Persian Translation

History

First recorded around 500 BCE, Persian, also known as Farsi, is one of the longest surviving languages in the world. It has been largely preserved for more than one thousand years, with Persian speakers being able to understand poetry from 1700 years ago with ease.

A member of the Indo-Iranian language family, Persian is spoken natively by 81 million people and 130 million people in total. Persian has an ancient and rich literary history, in particular poetry. There are a number of English words, e.g. ‘spinach’, ‘lime’ and ‘lilac’, that have their roots in Persian.

Varieties of Persian

Persian has three main standard and mutually intelligible varieties:

• Iranian Persian, the official language of Iran
• Dari Persian, the official language of Afghanistan
• Tajiki Persian, the official language of Tajikistan

Persian is also spoken across the Arabic Peninsula, in Pakistan and Russia. Given the diverse Persian communities and language varieties, it is essential to know your audience and inform your translation project manager accordingly so they can assign native speakers from your target area.

Layout requirements

Most varieties of Persian use a right-to-left writing system that is based on Arabic script. When translating from English, a left-to-right language, the formatting of the Persian text – especially for websites and graphics – can vary significantly from the original text and may require attention.

In addition to this, translations into Persian script may also require font adaptation. If the chosen font of the English text isn’t available for Persian, a similar one will be implemented to ensure a cohesive look across languages. From a technical perspective, Persian characters can also pose problems in website translation. When improperly encoded, characters may display as blank boxes or strange symbols, making the text difficult to read. Having a native speaker take care of the formatting of Persian translations ensures a professional, attractive result.

Persian Translation Services