language. But the number of people who speak these languages isn't considerable. The only language among these that all Iranians are familiar with is Arabic.
Different publications have reported different statistics for the languages of Iran; however, the top three languages spoken are consistently reported as Persian, Azeri and Kurdish.
English Language in Iran
Until 1950's the second official language of Iran was French. Many French words remain in the Persian everyday language. In Iran the months of the calendar are called with their French pronunciation. But for the last 50 years English is the second language of country.
Although Persian (Farsi) is the predominant and official language of Iran, a number of languages and dialects from three language families—Indo-European, Altaic, and Afro-Asiatic—are spoken. Roughly three-fourths of Iranians speak one of the Indo-European languages.
The Persian word “Salam” means “Hello”. Greetings may involve a handshake with the right hand only. Men and women generally will not shake hands unless the female outstretches her hand first and the man is willing to reciprocate the gesture.
Even with all its quirks, Persian is truthfully not as difficult as a first glance might suggest. Beyond the few slightly unusual concepts above, Persian grammar is actually quite simple. Perhaps even more so than some common European languages.
When Reza Shah became the new king, the name was changed to Iran in an effort to signify a new beginning. Iran made its allegiance clear to the world by changing Persia's name to Iran or Arya, which means Land of the Aryans. Persia or Iran had been greatly impacted by the Soviet Union and Great Britain before 1935.
With the spread of Islam in the mid-seventh century, the Persian-speaking world became predominantly Muslim although vestiges of the earlier pre-Islamic religious and philosophical traditions remained.
In the Western world, Persia (or one of its cognates) was historically the common name used for Iran.
Dari, Farsi, and Pashto are all Aryan (Iranian) languages belonging to the Indo-European language family. While Dari and Farsi are two accents of the same language, Pashto is a different language. Dari, Farsi, and Pashto both use the Arabic Alphabet, but they are completely different from the Arabic language.
Persian is a language with an extremely rich history, literature and cultural tradition. Moreover, its huge impact on modern literature, Persian has its own prominent place in poetry. Khayyam, Sa'di and Hafiz are only a few of the major figures of this big family.
Persian vs Farsi: Is Farsi the same as Persian? The short answer is yes, Farsi and Persian are the same language. The confusion comes from the fact that 'Persian' is the term used by English speakers and 'Farsi' is the term used by Iranian speakers to refer to Persian, the official language of Iran.
Syria and Iran are strategic allies. Syria is often called Iran's "closest ally", the Arab nationalism ideology of Syria's ruling Baath party notwithstanding.
Iran Tourist Visa for British Citizens. To apply for an Iranian Tourist Visa British citizens need a Visa Authorization Code/Visa Grant Notice from one of the authorized local travel companies. An authorization code is a letter of approval of your Iran visa application.
The Iranian Constitution states very general rules concerning freedom of expression. Article 24 states: "Publications and the press have freedom of expression except when it is detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam or the rights of the public.
In brief, most Iranians believe in Allah (God) and the tenets of Islam. However, the politicisation of Islam has created a backlash against religion from younger Iranian citizens in particular.
As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global population, known as Hindus. Hinduism has been called the world's oldest religion still practised, though some debate remains.
The Christian faith has always comprised a minority in Iran under its previous state religions; initially Zoroastrianism in historical Persia, followed by Sunni Islam in the Middle Ages after the Arab conquest, and Shia Islam since the Safavid conversion of the 15th century; although it had a much larger representation ...
The glowing description of the Persians – who, he notes, think it “the most disgraceful thing in the world” to tell a lie (I. 138) - is contrasted with the Greeks without Herodotus having to even mention his countrymen.
Modern Iran is comprised of a large number of different ethnic and tribal groups. People who identify as Persian account for the majority, but there are also large numbers of Azeri, Gilaki and Kurdish people, too. While all are citizens of Iran are Iranians, only some can identify their lineage in Persia.
The modern Persian name of Iran (ایران) means "the land of Aryans".
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
1. Mandarin Chinese. Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world.