If I can use DeepL to translate Persian, so can you, yanks.
In English, the language is called Iranian. Some people use Farsi, which is Iranian for Iranian.
If you see someone insist on Persian, don’t listen to that person. They are a Nazi every single time.
I don’t think you are a Nazi, but I’m convinced one has your ear and has been successful in pushing away Iranians. I know you’ve heard someone say “Persian, Iranian, it doesn’t matter, they mean the same thing”, and that’s at first a very convincing argument, no reason to keep looking for patterns. But when you look for patterns, it becomes undeniable. It’s like people who insist on saying Burma or Rhodesia or Saigon.
The reason those people prefer the name Persia, is because it implies that the country belongs to one ethnicity and culture. It’s trying to lesser the other peoples of Iran.
“Farsi” is technically Iranian for “Persian”, so when translated it might seem like that’s already happening. But the difference is that people in Iran understand the context and history, and so while they use that name to describe the language, since that’s an accurate description of what the language is and how it came to be the lingua franca, people in Iran wouldn’t use it to mean the country or the broader Iranian identity.
I don’t think you are a Nazi, but I’m convinced one has your ear and has been successful in pushing away Iranians. I know you’ve heard someone say “Persian, Iranian, it doesn’t matter, they mean the same thing”
No, no, nothing as sinister. In french, my mother tongue, Iranian is called “persan”, and DeepL calls the language “persian”, so, both things led me to that blunder. No malice, only stupidity.
No worries at all. I absolutely don’t expect most people to pick up on it. (That’s why it’s a good dog-whistle). Even in Iran they’d just think you’re outdated. But it’s a very common thing in the diaspora who long for the monarchy when there was a hierarchy of peoples and theirs was at the top. VOA/RFA operated Iranian-language media has been very good at pushing this narrative of going ‘back to tradition’, to a time when minorities ‘weren’t stealing resources from the majority’, or ‘demanding affirmative action’, etc.
In English, the language is called Iranian. Some people use Farsi, which is Iranian for Iranian.
If you see someone insist on Persian, don’t listen to that person. They are a Nazi every single time.
I don’t think you are a Nazi, but I’m convinced one has your ear and has been successful in pushing away Iranians. I know you’ve heard someone say “Persian, Iranian, it doesn’t matter, they mean the same thing”, and that’s at first a very convincing argument, no reason to keep looking for patterns. But when you look for patterns, it becomes undeniable. It’s like people who insist on saying Burma or Rhodesia or Saigon.
The reason those people prefer the name Persia, is because it implies that the country belongs to one ethnicity and culture. It’s trying to lesser the other peoples of Iran.
“Farsi” is technically Iranian for “Persian”, so when translated it might seem like that’s already happening. But the difference is that people in Iran understand the context and history, and so while they use that name to describe the language, since that’s an accurate description of what the language is and how it came to be the lingua franca, people in Iran wouldn’t use it to mean the country or the broader Iranian identity.
Thanks for correcting and informing me.
No, no, nothing as sinister. In french, my mother tongue, Iranian is called “persan”, and DeepL calls the language “persian”, so, both things led me to that blunder. No malice, only stupidity.
No worries at all. I absolutely don’t expect most people to pick up on it. (That’s why it’s a good dog-whistle). Even in Iran they’d just think you’re outdated. But it’s a very common thing in the diaspora who long for the monarchy when there was a hierarchy of peoples and theirs was at the top. VOA/RFA operated Iranian-language media has been very good at pushing this narrative of going ‘back to tradition’, to a time when minorities ‘weren’t stealing resources from the majority’, or ‘demanding affirmative action’, etc.