Dari vs. Farsi

[randolph85]

So we know that the afghan gov't in the past designated the farsi language as dari, perhaps to differentiate from iranian culture. there has always been this argument of what is the true farsi, iranian farsi or afghan dari, never mind the names. they are different enough that when an iranian speaks his farsi to me my head is almost spinning.

so what say you? anyone have any evidence one way or another?

[Kushan Prince]

Same s h i t to me. The afghan government officialy changed Farsi to "Dari" in 1962 because of nationalist Tajiks wanting to separate their culture from Iran.

[randolph85]

Same s h i t to me. The afghan government officialy changed Farsi to "Dari" in 1962 because of nationalist Tajiks wanting to separate their culture from Iran.

i don't think there was any nationalist tajik movement in afg at that time. most of the royal family were dari speaking to begin with and of course it was a decree to make farsi more afghan.

despite the slight differences, dari is greater than farsi. iranian farsi almost sounds like rough jibberish to me.

[یاسمینه]

Dari was the language of the court. I don't know when this name appeared, but for sure Dari, or dialects of Persian language from the area of the Emirate of Bukhara have helped to shape modern Persian language. After the Arab invasion and two centuries of silence Bukhara and Samanid court became the major center of culture.

Both Farsi and Dari have similar grammar, Dari grammar is even more simplified. Apart from that, they have a bit different pronunciation (with typical palatalization) and lexis.

[tor_khan]

I understand enough Farsi/Dari to get by. My grandfather's maternal family were Farsi speakers (from Iran via Afghanistan) and he grew up with the language calling it Farsi (or even 'Parsi'). We have some relatives who are mostly Dari speakers - still known as Farsi by the extend family when the subject of language comes up. Although I like the language (be it called Farsi or Dari), especially in music and poetry, my extended conversation needs some work. My Farsi teacher was from Tehran and I had to work hard to get past the 'Tehrooni' pronunciation. I can certainly hear the difference between Dari/Farsi just as I know the difference between Urdu and Hindi.

The body of literature in Farsi is the strong point the language has; though I still vote for Pashto .

[Badlun]

With my Dari I perfectly understand Iranians and they understand me equally. When I visit Iran I find myself at home. May be this is because of my background of Persian literature as I studied almost all classic Persian literature with my grandfather who was a great scholar of Persian.

Dari had the luck to be language of darbar or court and even Pashtun kings like Suris, Lodhis and modern day Muhammadzais promoted Dari. Pashto never had this luck. The ANP Pashtun nationalist government in KP did not give it any official status while in Afghanistan it is second to Dari.

As Yasmeenah said above the difference is in phonetics, phonology, some semantics and syntax. There are few glossary and morphology differences. Yes accent has lot of difference. Some times I like the accent of Tehran as they talk like singing or chanting.

[Kushan Prince]

^I always found the Iranian accent ridiculous and unnecessary.


Why not just speak that language as it is?

[Hakim Khan Urgonai]

dari is much nicer and purer than the farsi of iran. iranians always try to copy french words for example "shokolat" whereas afghans call it chocolate as it should be.

iranian (especially of tehran and western iran) accent is a homosexual accent which if anyone, only women should speak.

i HATE their accent, they have difficulty understanding me and vice versa.

dari is the archaic form of farsi with some additional differences. iranian farsi developed from dari into what it is now.

overall hazaragi and tajik sound better than both dari and farsi.

and i hate how spoken farsi/dari is different from written.

the original persiaN WORD FOR THANK YOU IS TASHAKUR

IRANIANS SAY MERCI OR MOTSHAKURAM WHICH IS FRENCH AND ARABIC. THEN THEY SAY THEY HATE ARABS.

[DaZahroJaam.]

there are lots of differences in the vocab. in farsi, you would find some turkish words too. dari is softer and easier to understand and learn. iranians have started to refer to farsi as irani these days. instead of saying i speak persian or farsi, they say i speak irani.

[KGODB]

dari is much nicer and purer than the farsi of iran. iranians always try to copy french words for example "shokolat" whereas afghans call it chocolate as it should be.

iranian (especially of tehran and western iran) accent is a homosexual accent which if anyone, only women should speak.

i HATE their accent, they have difficulty understanding me and vice versa.

dari is the archaic form of farsi with some additional differences. iranian farsi developed from dari into what it is now.

overall hazaragi and tajik sound better than both dari and farsi.

and i hate how spoken farsi/dari is different from written.

the original persiaN WORD FOR THANK YOU IS TASHAKUR

IRANIANS SAY MERCI OR MOTSHAKURAM WHICH IS FRENCH AND ARABIC. THEN THEY SAY THEY HATE ARABS.

Tashakor is from the Arab Shukran

Iranian Farsi is heavily deformalized compared to Dari which is more "kitabi"

[torkham]

My experience of farsi, iranian that is, is quite frequent, the 'tehroon' variety as well as the totally unintelligible Laristan dialect. Rightly said, Dari is a politicised term for a distinct dialect of farsi.
Personally I find main Iranian accent horrible, lets put it this way, it makes a woman sound like she is whining, and makes a man sound 'flamboyant'.