Isn't the official language of iran persian (farsi)?

[originalpckelly]

Help me?

Stupid Newt.

Newt said arabic speaking groups could help in Iran.

[spooky3]

1. Isn't it Farsi?

[Frances]

3. Yes, it's Farsi

[originalpckelly]

4. Well, it says persian in Wiki.

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. Its the same thing.

[spooky3]

11. in any case, your point is right - it's not Arabic

This website says: "The official language of Iran is Persian (the Persian term for which is Farsi). "

http://countrystudies.us/iran/37.htm

[part man all 86]

2. it is Farsi

[xchrom]

5. Farsi. & I'm sure we have Farsi linguists.

But whatever newt wants is always nuts.

[part man all 86]

7. i was married to an Iranian, they do not ever want to be called Persians.

it is a what the British called them.

[Ruby the Liberal]

12. LOL!

Good to know there is a spokesman.

Others would disagree, but go ahead and run with it.

[virgogal]

16. Do I have to rename my Persian rug? :-)

[Renew Deal]

20. I know Iranians and you're wrong

In fact they specifically called themselves "Persian"

[Orangepeel]

21. Well, I guess that varies.

I work with a couple of Iranian-Americans. They both refer to themselves and others from Iran as Persian. They're unrelated to each other, so it's not something idiosyncratic to them.

[On the Road]

23. In the US,there are a Number of Iranians

who will answer "Persian" when you ask them their nationality. I suspect this is partly due to the bad vibes a lot of Americans have with Iran, especially after the Hostage Crisis.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

27. Yes, I heard about that after the hostages were taken in 1979

Proto-Freepers were running around beating up Iranians, so some Iranians began telling people that they were Persian, counting on the fact that your average knuckledragger-who-beats-up-anyone-who's-different won't know that Persia is the old name of Iran.

[part man all 86]

32. that may be. i can only go by the knowledge given me. thanks for the update!

[etherealtruth]

33. my experience is that they sure as hell do not want to be ...

... referred to as Arabs.

Iranians or Persians seem to be the preferred terms of the folk I know

[Ecumenist]

8. Yes, it is FARSI not Arabic. He's an idiotic moron.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. Farsi is written in the Arabic alphabet, but its closest linguistic relatives are

in Afghanistan and India. It is in a subgroup of the vast Indo-European language family (the one that English belongs to) called Indo-Iranian.

[Ecumenist]

31. I know. You didn't expect the "grinch" to know that did ya?

Like I said in another thread, 3 dessicated brain cells between the whole group of them. Po'thangs.

[Ruby the Liberal]

9. Arabs are a very small minority in Iran

Persian/Farsi is the predominate/official language.

Newt is an idiot.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. Farsi comes from the same root as Parsi,

and Parsi = Persian. Thus Farsi & Persian are descendants of the same original word.

[elleng]

13. Yes, Farsi.

[fujiyama]

14. What a fucking moron

and he's supposed to be their "intellectual" candidate that too. Average political discourse among republicans is "Ay-raabs are scary and we don't want I-Ran-ee-ans to have nooo-kee-lar weapons". Hell, trying to pronounce things correctly gets derided (after all, Obama is pretentious in the way he pronounces Pakistan).

What a joke.

[GP6971]

18. And a

History expert to boot !!!!!

[Fawke Em]

15. It's Farsi, except when reading the Qur'an, then it's Arabic.

The Qur'an is always read in Arabic in MOST (maybe not all, not sure, but I can't think of any) Muslim countries.

[Canuckistanian]

17. Reading the Qur'an in Arabic is highly encouraged

Some Muslims believe that only reading the original language is correct to get every nuance.

Therefore, most well-read Iranians know Arabic quite well. It's like Catholics knowing how to speak Latin.

[Fawke Em]

25. Vos es rectus.*

And I'm NOT talking out of my rectum.

LOL!

* You are correct.

[Bucky]

19. Just about all Iranians speak at least a little bit of Arabic

They need it to study the Quran (although some do also buy translations to help them)

[BrentWil]

22. I don't think they have a "national language"

However, several are spoken. Farsi is spoken by the majority of the population. Azeri is spoken by the population in the northwest of the country. Kurdish is spoken in the northwest area that boarders Iraq. Balochi is spoken in the eastern part of the country that boarders Pakistan. They also have a small amount of Arabic speakers.


Iran has always been a multi-cultural country. I believe the current Supreme Leader's mother is Azeri.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

24. The Gingrich, Like most Republicans, doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground.

[jmowreader]

26. Help in what? Finding snipers?

Send someone who speaks only Arabic to Iran, and they'll get shot as spies or something.

[Dawson Leery]

28. Farsi. It is in the same line of the Indo-European language tree as

Greek, Armenian, and Sanskrit (India).

[Hugabear]

30. If Newt says it's Arabic, then goddamn it, it's Arabic

He's a fucking historian, for crissakes.

[aquart]

34. I'd guess most Americans think Iranians are Arabs.

Which is a mistake I once made and was corrected with real anger. Persians are not Arabs. Which is why an American-Israeli war against Iran would be sweet joy to Saudi Arabia, Iraq...etc.

We are being pushed into doing Saudi dirty work. Like idiots.