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Who do you speak Persian/Farsi with?
"I use it when I'm in Iran and also in the house with family. We have a Persian community in Derbyshire and when we meet, we all speak Persian, dance with Persian music and eat Persian food." Yasamin"I use Persian at home and with Iranian friends as well" Farzaneh"I do still lapse into Farsi when speaking to my mother (who now lives in America) on the phone and I do occasionally speak Farsi within my religious community." MaryAbout Persian/Farsi:
"This is language which is from Iran, there are big communities of Farsi speaking people in the UK" Farnaz"Farsi is a written language as well as a spoken one. It is not dissimilar from Arabic as the characters are written from left to right in, what might appear to be, squiggly lines punctuated with occasional dots, above or beneath those lines." MaryHow you feel about speaking Persian/Farsi:
"I am proud of speaking Farsi as it is very old language. It is written language." Farnaz"I am comfortable and enjoy many things which I cannot still feel and understand in English. I am not a part of the Iranian community." Farzaneh"I'm happy that I'm fluent in two languages because I think it'll help me in the future and makes me stand out in some cases." Yasamin"I used to speak Farsi quite fluently to my mother but as time has gone on and I have not practiced my Farsi on a very regular basis, I have lost a bit of the ease at which I used to speak this unique language.When I hear Farsi spoken I have a sense of understanding for the culture in which this ancient language emerged. Persians are extremely generous people and tend to "tarof" a lot: this means that they insist that you do something like try their homemade cakes, even if you don't necessarily want to do so. For this reason, much of the Farsi language is animated. It is a highly expressive language, usually accompanied by hand gestures and interesting facial expressions.For me, Farsi is pleasing to the ear and gives me a sense of childhood solace." Mary |
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What do you think about your local accent?
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95% of people in Northern Ireland think of themselves as having a moderately strong accent, compared to only 63% of people in the east of England.
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Persian/Farsi in the British Isles by Viv Edwards
Persian is the English name for the language known as Farsi by its speakers. It is the official language of Iran, but is also spoken in the neighbouring territories of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Tajikistan and parts of Uzbekistan. There have been several waves of migrants from Iran to the UK. In the 1960s, most arrivals were students, either of secondary school age or at university. From 1977, in the lead up to the Revolution, until the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, most new arrivals were middle class professionals. Those who have continued to arrive after this time have tended to come from a wider range of backgrounds. By 1990 the Farsi speaking community in the UK was estimated to number 130,000; of these some 100,000 were living in the London area. Other important communities are to be found in Brighton, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Cardiff.In Iran, one of the signs of the Islamic reforms following the Revolution was the growing influence of Arabic on Farsi. Iranians living in the UK, however, tend to consciously resist the new terminology. Many of the children of the original student settlers from the 1960s have made strenuous efforts to maintain their cultural and linguistic links. Farsi is used at home with relatives and friends, and in religious and cultural gatherings. Some speakers, like Mary above, talk in terms of Farsi being pleasing to the ear and giving a sense of childhood solace; others report feelings of pride at being able to speak both Farsi and English.
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