Kurdish (Kurdí / کوردی / к’öрди)
Kurdish is a member of the Western Iranian branch of Indo-European languages.
Approximately 26 million people speak Kurdish in Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Syria,
Lebanon, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Kazakstan and Afghanistan
Kurdish began to appear in writing in a version of the
Persian alphabet during the 7th century AD.
However for much of their history, the Kurds have prefered to use Arabic,
Persian or Turkish for their literary works. The first well-known Kurdish
poet was Ell Herirl (1425-1495), and Kurdish literature started to become
popular during the 16th century.
In Turkey Kurdish is written with the Latin alphabet and in parts of the
former Soviet Union it is written with the Cyrillic alphabet.
When Kurdish is written with the Arabic script, Arabic loan words
retain their original spelling, though are often pronounced quite differently
in Kurdish.
Kurdish alphabets (Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic)
The alphabet labelled Latin 1 is known as Yekgirtú, and the one
labelled Latin 2 is known as Latin Kurmanjî. The Cyrillic alphabet
is known as Cyrillic Kurmanjí and the Arabic alphabet is known as
Soraní.
Soranî
Numerals
Kurdish sample text
Hemû mirov azad û di weqar û mafan de wekhev tên
dinyayê. Ew xwedî hiş û şuûr in û
divê li hember hev bi zihniyeteke bratiyê bilivin.
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)
Kurdish language learning material
Links
Information about Kurdish
http://www.institutkurde.org/en/language/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_language
Kurdish Academy of Language Online
http://www.kurdishacademy.org
Online Kurdish lessons
http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/kurdish/htdocs/lang/
https://www.glovico.org/en/kurdish
Essential words and phrases in the Kurdish of Iraq (with audio)
http://www.transcon.info
Online Kurdish dictionaries
http://www.namonet.com
http://www.ferheng.org
http://stp.ling.uu.se/~kamalk/dic/foldoc/lexikon.html
Kurdish search engine and links directory
http://www.kurdishworld.com
The Encyclopedia of Kurdistan
http://www.kurdistanica.com