Dari (درى)
Dari is the the variety of Persian spoken in Afghanistan, where it
is one of the two official languages, along with Pashto, and is used
as a lingua franca among the different language communities. Dari
is also used as the medium of instruction in Afghan schools. About
5 million people speak Dari in Afghanistan. There are also about
2.5 million Dari speakers in the Iran and Pakistan.
Dari is known as دری (Darī),
فارسی دری
(Fārsī-ye Darī) or Afghan Persian.
It is mutually intelligible with Persian (Farsi) of Iran,
though there are some differences in pronunciation and
grammar.
Dari is written with a version of the Perso-Arabic script.
Dari alphabet and pronunciation (الفباى دري)
Dari sample text
Transliteration
Tamām-e afrād-e bašar āzād
zāde mīšūnad va az leḥāż-e
ḥais̱īyat-o karāmat-o ḥoqūq bā
ham barābarānd. hamgī dārā-ye ʿaql-o
vejdān hastand va bāyad bā yekdīgar bā
rūḥīye ai barādarāne raftār konand.
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are
endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a
spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Dari language learning materials
Links
Information about the Dari language and alphabets
http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=191&menu=004
http://learn.afghanteens.net/dari/
http://www.sabawoon.com/afghanpedia/Language.Dari.shtm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dari_(Afghanistan)
http://members.tripod.com/~khorasan/Miscellaneous/Dari.htm
Dari Language Project – a linguistic research organization dedicated to the documentation of Dari:
http://www.darilanguageproject.org
Online radio and news in Dari
http://www.ozodi.org/
http://www.trtdari.com/international/news.aspx?dil=da
http://www.ozodi.org/
Language learning books and software for Pashto, Dari / Farsi / Persian
http://web.comhem.se/kodakan/