In this episode, we’ve put together a language challenge between two Iranian languages, Persian and Balochi. For any questions, suggestions or feedback, contact us on Instagram:
Shahrzad (@shahrzad.pe):   / shahrzad.pe  
Bahador (@BahadorAlast):   / bahadoralast  

Balochi (بلوچی‬) is classified as a Northwestern Iranian language and is primarily spoken by the Baloch people. Iran and Pakistan are the two countries with a large Balochi population, but there is also a very significant Baloch population in Afghanistan, Oman, Turkmenistan, and the UAE. In Iran, the Baloch people are also among the Sunni minority as they are predominantly followers of Sunni Islam. In this episode, Mojtaba (Balochi speaker from Chahbahar in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan) challenges Mahtab (a Persian speaker from Mashhad) with a list of Balochi words and phrases. Mahtab also has the help of Howard, who despite being Korean, due to his close relations with Toronto’s Iranian community, aims to provide some assistance. The Persian language (Farsi) has had a huge amount of impact on other languages and cultures, mainly the Middle East, as well as Central and South Asia. Classified as one of the Western Iranian languages, Persian holds official status is Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. Persian has strongly influenced many different languages, including numerous Turkic languages, as well as well as Armenian, Georgian, and many languages in the Indian subcontinent. Persian has a long history of literature and it was notable for being the first language in the Muslim world to break through Arabic's monopoly on writing. The Persian language has also influenced the Arabic language, although the impact of Arabic on Persian has been higher. But the influence of Persian in the Muslim world has been strong since the early days of Islam. It was even established as a court tradition instead of Arabic under many ruling Muslim dynasties.