Farsi is the Iranian word for the language which Europeans used to call "Persian". It is spoken in Iran, but also in Afghanistan and Tadshikistan. In the latter 3 countries, Farsi is also an official language. 75 million people speak this language in total. About 25 million people speak it in in Tadshikistan (Tadshik) and Afghanistan (Dari) and in parts of Usbekistan, Pakistan and India.There are small language islands also in Georgia, Aserbaitshan and in the Pamir-mountains. Farsi had - indeed - largely influenced the spoken and written language in Usbekistan and Kirgistan - to a lesser degree it influenced also Arabic, Urdu and Turkish as well as Jewish dialects. The expression Turkmene comes from Farsi- it means translated: Similar to the Turkish. In Tadshikistan Farsi was even written in Cyrillic letters in the years 1928 and 2002! Feel like hearing Farsi at the end of the world on the radio? Listen into the shortwave radio "Deutsche Welle" - besides other Oriental and Slavic languages, they also have programs in Farsi!
