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Should I Learn Farsi Or Dari? We Can Help You Decide

So you want to learn either Farsi or Dari but don’t know which one to pick. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.

In this article, I’ll shed some light on the pros and cons for each language to help you decide.

Note: In this article we use the term ‘Farsi’ to refer to Iranian Persian and ‘Dari’ to refer to Afghan Persian.

Should I Learn Farsi Or Dari – A Comparison

Here’s the short answer:

  • Farsi is easier to learn than Dari as there are more resources available to learn it.
  • Farsi is spoken by more people than Dari.
  • Learning Farsi will give you better job prospects.
  • The 2 languages are mutually intelligible.

Dari is a good language to learn if you have an interest in Afghan culture specifically, however Farsi (Iranian Persian) would be the better choice as it is more useful to know overall.

Of course, part of your decision comes from your own personal reasons for wanting to study the language. 

Perhaps you have friends that speak the language, maybe it’s your ancestral language or maybe you have a keen interest in the country it’s spoken in.

This should also be considered when choosing which language to learn as this will be your main motivating factor for learning the language.

Farsi vs Dari

Farsi (or Iranian Persian) and Dari are both dialects of Persian. 

Persian, as a whole, is spoken by over 110 million people mainly in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. 

It is an Iranian language that falls under the Indo-European language family. 

Farsi

Farsi, also known as Iranian Persian, has around 55 million native speakers.

It is mainly spoken in Iran but also by the Iranian communities which live around the world.

Dari

Dari has around 20 million native speakers.

It is mainly spoken in Afghanistan but also by sizable minority communities in Pakistan and Iran.

Dari serves as the lingua franca in Afghanistan and is understood by the majority of the population. 

Is Farsi Easier Than Dari?

Farsi is easier to learn than Dari.

The truth is that Farsi and Dari are mutually intelligible. This means that if you speak one, you can understand the other because the differences between them are so small.

The differences between them can be likened to the differences between British English and American English.

The reason why Farsi is easier to learn than Dari is because Farsi is a much more documented language with more resources available.

There are tons of Farsi courses, books and classes out there which will teach you to speak Farsi fluently.

There are far fewer resources available for Dari so it’s much harder to learn unless you know someone who speaks it and is willing to teach you.

The bottom line is that due to lack of resources, Dari is much harder to learn than Farsi.

In terms of actual difficulty of the language, they are the same. This is because they are essentially the same language, just different dialects.

Can Dari Speakers Understand Farsi?

Yes, Dari speakers can understand Farsi.

As I mentioned, Dari and Farsi are actually both dialects of the same language – Persian.

Farsi, also known as Iranian Persian, is the dialect spoken in Iran whereas Dari is the dialect spoken in Afghanistan.

There are a few minor differences between formal Dari and Farsi. However, when spoken informally, the differences increase between the two dialects. 

The main differences between the two dialects are:

  • Different accents – they pronounce words differently.
  • Different words for some things. 
  • Farsi has a lot of French loanwords whereas Dari has more English loanwords.
  • Grammar in informal speech is slightly different.

Related Post – Why Does Farsi Have French Words?

The main differences between the two languages are in pronunciation and vocabulary.

The different vocabulary used is often similar enough that you could figure out what they mean. For example, in Farsi the word for ‘home’ is ‘khane’ but in Dari it is ‘khana’.

Some are a bit more difficult to figure out. For example, in Farsi ‘thank you’ is ‘mersi’ which is a loanword from French whereas in Dari it is ‘tashakor’ which is an Arabic loanword.

Of course there are also regional differences that affect this. For example, someone from eastern Iran (closer to Afghanistan) would understand Dari easier than someone from Tehran (Iran’s capital).

Overall, it’s kind of like the difference between American English and British English. 

For example, if you were watching the news, you’d have very little trouble understanding as newsreaders tend to use formal, standardized speech.

But if someone from the countryside of either the UK or the US met each other, they’d find a lot of differences in pronunciation, slang, and even in grammar.

The same can be said of Farsi and Dari – formal speech is more standardized so there are less differences however there are more differences in informal speech.

Overall though, as the differences are so minimal, someone who speaks Dari could easily understand a Farsi speaker and vice versa. 

Is Dari or Farsi More Useful?

In general, Farsi is a more useful language to learn compared with Dari. 

There are actually tons of reasons why Farsi is worth learning but here are just a few.

More people speak Farsi compared with Dari. Farsi has 55 million native speakers whereas Dari has only 20 million native speakers.

Knowledge of Farsi means you will be able to read both modern and historical literature and poetry. 

Farsi poetry and literature is world-renowned. Iconic poets such as Rumi, Hafez, Saadi and Ferdowsi all wrote their works in Farsi originally.

Additionally, Iran is a beautiful country to travel to so learning Farsi opens up a whole new world of travel opportunities.

Iran is actually home to 26 UNESCO World Heritage Sites including ancient ruins and archaeological sites, a palace, a desert and even a monastery.

Unfortunately, at the time of writing, Afghanistan isn’t currently safe to travel to although it is certain that Afghanistan is also a beautiful country with a lot of history.

Afghanistan has many historical sites including the 2,000 year old Buddha statues, the tomb of Hazrate Ali (the son-in-law of Prophet Mohammed), the deep blue lakes of Band-e Amir and surrounding mountains.

Learning Dari will also give you plenty of wonderful experiences and, as the two languages are mutually intelligible, you would also be able to enjoy almost the same benefits as if you learned Farsi.

Choosing which language would be more useful to you also entirely depends on your own reasons for choosing to learn this language.

If you’ve got a keen interest in Afghan culture or know someone that speaks Dari then you may find that learning Dari is more useful for you.

Which Would Be More Useful For Jobs?

Overall, Farsi would give you better job prospects compared with Dari.

Farsi speakers are actually highly in demand in the US and Europe. 

Why? Well…

Farsi is not a popular language to learn, at least in places like Europe and the US. Very few people sign up to Farsi classes and even fewer learn to speak the language fluently.

It was found in 2013 that fewer than 3,000 college students were signed up to Farsi classes in the US.

This means that Farsi speakers are hard to find so it will definitely make your resume stand out from the crowd if you can speak Farsi. 

Many government agencies in the US and Europe, particularly those involved in intelligence, military and diplomatic activities, have a high demand for Farsi speakers given Iran’s geopolitical importance.

The US government has actually designated Farsi as a ‘critical need language’ and now offers many scholarships for students learning Farsi.

At this time the US government doesn’t offer any Dari scholarships.

Whilst Dari would also be a useful language to learn for similar reasons, it isn’t as in demand as Farsi.

Additionally, for both Farsi and Dari you could work as a translator or interpreter. 

Finding people who speak both Farsi/Dari and English is tough so you’ll be in high demand in this industry.

Learning Farsi or Dari could open up a whole new world of career opportunities for you.

How Can I Learn Farsi or Dari?

Want to learn Farsi? We have a free PDF that I know you’ll love…

If you’re interested in learning Dari or Farsi then you can try out Pimsleur.

Pimsleur is great because they actually have two different courses – one for Dari Persian and one for Farsi Persian.

I’ve used Pimsleur in the past to learn new languages and found it so easy. 

You don’t have to memorize loads of words, just listen to their audio track once a day and you’ll be speaking Persian in no time.

Conclusion – Should I Learn Farsi or Dari?

Hopefully this article gave you an insight into the pros and cons of learning Farsi or Dari. 

By now you may have a clearer idea of which one is better for you to learn.

In conclusion, Farsi is more widely spoken than Dari and provides access to better job opportunities.

Farsi also has more resources available to learn it but as the two dialects are mutually intelligible, if you learn one, you can easily understand the other.

Don’t forget to think about your own personal motivation for learning Farsi or Dari as this is arguably the most important thing to consider.

If you have a particular love for Farsi poetry or Afghan culture, you may already have your answer on which language to learn.

If a friend or partner speaks one of these languages natively then that might also influence your decision.

You need to be extremely motivated to learn a language (if you’re not then you’ll give up), so choose wisely.

The difficulty of a language is far less important than the key reason as to why you want to learn it.

For example, if your mind is telling you to learn Farsi for the job opportunities but your heart is telling you to learn Dari because you love Afghan culture, then choose Dari.

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