Why Study Persian?
Why study Persian?
There are numerous reasons why you should study Persian: for one thing, Persian is an important language of the Middle East and Central Asia spoken by approximately 70 million native speakers, and roughly 110 million people worldwide. It is the official language of Iran. It also includes Persian Dari spoken in Afghanistan, and Tajik in Tajikistan.
Studying Persian will also provide you with a rich and diverse culture that produced major epic poets such as Ferdowsi, Sufi poets such as Rumi and Hafez, magnificent miniature paintings, fine carpets, and much much more.
Persian is easy to learn! Since Persian has not changed significantly in over a millennium, the basic grammar of the classical and modern forms of the language is virtually the same and so it is relatively easy to learn.
Most importantly, Persian speakers are already in high demand among US universities, consulting firms and other businesses. Governmental offices and the US military are also on the lookout for US citizens with critical-need linguistic skills–Americans who are able to communicate with Iran, Afghanistan and people in other countries who speak Persian–and the competition for these jobs is not as great as it is for jobs requiring knowledge of a more commonly taught language.