Tajik Persian

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Horoscope of Iskandar Sultan, 1411. Photo courtesy of the Wellcome Collection.

Complicated Calendar Conversions

Complicated Calendar Conversions You may have realised already that the Persian-speaking world uses multiple calendar systems. Now, I’m going to be honest with you, converting dates between the Gregorian calendar (January, February, etc.), the Islamic calendar, and the Persian calendar can be a bit of a nightmare. Indeed, it might make you wonder how a

Introduction to Tajik Persian 4 – Differences in Grammar

The Persian language, at its core, represents a continuum of regional dialects standardised in history through convergence and literary prestige, and in modern times through nation building. Although Iranian Persian, Afghan Persian, and Tajik Persian came from one and same literary standard moulded through a long history of common usage, the three Persian-speaking nation states

Iskandar Ding: Introduction to Tajik Persian 3 – Differences in Vocabulary

Although formal Tajik and formal Iranian are largely identical in terms of vocabulary, many differences exist in everyday words. To go through every difference would be out of the scope of this blog post, so this week we will learn about some of the most basic and interesting differences which will help you communicate more

Iskandar Ding: Introduction to Tajik Persian 2 – Differences in Pronunciation

Tajik Persian has a few phonetic and phonological idiosyncrasies which speakers and learners of Iranian Persian may not be immediately used to. In this post I will talk about some of the main differences. Bear in mind, however, that Tajik Persian, like Persian varieties elsewhere, is not ‘one language’, but consists of many regional dialects/accents.

Iskandar Ding: Introduction to Tajik Persian 1 – the Alphabet

Not many learners of Persian have realised that modern Persian, in fact, currently has two official alphabets – the Perso-Arabic one many are familiar with, and the Cyrillic, used to write Tajik. The debate on whether Tajik is a separate language from Persian is a socio-political one and has drawn much controversy both within Tajikistan