Languages of Iran facts for kids
Iran is a country in the Middle East, and it's home to many different languages! Just like how people in different parts of the world speak English with different accents or even different words, people in Iran speak a wide variety of languages. This makes Iran a very interesting place for language lovers.
Most people in Iran speak languages that belong to a group called the Indo-Iranian languages. These languages are part of an even bigger family called the Indo-European languages, which includes English, Spanish, and many others.
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Main Languages of Iran
While there are dozens of languages spoken in Iran, some are spoken by many more people than others. Here are the main languages and roughly how many people speak them:
- Persian: About 58% of people in Iran speak Persian. This is the official language of the country.
- Azeri and other Turkic languages: Around 26% of people speak Azeri or other languages from the Turkic family.
- Kurdish: About 9% of the population speaks Kurdish.
- Balochi: Around 1% of people speak Balochi.
- Arabic: About 1% of people speak Arabic.
- The remaining 5% of the population speaks many other languages.
Persian Language
Persian is the most widely spoken language in Iran. It's also known as Farsi. It has a long and rich history, going back thousands of years. Many famous poems and stories from Iran are written in Persian. It's the language used in schools, government, and media across the country.
Turkic Languages
The second largest group of languages in Iran are the Turkic languages, with Azeri being the most common. These languages are related to Turkish, which is spoken in Turkey. People who speak Turkic languages mostly live in the northwestern parts of Iran.
Kurdish Language
Kurdish is spoken by the Kurdish people, who live in different countries, including Iran. There are several different types of Kurdish, but they are all part of the same language family. Kurdish speakers in Iran mostly live in the western parts of the country.
Balochi and Arabic
Balochi is spoken by the Baloch people, who live in southeastern Iran, as well as in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Arabic is spoken by a smaller group of people, mainly in the southwestern regions of Iran, close to the border with Arab countries.
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