What language is spoken in Afghanistan?
Naming policyEdit. The term Dari is often loosely used for the characteristic spoken Persian of Afghanistan – in general the dialect of Kabul – but is best restricted to formal spoken registers (poetry, speeches, newscasts, and other broadcast announcements).
Do most Afghans in Kabul understand and speak Hindi?
Most Afghans in Kabul understand and/or speak Hindi, thanks to the popularity of Indian cinema in the country. ^ "AFGHANISTAN v. Languages". Ch. M.
What languages are spoken in Uzbekistan?
Uzbek is spoken as a first language by 9% of the population, an additional 6% speak it as a second language. Turkmen is the native language of 2% of the people, and the second language of 3%.
What is the difference between Dari and Kabul?
Naming policy. Dari must not be confused with the dialect of Kabul, which is the dominant Persian dialect in Afghanistan. Apart from a few basics of vocabulary, however (and more Indo-Persian calligraphic styles in the Perso-Arabic script), there is little difference between formal written Persian of Afghanistan and of Iran.
What language is most spoken in Afghanistan?
PashtoDariAfghanistan/Official languages
Is Dari and Farsi the same?
Documents can be written in Farsi, but some words that are different in Dari can be depicted with a backslash. Farsi and Dari are two dialects of the same language, mutually intelligible in written format, but very different when spoken. Make sure you know if your audience speaks Farsi, Dari, or Tajik.
What language does Taliban speak?
Pashtu languageThe Taliban are using only Pashtu language in their official communications. According to the Constitution of Afghanistan, Dari and Pashtu are the two official languages among other languages in the country.
Is Arabic spoken in Kabul?
The main languages are Dari (Afghan Persian) and Pashto (an eastern Iranian language). Dari and Pashto are Indo-European languages related to most languages spoken in Europe, including Swedish. Dari and Pashtu, written with Arabic letters, are Afghanistan's official languages.
Can Arabic speakers understand Farsi?
Compared to Turkish, Persian has been more heavily influenced by Arabic, but like Turkish, the language structure and grammar hasn't been affected by Arabic, and the speakers of Persian cannot communicate with Arabic speakers using Persian language and vice versa.
How close is Farsi to Arabic?
Persian and Arabic — Vocabulary Overlap. Persian has a lot of Arabic words in it. It varies a lot by style and format, but it's anywhere up to 40%, in that in a full Persian dictionary, some 40% of all words are of Arabic origin.
Is Pashto and Arabic similar?
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.
How do you say hi in Afghan?
0:466:49Learn Dari - Lesson 4 (Greetings and Introductions) - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipOr they can say alaikum assalam which means peace be on to you so again that's wa alaikum assalam orMoreOr they can say alaikum assalam which means peace be on to you so again that's wa alaikum assalam or they can just simply say salon.
Is Taliban a Pashto or Dari?
What language is spoken by the Taliban? While Dari was promoted by the Afghan Government in 1964 and the ally backed Government more recently, it is Pashto that the Taliban primarily speak. During their rule between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban forced Pashto on non-Pashto speakers, rewriting textbooks and signs.
Can Afghan people understand Arabic?
Dari is the official name of the variety of Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. It is often referred to as the Afghan Persian....Languages of AfghanistanRegionalUzbek, Turkmen, Balochi, Pashayi, Hazaragi, NuristaniMinorityArabic, Urdu, English, Kyrgyz, Tajik, SindhiSignedAfghan Sign Language1 more row
Is Arabic and Farsi the same?
Language Groups and Families In fact, Farsi is not only in a separate language group from Arabic but it's also in a separate language family. Arabic is in the Afro-Asiatic family while Farsi is in the Indo-European family.
Do Afghans speak Arabic or Farsi?
Afghanistan has two official languages, Pashto and Dari. However, most Dari speakers natively call their language Farsi or Persian.
Is Persian Farsi the same as Dari?
Dari is the Afghan dialect of Farsi (Persian). It is written in a modified Arabic alphabet, and it has many Arabic and Persian loanwords. The syntax of Dari does not differ greatly from Farsi, but the stress accent is less prominent in Dari than in Farsi. To mark attribution, Dari uses the suffix -ra.
Why is Farsi called Dari?
The local name for the Persian variety spoken in Afghanistan was officially changed from Farsi to Dari, meaning "court language", in 1964. Zaher said there would be, as there are now, two official languages, Pashto and Farsi, though the latter would henceforth be named Dari.
Did Dari or Farsi come first?
Naderi says historical documents prove that the word Dari, along with Parsi, dates as far back as the sixth century, when it was used to describe the Persian language. After the language adopted the Arabic script centuries later, it fell out of use and was replaced by the term Farsi.
How close is Dari to Persian?
They're mutually intelligible, have mostly the same grammar, and the formal forms are almost identical — other than regional accents. In Iran, Iranians refer to their language as Farsi. In Afghanistan, it depends on who you ask. Officially, the language is called Dari.
What is the Balochi language?
Balochi is the native language of the Baloch people and spoken as a second language by the Brahui culture. The Baloch make up around 2% of the population of Afghanistan. The Pashayi language has around 400,000 native speakers.
What is the official language of Afghanistan?
Dari , The Official Language Of Afghanistan. One of the official languages of Afghanistan is Dari , also known as Farsi or Afghan Persian. It is considered a modern dialect of the Persian language. Of the two official languages, it is more dominant and considered the lingua franca, or trade language, of the country.
What is the language of the Hazara people?
Hazaragi is the native language of the Hazara people and is considered a dialect of Dari. Today, it has around 2.2 million speakers worldwide, mainly in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. Uzbek is spoken as a first language by 9% of the population, an additional 6% speak it as a second language.
What are the main languages spoken in Afghanistan?
In addition to the official languages of the country, the government of Afghanistan has also recognized five other languages for their regional importance: Hazaragi, Uzbek, Turkmen, Balochi, and Pashayi. Hazaragi is the native language of the Hazara people and is considered a dialect of Dari.
How many languages does Afghanistan speak?
Afghanistan has two official languages, five regional languages, and several minority languages. Many of its residents are bilingual and multilingual. This article takes at look at the different languages spoken in this country.
How many people speak Dari?
As a common language, it can be heard mainly in the central, northern, and western regions of the country. Approximately 49% of the population speak Dari as a first language and an additional 37% as a second language. Of those who speak the language, 42% are also literate ...
What ethnic group speaks Dari?
The primary ethnic groups that speak Dari as a first language include Tajiks, Hazaras, and Aymaqs. Scholars believe that Dari originated during the Sassanid Dynasty, which lasted from 224 to 651 AD, as the language spoken in the courts and by religious figures and scholars.
What is the Afghan dialect of Persian?
While the Afghan dialect of Persian is generally termed “Dari, ” a number of dialects are spoken among the Tajik, Ḥazāra, Chahar Aimak, and Kizilbash peoples, including dialects that are more closely akin to the Persian spoken in Iran (Farsi) or the Persian spoken in Tajikistan (Tajik). The Dari and Tajik dialects contain a number ...
What are the nomads?
The nomads are mainly Pashtun herders; there are also several thousand Balochi and Kyrgyz nomads. They move in groups (tribes or clans) from summer to winter pasturages, living in tents and, while on the move, packing their belongings on the backs of camels, donkeys, and cattle.
What are the major cities in Afghanistan?
The major cities of Afghanistan are Kabul, Kandahār, Herāt, Baghlān, Jalālābād, Kondoz, Chārīkār, and Mazār-e Sharīf.
What are the elements of Afghanistan?
The present population of Afghanistan contains a number of elements, which, in the course of history and as a result of large-scale migration and conquests, have been superimposed on one another. Dravidians, Indo-Aryans, Greeks, Scythians, Arabs, Turks, and Mongols have at different times inhabited the country and influenced its culture ...
What languages do non-Pashtuns speak?
Some non-Pashtuns, for instance, speak Pashto, while a larger number of Pashtuns, particularly in urban areas, have adopted the use of one of the dialects of Persian. Other Indo-European languages, spoken by smaller groups, include Western Dardic (Nuristani or Kafiri), Balochi, and a number of Indic and Pamiri languages spoken principally in ...
What are the main languages of Afghanistan?
Languages of Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan form a complex mosaic of ethnic and linguistic groups. Pashto and Persian ( Dari ), both Indo-European languages, are the official languages of the country.
Which two groups of people speak Indo-European languages?
Intermixture of the two principal linguistic groups is evident in such peoples as the Ḥazāra and Chahar Aimak , who speak Indo-European languages but have physical and cultural traits usually associated with the Turkic and Mongol peoples of Central Asia.
What languages are used in the TWB survey?
In 2020 Translators without Borders (TWB) conducted a survey with 65 community radio broadcasters, representing a quarter of all community radio stations across Afghanistan.The survey found that Dari and Pashto are the main broadcasting languages.
How many languages are spoken in Afghanistan?
There are between 40 and 59 languages spoken in Afghanistan. Dari and Pashto are the official and most widely spoken languages, by 77% and 48% of the population respectively. Dari, or Farsi, is the official name of the variety of Persian spoken in the country, and is widely used as a lingua franca. The two official languages are followed by Uzbeki ...
What is the Rooted in Trust project?
In 2020 Internews launched the Rooted in Trust project to counter rumors and misinformation about COVID-19. They commissioned Translators without Borders (TWB) to map community radio stations and investigate the language and translation challenges community radio broadcasters face when relaying official COVID-19 risk communication to their audience.
What are broadcasts in other languages?
Broadcasts in other languages are largely limited to adverts, short audio clips, and sporadic language mixing in talk shows and call-in shows. Dedicated programs providing in-depth information in another language are rare.
What language did Farhang want?
Farhang wrote that Afghanistan's Pashtun leaders wanted Pashto as the sole official language, claiming that Farsi belonged to Iran. To ensure equity between Pashto and Farsi, Persian speakers opted to include the name Dari to make a superficial distinction, Farhang wrote. While Dari became the official name of the language, ...
What is the official name of the Afghan language?
Mina Baktash, head of the BBC's Afghan service, said on November 4 that there were "absolutely no political and cultural reasons behind our decision" and added that the term Dari was the official name of the language in Afghanistan. But that has not ended the criticism of the BBC.
What did the BBC say about the Dari language?
The Private Arman-e Melli daily newspaper accused the BBC of a "plot to divide Dari from the Persian language.". "The people in Afghanistan, Iran, and Tajikistan speak Dari, which is the Persian language," said an editorial published on November 5. In an editorial on November 5, the private Mandegar daily said the BBC was guilty ...
What language do Afghans speak?
Many educated Afghans are bilingual, speaking both Dari and Pashto, the country's other official language. Dari is the lingua franca in Afghanistan, where it is the native tongue of ethnic Tajiks, Hazaras, and Aimaqs as well as being spoken by Pashtuns in and around the capital, Kabul. Constitutional Standoff.
Why does Naderi use Farsi-Dari?
Naderi says he prefers to use the word "Farsi-Dari" to describe the Persian language, calling it a solution to the current standoff. Any change would require a constitutional amendment. Naderi says that while the Persian spoken in Afghanistan and neighboring Iran have distinct accents and variations in vocabulary and usage, the language is the same.
What did the BBC say about Fascism?
In an editorial on November 5, the private Mandegar daily said the BBC was guilty of "fascism" and sowing divisions in the country. Amrullah Saleh, the country's former intelligence chief and leader of the Green Trend political movement, called in a Facebook post on November 5 for his supporters to boycott the BBC.
When did Dari become the official language of Afghanistan?
Dari became an official language in Afghanistan in the country's 1964 constitution. Two earlier constitutions in the 20th century had labeled it Farsi. The late Afghan historian Mir Sediq Farhang, who was a member of the commission that drafted the 1964 constitution, wrote in his memoirs published in 2015 that the term Dari became a compromise in ...
Summary
Overview
The Persian or Dari language functions as the nation's lingua franca and is the native tongue of several of Afghanistan's ethnic groups including the Tajiks, Hazaras and Aimaqs. Pashto is the native tongue of the Pashtuns, the dominant ethnic group in Afghanistan. Due to Afghanistan's multi-ethnic character, multilingualism is a common phenomenon.
The exact figures about the size and composition of the various ethnolinguistic groups are unav…
Language policy
The official languages of the country are Dari and Pashto, as established by the 1964 Constitution of Afghanistan. Dari is the most widely spoken language of Afghanistan's official languages and acts as a lingua franca for the country. In 1980, other regional languages were granted official status in the regions where they are the language of the majority. This policy was codified in the 2004 Afghan Constitution, which established Uzbek, Turkmen, Balochi, Pashayi, Nuristani and Pa…
See also
• Demographics of Afghanistan
• Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
• Turkic people in Afghanistan
• Afghan Turkmens
Further reading
• Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors: The Changing Politics of Language Choice
External links
• Distribution of languages map from Columbia University
• Linguistic map of Afghanistan
Languages of Afghanistan
Dari, The Official Language of Afghanistan
- One of the official languages of Afghanistan is Dari, also known as Farsi or Afghan Persian. It is considered a modern dialect of the Persian language. Of the two official languages, it is more dominant and considered the lingua franca, or trade language, of the country. It is the utilized by government, its administration, and mass media outlets. ...
Pashto, The Second Official Language of Afghanistan
- The second official language of Afghanistan is Pashto, a member of the Indo-Iranian language family. This is an ancient language that shares some vocabulary with the Persian and Vedic Sanskrit languages. The language has been preserved through historical writings and poetry, although a high level of illiteracy among its speakers has led to an increased use of Pashto for o…
Regional Languages Spoken in Afghanistan
- In addition to the official languages of the country, the government of Afghanistan has also recognized five other languages for their regional importance: Hazaragi, Uzbek, Turkmen, Balochi, and Pashayi. Hazaragi is the native language of the Hazara people and is considered a dialect of Dari. Today, it has around 2.2 million speakers worldwide, mainly in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakist…
Minor Languages Spoken in Afghanistan
- Several other languages can be heard throughout Afghanistan, but on a much smaller scale than those previously mentioned. Estimates suggest around 40 different minor languages with 200 different dialects made up this category. Some of these minor languages include Vasi-vari, Tregami, Askunu, and Kalasha-ala.