Hafez Institute for Iranic Linguistic Heritage

Iran is home to numerous languages, the most popular and commonly used language is the Persian language, also referred to as Farsi. For thousands of years, Persian has been a source of philosophy and poetry that influenced regions ranging from the Balkans to the Indian subcontinent. The Persian language dominated in terms of poetry, to the point of where western philosophers praised Persian as one of the most praiseworthy languages for its contributions to intellectual society. In our day and age, Persian is not a particularly common language to learn and has limited educational resources available online, making it hard for some learners to grasp important concepts like Persian grammar. Persian Language Initiative is a free and accessible resource specifically designed for those seeking to learn the Persian language, covering all aspects of Persian grammar.

The Persian language has a vast and ancient linguistic heritage, with two main historical forms, Old and Middle Persian. During the reign of the Sasanian Empire (224 B.C - 651 A.D.,) Persian was an incredibly influential language, having influenced numerous cultures from the Mediterranean to the East Asia. Middle Persian, while somewhat similar to Modern Persian in many respects, has major differences, especially with respects to writing systems. Given the replacement of Middle Persian scripts (e.g: Pahlavi, Avestan, etc) with the modern Perso-Arabic script, resources on learning Middle Persian or academic research is minimal at best. The Ardashir Project, seeks to teach all three main Middle Persian scripts (Pahlavi, Avestan (including Pazend) and Manichaean,) and providing proper translations of Middle Persian texts. The Ardashir Project features a comprehensive research-based course enabling students to be able to properly read and translate Middle Persian texts, providing a gateway into the language of ancient Iran and its historicity. 

(This page is still being worked on, and no content has been published as of yet. We are actively looking for native speakers of these languages to help us create resources on these languages. If interested, please visit our Get Involved page for more details.)

Iran and other countries with Iranic-speaking communities are home to scores of Iranic minority languages, rooted in ancient linguistic history which have enriched the identity of these regions for thousands of years. Languages and dialects such as Mazandarani, Gilaki, Talysh, etc are remain thoroughly undocumented and lack educational facilities for those who wish to learn said languages. Preservation and revitalization efforts of these languages is critical in order to safeguard the cultural and historical aspects that these languages hold. Therefore, the establishment of the Endangered Languages Initiative is essential for the educational initiative that the Hafez Institute for Iranic Linguistic Heritage undertakes to support the safeguarding of these languages.

If you're interested in helping revitalize the Persian language and other Iranic languages and dialects, consider volunteering for us or perhaps contributing to our website. The creation of educational resources for both the Persian language and other Iranic languages are available to the public completely for free for all to view simply for educational purposes. Through our newly published resources, our mission is to preserve and safeguard these languages to uphold centuries of cultural and linguistic heritage. If you're interested in helping expand our efforts and mission, and we'd be more than happy to hear from you.

For all other inquiries or questions, please visit our Contact Us page.