Archive for March, 2011
Nosh-e-jan! Posted by erin on Mar 11, 2011
Afghanistan may be a poor country, but Afghan hospitality and delicious cuisine ensure that visitors never go hungry during their stay. Sharing meals with family, friends, and coworkers is an integral part of Afghan culture. Nosh-e jan (نوش جان) is a polite way to invite friends to eat and enjoy their meal, or to respectfully…
Roots of Arabic in Dari Posted by erin on Mar 11, 2011
Dari, the official language of Afghanistan, is a flexible language with a vast vocabulary. New words and phrases are constantly coined and compound verbs are formed that incorporate new words. Like many other languages, this flexibility has allowed Dari to borrow words from other languages, among them Urdu, Turkish, Latin, and English. The primary contributor…
Dari alphabet and pronunciation Posted by erin on Mar 11, 2011
The Dari language has adopted the Arabic alphabet and has added some extra letters to it for the sounds that do not exist in Arabic. There are thirty-two letters in Dari and are written from right to left. Most of the sounds that Dari speakers use also exist in the English language, however there are…