We get a lot of voice-over services questions from clients regarding these three languages – specifically, what’s the difference between Persian, Farsi and Dari? How are they different, if at all? And, into which language should I localize and record my audio or video?
This blog post will explain the difference between these 3 language names, where the confusion comes from, and what you need to know to record.
[Average read time: 3 minutes]
Persian, Farsi and Dari are spoken primarily in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, with smaller communities of speakers Uzbekistan, Russia, Iraq, and Azerbaijan. In fact, Persian and Farsi are really different names for the same language, while many linguists consider Dari a regional variation of Persian/Farsi, though one with significant differences in syntax and vocabulary. However, despite their mutual near-intelligibility, it’s important to know the difference between these three terms for translation and voice over. To do so, it’s best to look at each term separately.
Persian is the language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and by the Tajiks in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Persian language, in fact, has been around for over two millenia, and the language has changed so little that many modern-day Persian speakers can understand texts from 800 AD relatively easily. The word “Persian,” comes from the Old Persian word “Pārsa,” by way of Latin and Greek.
Farsi is the endonym of Persian – that is to say, it is the name used in Iran for the language itself. (For example, Deutsch is the endonym for what we would call German.) The province near the Persian Gulf in Southeastern Iran, where the Persian language originated, is known as Fars Provice. Farsi, therefore, generally refers specifically to the version of Persian that is spoken in Iran – if you’re recording for this locale, you’d specifically want Farsi voice over.
The word Dari specifically refers to the Farsi spoken in Afghanistan. Again, Dari is very similar to the Farsi spoken in Iran, with some differences in vowel pronunciations, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary. The latter is especially pronounced in the adoption of English-language words, which has not happened in the same way in Farsi. Therefore, you definitely wouldn’t use Dari voice over recordings in Iran.
This is the variant of Persian spoken by the Tajiks, an ethnic group living in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Tajiks living in Afghanistan generally speak Dari, while Tajiki was more influenced by Turkic languages and Russian, the latter in particular since both Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were part of the Soviet Union. In fact, scripts for Tajiki voiceover are generally written in the Cyrillic alphabet.
Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
The confusion comes mainly from history and politics. In English, the name Persian has been in use since the 16th century. Because of this word’s historical importance, there are various institutions that believe that this is the proper way to refer to this language. In fact, in 2005 the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, based out of Tehran, delivered a pronouncement stating that this should be the name used in Western languages, since it has been in use for centuries, and because the use of the word Farsi would effectively negate this history or cause confusion amongst scholars.
In fact, Persian is also the name given to a historical macrolanguage, so that Farsi is often referred to as Western Persian (or Iranian Persian), Dari as Afghan Persian, and Tajiki as Tajiki Persian. However, these languages are different enough that they require separate translation and voiceover recording. This is especially true with Tajiki, which is still written most commonly using an adapted Cyrillic alphabet. In a sense, this isn’t unlike the case with Chinese voiceover and Chinese subtitling – Chinese is a macrolanguage with multiple spoken variants (including Mandarin and Cantonese), as well as written variants (Simplified and Traditional).
To further complicate matters, most speakers of Dari (in Afghanistan) refer to their language as Farsi, while most Farsi-speakers in Iran refer to Dari as Farsi as well, though this has become less common.
One thing is crucial to recording these languages – specify the locale in which your voice over recordings will be used. This is the only sure way to know which Persian language – Farsi, Dari, and even possibly Tajiki – you’ll need. And remember that you’ll need different translators for each one, and that each language will have different pronunciation requirements. This may sound pretty simple, but it can get very tricky, since these language names have political resonances, and because in some instances you may have misunderstandings, especially if your client has in-country resources with whom you’ll interface. For this reason, make sure that you engage them early on in the process, even before translation, and especially for voice talent sample selection. Thorough preparation and communication is the only way to keep projects in these languages on time, on scope, and of course, on budget.