What to Know About Arabic vs Farsi
Facts and Misconceptions About These Middle Eastern Languages
Nov 8, 2008
Students of foreign languages are increasingly being encouraged to study Arabic and Persian, also known as Farsi. Most people know these are languages spoken in the Middle East. However, the two are often confused.
The fact is, Arabic and Persian are two very different languages. They are not actually related; however, they do share a common script and Persian draws much of its everyday lexicon from Arabic.
Facts About Persian (Also Known as Farsi)
Persian is the official language of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, but it is also spoken in Pakistan, Iraq and several other countries. According to the U.S. government’s Languages of the World website, there are approximately 71 million native Persian speakers, with a total of over 110 million Persian speakers worldwide (including one million in the U.S.). Persian belongs to the Indo-European family of languages.
While the term "Farsi" is currently used in the popular media and by the U.S. government, historically English speakers have called the language "Persian." Native speakers do, in fact, call their language Farsi or Parsi. Dr. Gernot Windfuhr, Professor of Iranian Studies at the University of Michigan, in an October 2008 email interview compared the use of the name Farsi by English speakers as being “the same as if you said Deutsch instead of German.”
The use of the nomenclature "Persian" is culturally significant. Iran’s official Academy of Persian Language and Literature has declared that Persian should be considered the official name of the language. The Academy has gone a step further, rejecting the use of "Farsi" by Western speakers. The reason for this, according the Academy, has to do with the cultural and historical connotations surrounding the word "Persian.” It is the belief of the Academy that the use of the word “Farsi” by Western speakers negates this significance.
Facts About Arabic
Arabic, according the website Vistawide.com, is the 5th most spoken language in the world. Arabic is spoken by approximately 246 million native speakers, primarily in Northern Africa and the Middle East, and millions more around the world. Arabic is the official language of more than 20 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates.
Arabic belongs to the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. The Arabic alphabet, with its 28 characters, is the second most widely used system of script in the world.
Are Arabic and Persian Related?
The Arabic and Persian language are not related etymologically. According to Professor Windfuhr, “Arabic is a Semitic language like Hebrew; Persian is an Indo-European language like English, French, Greek, Russian, or Hindi.”
However, Arabic and Persian do share an alphabet or script. Professor Windfuhr explains why: “Wherever our religion originates, we use that script. We here [in the Western world] use Latin because of the Roman church, that originally Christianized us; the Russians use a variant of the Greek alphabet of the Byzantine Christian church, and Persians use the Arabic script because Islam originated in Arabic speaking and writing Mekka.”
In addition, roughly 50% of today’s Persian lexicon is of Arabic origin, not only in writing but also in everyday speech. According to Professor Windfuhr, this is due to the dominance of Arabic in religious and scholarly writing for so many centuries, much the way Latin dominated the languages of medieval Europe. Professor Windfuhr compares the Arabic influence to the Romance lexical component in English. “So,” he says, “while unrelated to Arabic, Persian shares a lot with Arabic.”
While there may be confusion among many in the western world over the relationship between Arabic and Persian (Farsi), the fact to keep in mind is that these two languages are only connected by region and a common script. They have separate roots and origins. However, due to a shared religion (Islam) of the speakers, they also share a writing system and some words.
Wondering which language to learn, Arabic or Persian (Farsi)? Read: "How to Choose Arabic vs. Farsi to Study."
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