# Pashtun/Persian: Their status in Afghanistan



## panjabigator

Do both languages enjoy the same official status or is there a clear preference for one language over the other?  In the Kite Runner, I think the protagonist is a Pashtun/Pakhtun but he spoke Farsi.  Only some characters spoke in Pashtun.  Is Farsi indigenous to the region?

Thanks


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## roh3x2n

yeah Farsi is comman in those regions.
although pashtuns create a larger population, but they speak farsi.


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## Bienvenidos

Farsi is more common and, trying not to be biased since I am a native Afghan Persian speaker, I would say Farsi has more of an official "status"....but you're forgetting about PASHTO, which is the official language of Afghanistan.  It's very important, too.  Most people who are native Pashto speakers speak Farsi, and sometimes vice versa.


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## panjabigator

Can you understand Pashto as well?  What language is taught to children in schools?


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## Setwale_Charm

I thought it was DARI, not Farsi, which is close but not the same?


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## roh3x2n

I think the school system is really bad.
In, some part of the country, all subjects are in Pashto only one subject Farsi, and vice versa.

setwale_charm
In my opinion, Dari is the older version of Farsi. And harder to understand.
But with the same grammar.


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## Setwale_Charm

But is it still spoken then? I thought, that was one of the two official languages of Afghanistan.


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## roh3x2n

Setwale_Charm said:


> But is it still spoken then? I thought, that was one of the two official languages of Afghanistan.


 
Yeah, and as far as I know, _Pawali_,which is older than Dari, is spoken some part of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iran, maybe small tribes.


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## Bienvenidos

Setwale_Charm said:


> But is it still spoken then? I thought, that was one of the two official languages of Afghanistan.



We don't speak Dari.  We speak *Farsi*. Dari is like Shakespearean English, the very old version.


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## Bienvenidos

Since there are many languages in Afghanistan, we do all pick up each other's languages. My mother is a native of both Pashto and Farsi. There are strong similarities between the two languages and a Farsi and a Pashto speaker could easily understand each other in normal conversation. There are tons of cognates between Pashto and Farsi, and to answer the previously asked question, I, and most other Afghans, can understand Pashto.


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## panjabigator

When they teach Farsi in school, is it the Iranian standard and spelling that is taught or is it the Afghani Farsi?


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## Bienvenidos

panjabigator said:


> When they teach Farsi in school, is it the Iranian standard and spelling that is taught or is it the Afghani Farsi?



In schools, the Afghan standard is (of course) taught. However, this is sort of a trick question because the *written *Afghan Persian is the same as the *written *Iranian Persian. 

On an international level, most people learn the Iranian dialect because there are more people in Iran than Afghanistan. However, in the world today either dialect is good to know, and if you know one chances are you'll understand the other. People forget that Persian is also spoken in Afghanistan, and that it doesn't belong only in Iran. It's like Latin American and Iberian Spanish: the Iranians (like the Iberian Spanish speakers) have a different accent than the Afghan speakers do.


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## panjabigator

Is the Hazara language also well understood or a dialect?  Can you comment on its intelligibility for Farsi speakers?  The impression I had from a novel I read was that they were generally fluent in Farsi as well.


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## Pivra

panjabigator said:


> Is the Hazara language also well understood or a dialect? Can you comment on its intelligibility for Farsi speakers? The impression I had from a novel I read was that they were generally fluent in Farsi as well.


 

 i think in the book, Hazara is a dialect of Farsi spoken in Hazarajat.


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## Alijsh

As an Iranian, it's amazing to see that it's becoming prevalent to use "Farsi" to exclusively refer to the form spoken by Iranians. Dear friends, Afghans and Tajiks do also speak Farsi. "Farsi" is equivalent to "Persian" and not to the form spoken by Iranians.

Pashto has become official language since 1936 while I suppose Persian has been always the official language in Afghanistan (dear Bienvenidos please correct me if I'm wrong). So I think, Persian is more common in Afghanistan although I have heard Pashto is preferred by the government.

Given that Pashto has several dialects, I'm curious to know which one has been declared as official?

To confirm what dear Bienvenidos said: written form of Persian is identical everywhere.


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## something

Actually dari and pashto are spoken equally. It depends on the province/region. Its a vice versa situation.


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## something

Alijsh said:


> As an Iranian, it's amazing to see that it's becoming prevalent to use "Farsi" to exclusively refer to the form spoken by Iranians. Dear friends, Afghans and Tajiks do also speak Farsi. "Farsi" is equivalent to "Persian" and not to the form spoken by Iranians.
> 
> Pashto has become official language since 1936 while I suppose Persian has been always the official language in Afghanistan (dear Bienvenidos please correct me if I'm wrong). So I think, Persian is more common in Afghanistan although I have heard Pashto is preferred by the government.
> 
> Given that Pashto has several dialects, I'm curious to know which one has been declared as official?
> 
> To confirm what dear Bienvenidos said: written form of Persian is identical everywhere.


 

Dari, itself has several dialects such as the hazaragi , panjsheri etc. So does Pashto. In Afghanistan if you know one kind of Pashto you understand all of the others. But I think what you mean is what kind is taught. It again depends on the region. You go to Paktia or Paktika in Afghanistan their kind of Pashto is taught which is called "mangali". But If you go to Kabul the yousufzai Pashto is taught in Sschools. There really isn't a standerd declared Pashto.. "correct me if Im wrong." But I think if there is it might be the yousofzai pashto since it is understood more easily.

Oh yes , Im not sure Afghanistan had an official language until 1936, The Kings/Rulers have always been Pashtuns so if there was an official language it would have been Pashto. The written form of Persian is the ARABIC script. So the persian written form is a copy of the Arabic script. But the Pashto script slightly differs from the Arabic script by having more letters. 

There is a difference in DARI and FARSI, its not exactly the same. It would cause less confusion if someone said Dari, they would mean the Persian Dialect spoken in Afghannistan. That is actually one of the main points that they named the two different dialects, so it would cause less Confusion. 

- Coming from an Afghan who knows both Official Languages


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## lcfatima

I think in the core Pashto speaking areas, the Pashto speakers consider Pashtoons who speak Farsi amongst themselves as Persianized and lost to the Pashtoon race (like Kabulis). Speaking any dialect of Pashto counts towards being a proper Pashtoon. There are core Pashto speaking areas and Dari would be a second language there. I don't know how the supposedly Persianized Pashtoons view the pure Pashto speakers in these regions.


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