By doing the presentation on the history of the Persian language, I feel that I have learned a lot and also was able to teach the people in my class as well. Most people think that Persian is a distant Middle Eastern language, closely related to Arabic, but this is actually very inaccurate. Persian is an Indo-European language, and is actually much more closely related to English than to Arabic, despite sharing the same script. It is part of the westernmost branch of the Indo-European language family, along with languages like Sanskrit.
I talked with my dad after doing the presentation and shared with him what I had learned. It was really interesting to see how it had all been taught in schools in Iran to him -- the way the Persian language was able to still persist in the face of the Muslim conquest of Iran, all because of an epic book, the Shahnameh. This fact is a source of national pride to Iranians, showing how knowing the history of a language can help understand its culture.
Throughout Persian's history, it has been known in the Middle East as the language of literature and culture, and its poetry is another source of national pride. Persian's history in literature is still celebrated today across Iran, and famous Iranian poets like Rumi and Hafez are still studied in schools and read in homes across the country.
By learning the history of the Iranian language, I can see how it has evolved over time, to the different dialects spoken by my language partner Mirwais from Afghanistan and my parents from Iran.
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