Iranian languages - Writing Systems, Alphabets, Scripts (2024)

FAQs

What writing system does Iran use? ›

Modern Persian is written in Arabic script, which is of Aramaic origin. For writing the Persian sounds p, č, ž, and g, four letters have been added by means of diacritical marks.

Persian is written in the Perso-Arabic script, which is the Arabic script but with slight pronunciation modifications and a few extra letters.

It is actually easier to read Persian script than English language or French because each letter only represents one sound and the written script and what you read are almost identical letter by letter.

The Old Persian written language, sometimes called Persian cuneiform, was based on the cuneiform writing systems of Mesopotamia. Cuneiform is the world's oldest writing system, in which symbols were created by pressing triangular rods into clay. Various combinations of these shapes represented sounds or words.

It is entirely written cursively. That is, the majority of letters in a word connect to each other. Therefore, the appearance of a letter changes depending on its position: beginning (joined on the left), middle (joined on both sides), end (joined on the right) of a word and some letters are written isolated.

Persian script is written from right to left. There are 32 letters and 6 vowels in Persian language. There are no concepts of capital or lowercase letters in Persian language, instead, base on the position of each letter in the beginning, middle or end of the word, the shape of letter changes.

The Icelandic alphabet consists of 32 letters. There are also three letters only used for foreign words, and one deleted letter (which is sometimes still used only for foreign words). The Icelandic language uses the latin alphabet, which is the same as the English alphabet and most Western European languages.

The easiest way is to find a Persian letter that corresponds to the pronunciation of your Persian name. For example, if your name is “Maya,” you can use the letter م for the “m” sound,” ا for “aa” sound, ی for “ya” sound, then ا for “aa” sound. You just need to put them together and write مایا for “Maya.”

Reading Persian is actually easier than Arabic. Although the Persian and Arabic alphabets share many similar letters, not all the letters are pronounced exactly the same as in Arabic. For example ( ث , ص , س ) all sound different in Arabic. But in Persian they are all pronounced as the English “s” sound as in sand.

Is Persian a rich 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.

Grammar rules, vocabulary, some sounds are very similar or even the same in the two languages, while that isn't the case with Persian. In any case, yes, Hebrew will be much easier to learn than Persian.

Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties, namely Iranian Persian (officially known as Persian), Dari Persian (officially known as Dari since 1964), and Tajiki Persian (officially known as Tajik ...

Old Persian cuneiform is a semi-alphabetic cuneiform script that was the primary script for Old Persian. Texts written in this cuneiform have been found in Iran (Persepolis, Susa, Hamadan, Kharg Island), Armenia, Romania (Gherla), Turkey (Van Fortress), and along the Suez Canal.

The history of the Persian language is divided into three eras: Old Persian (ca. 525 BC- 300 BC), Middle Persian (c. 300 BC- 800 AD), and Modern Persian (800 AD to the present day).

The oldest surviving texts are contained in the Avesta, the sacred book of Zoroastrianism. Iranian literature includes a limited corpus of writings in extinct languages such as Sogdian and the Khotanese dialect of Saka. It also includes modern literatures in Kurdish and Pashto.

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.

The cuneiform script, created in Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq, ca. 3200 BC, was first. It is also the only writing system which can be traced to its earliest prehistoric origin. This antecedent of the cuneiform script was a system of counting and recording goods with clay tokens.