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To which language should you translate to localize in Iran?

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The standard Persian of Iran has been called, apart from Persian and Farsi, by names such as Iranian Persian and Western Persian, exclusively. Officially, the official language of Iran is designated simply as Persian (فارسی, fārsi).

“New Persian” (also referred to as Modern Persian) is conventionally divided into three stages: 1. Early New Persian (8th/9th centuries), 2. Classical Persian (10th–18th centuries), 3. Contemporary Persian (19th century to present)

Early New Persian remains largely intelligible to speakers of Contemporary Persian, as the morphology and, to a lesser extent, the lexicon of the language have remained relatively stable.

There are three standard varieties of modern Persian: Iranian Persian (Persian, Western Persian, or Farsi) is spoken in Iran, and by minorities in Iraq and the Persian Gulf states; Eastern Persian (Dari Persian, Afghan Persian, or Dari) is spoken in Afghanistan; Tajiki (Tajik Persian) is spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It is written in the Cyrillic script.

All these three varieties are based on the classic Persian literature and its literary tradition. There are also several local dialects from Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan which slightly differ from the standard Persian. The Hazaragi dialect (in Central Afghanistan and Pakistan), Herati (in Western Afghanistan), Darwazi (in Afghanistan and Tajikistan), Basseri (in Southern Iran), and the Tehrani accent (in Iran, the basis of standard Iranian Persian) are examples of these dialects. Persian-speaking peoples of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan can understand one another with a relatively high degree of mutual intelligibility. Nevertheless, the Encyclopædia Iranica notes that the Iranian, Afghan, and Tajiki varieties comprise distinct branches of the Persian language, and within each branch a wide variety of local dialects exist.

Farsi

فارسی معیار ایران را به غیر از پارسی و فارسی، منحصراً با نام‌هایی چون فارسی ایرانی و فارسی غربی خوانده‌اند. به طور رسمی، زبان رسمی ایران صرفاً فارسی است.

«فارسی نو» (که به آن فارسی مدرن نیز گفته می‌شود) به طور معمول به سه مرحله تقسیم می‌شود:

فارسی نو اولیه (قرن‌های 8/9)

فارسی کلاسیک (قرن‌های 10-18)

فارسی معاصر (قرن 19 تا کنون)

فارسی نو اولیه تا حد زیادی برای گویشوران فارسی معاصر قابل فهم است، زیرا صرف‌شناسی و تا حدی واژگان زبان نسبتاً ثابت مانده است.

سه نوع استاندارد فارسی مدرن وجود دارد:

فارسی ایرانی (پارسی، فارسی غربی یا فارسی) در ایران و توسط اقلیت‌ها در عراق و کشورهای خلیج فارس صحبت می‌شود.

فارسی شرقی (فارسی دری، فارسی افغانی یا دری) در افغانستان صحبت می‌شود.

تاجیکی (فارسی تاجیکی) در تاجیکستان و ازبکستان صحبت می‌شود. به خط سیریلیک نوشته شده است.

همه این سه گونه بر اساس ادبیات کلاسیک فارسی و سنت ادبی آن است. همچنین چندین گویش محلی از ایران، افغانستان و تاجیکستان وجود دارد که کمی با فارسی استاندارد تفاوت دارند. گویش هزارگی (در افغانستان مرکزی و پاکستان)، هراتی (در غرب افغانستان)، دروازی (در افغانستان و تاجیکستان)، باسری (در جنوب ایران) و لهجه تهرانی (در ایران، اساس فارسی استاندارد ایرانی) نمونه‌هایی از این گویش‌ها هستند. فارسی زبانان ایران، افغانستان و تاجیکستان می‌توانند یکدیگر را با درجه نسبتاً بالایی از درک متقابل، بفهمند. با این وجود، دایره المعارف ایرانیکا خاطرنشان می‌کند که گونه‌های ایرانی، افغانی و تاجیکی شاخه‌های متمایزی از زبان فارسی را تشکیل می‌دهند و در هر شاخه گستره وسیعی از گویش‌های محلی وجود دارد.

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What the 150 top websites do

Of the top 150 website (Global by design ranking):

  • 26/150 translate into English.
  • 14/150 translate into Arabic.

If you need others information, below you can find a selection of economic/social/cultural data

Overview


Language

Official language
Persian

T-index
0.22%

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.

Other languages
Azerbaijani and other Turkic dialects 18% (e.g. Qashqai, Turkmen), Kurdish 10%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 7%, Luri 6%, Arabic 2%, Balochi 2%, and other languages (Tati, Talysh, Armenian, Georgian, Neo-Aramaic, Circassian) 1%

English
Moderate proficiency (EF) – 58 of 113 countries/regions in the world- 2/13 position in the Middle East.

Demography

Capital: Tehran
Currency:  Iranian rial
Population: 88,55 m
Population density: 54/km2

Economy

GDP: 388.54 billion USD (2022)
GDP per capita: 4,387.8 USD ‎(2022) ‎
Exports: $14 billion (2021)

Statistics

Internet users: 78.6% penetration, 69.83 million
Unemployment rate: 9.3% (2021)
Urbanisation: 77% (2022)
Literacy: 89% (2022)

Conventions

Numbering system
Numbering system based on groups of two decimal numbers, instead of three as it happens in the West world. Arabic numerals and dot as decimal separator.

Date format:  yyyy-mm-dd / dd-mm-yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 0098

Language data sources: Worldatlas/Britannica//EF/Wikipedia; Demography data sources: IMF/Worldometers; Conventions data source: Wikipedia; Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal; Statistics data sources: Datareportal/WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF/Culturalatlas/Commisceoglobal

Facts and data


Economy

Imports
$28.7 billion (2021).  Broadcasting Equipment ($3.86B), Corn ($1.52B), Soybeans ($870M), Motor vehicles; parts and accessories (8701 to 8705) ($734M), and Rice ($671M), importing mostly from China ($8.27B), United Arab Emirates ($6.58B), Turkey ($2.66B), Brazil ($1.94B), and Germany ($1.64B).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of  age)
• 93% have an account with a financial institution
• 9.1% have a credit card
• 26% have a mobile money account
• 46% make online purchases

Ease of doing business
Ease of conducting business is below average (rated 58.5 out of 100) ranked 14th out of 20 North African and Middle Eastern countries, ranked 127th out of 190 countries worldwide (2022, World Bank).

Exports
$14 billion (2021). Ethylene Polymers ($3.2B), Other Nuts ($925M), Semi-Finished Iron ($816M), Refined Copper ($673M), and Acyclic Alcohols ($561M), exporting mostly to China ($5.94B), Turkey ($2.72B), Pakistan ($614M), Armenia ($406M), and India ($379M).

Main local online stores
Digikala, Bamilo, Esam, Modiseh, Shixon, IranEcar, Raja, Cinematicket, Amazon, Alibaba

Economic freedom
‘Mostly not free’ (rated 42.2 out of 100) ranked 14th out of 14 countries in the Middle East ranked 169th out of 186 countries worldwide (2023, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).

Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal


Service Imports (2017)
Service Exports (2017)

Source: OEC

Historical Data Trade Imports

The following section uses historical trade data imports from partners of Iran.

Historical Data Trade Exports

The following section uses historical trade data exports from partners of Argentina.

Source: OEC

Trade balance of goods from 2012 to 2022
Iran's Most Complex Exports

The Product Complexity Index (PCI) measures the knowledge intensity of a product by considering the knowledge intensity of its exporters.

Source: Statista

Source: OEC

The Top Export Opportunities for Iran by Relatedness

Relatedness measures the distance between a country's current exports and each product by showing only products that Iran is not specialized in.

Iran's Most Specialized Products

Specialization is measured using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), an index that takes the ratio between Iran observed and expected exports in each product.

Source: OEC

Which attributes do you associate with products made in Iran?

Source: Statista

Market Growth Imports (2017)

This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start importing that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.

Market Growth Exports (2017)

This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start exporting that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.

Source: OEC


T-index

T-index

Reach most of the online purchasing power

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales. It estimates the market share of each country in relation to global e-commerce.

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Media

Media language Persian, English

Information channels
The struggle for influence and power in Iran is played out in the media. All broadcasting from Iranian soil is controlled by the state and reflects official ideology. A wider range of opinions is found online and in the press. Iran is “among the five biggest prisons in the world” for media workers, says Reporters Without Borders. The group says journalists are “constantly exposed to intimidation, arbitrary arrest, and long jail sentences imposed by revolutionary courts at the end of unfair trials”. Television is the leading medium. State-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting – IRIB – operates national and provincial services. Its international networks include English-language Press TV. The most-watched domestic network is IRIB’s youth channel. Despite a ban on using satellite equipment, foreign TVs are widely watched; this is largely tolerated by the authorities. Dozens of Persian-language stations broadcast from the USA, Europe and Dubai. Western broadcasters, including BBC Persian TV, target Iranian audiences. Their satellite broadcasts have suffered from deliberate interference from within Iran. IRIB’s radio channels include a parliamentary network, Radio Koran and a multilingual external service. There are some 50 national dailies, but few Iranians buy a newspaper every day. Sports titles are the biggest sellers.

Iran online

The web is the main forum for voices of dissident. But the internet is also embraced by all parts of the social and political spectrum, including conservative and pro-establishment activists. The authorities routinely block or filter websites they consider objectionable. Targeted content includes that deemed to be pornographic or anti-Islamic. Iranians use virtual private networks (VPNs) and other methods to circumvent filtering. Facebook, although blocked, is among the most popular social media platforms. Twitter is blocked for ordinary citizens, but leaders and senior officials are active on it. Instagram is a staple of social media life and Iranians are avid users of mobile messaging services, especially Telegram. There has been sporadic disruption to Telegram services within Iran. Iran announced in 2016 that it had completed the first phase of a national information network (NIN). The project aims to create a stand-alone domestic

The press

Iran – the “official” paper, representing government policies, published by the state news agency IRNA
Tehran Times – state-run English-language daily
Iran Daily – English-language, published by state news agency IRNA
Javan – affiliated to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)
Sharg (The East) – reformist daily
E’temad – reformist daily
Kayhan (Universe) – conservative daily
Resalat (Message) – conservative daily
Jomhuri-ye-Eslami (Islamic Republic) – conservative daily
Jaam-e Jam (Jam’s Cup) – large-circulation daily published by IRIB

Television

IRIB – state-run, operates provincial, national and international services
Press TV – IRIB’s English-language satellite channel
Al-Alam – IRIB network in Arabic

Radio

IRIB – state-run, operates eight national networks, provincial services and an external service

News agency

Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) – state-run, English-language pages
Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) – English-language pages
Fars News Agency – affiliated to Revolutionary Guards, English-language pages
Mehr News Agency – affiliated to Islamic Propagation Organisation, English-language pages
Tasnim News Agency – affiliated to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps
Nour News – affiliated to the Supreme National Security Council

Media data source: BBC


Internet Data

Internet users
78.6% penetration, 69.83 million

Share of web traffic by device
75.41% mobile phones, 23.21% computers (laptops and desktops), 1.37% tablet devices and 0.01% other devices. 

Median speed of mobile Internet connection
40.97  Mbps

Median speed of fixed Internet connection
11.62 Mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 142.8%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 85.7%

Most popular web search engines
Google (99.35%), Bing (0.53%), Yahoo (0.08%), DuckduckGo (0.02%), Yandex (0.01%), other (0.01%).

Most used social media
Instagram (45.75%), Facebook (15.11%), YouTube (9.8%), Twitter (8.98%), Pinterest (8.09%), LinkedIn (5.8%), Reddit (3.48%), other (2.99%).

Internet data sources: Datareportal/Statcounter


Social statistics

Life expectancy
74 yrs (2021)

Healthcare expenditure
5.34% of GDP

Current education expenditure
92.9% of total expenditure in public institutions

CO2 emissions
7.1 metric tons per capita

Corruption perceptions Index
Iran scored 25 out of 100, ranked 147 out of 180 countries worldwide.

World Happiness Index
Iran ranked 110 out of 137 countries, with a score of 4.888.

Social statistics sources: WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF


The Data Factbook is a work in progress project. Our community is helping us to fill it up always with new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write your advices at imminent@translated.com


Languages research


Languages spoken in Iran

Legend

  • Azeri

  • Kurdish

  • Persian

  • Arabic

  • Balochi

  • Qashqai

  • Luri

  • Turkmen

  • Dari

  • Pashto

  • Gilaki

  • Tati

  • Hazaragi

  • Bakhtiari

  • Laki

  • Georgian

  • Kazakh

  • Talysh

  • Armenian

  • Aramaic

  • Mazanderani


The geographical distribution of languages that you will find in the maps published in this section is a work in progress. Our community is helping us to fill it up with always new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write to imminent.factbook@translated.com


Photo credit: Hassan Hedayatzadeh, Unsplash