The Best Way to Learn Persian in 2026

The best way to learn Persian is to spend most of each week on Persian you can follow, play the audio as you read, and then say the new words to someone. This kind of Persian is called comprehensible input, and our Persian comprehensible input guide shows where to find it at each level. Persian has a written form and a spoken form, so it helps to hear both kinds from your first weeks.

Bubblegum is a language app for the reading and listening part. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Persian lessons for your level on topics you pick, with audio for every line. For conversation, add a tutor or a friend who speaks Persian.

Give the most time to reading with audio, and use the other methods below for the gaps it leaves. In a review of 49 studies, Jeon and Day (2016) found that plenty of easy reading helped people read better in English as a second or foreign language. Those studies looked at English, so they don't tell us about Persian directly. Choose texts where roughly one word per sentence is new and the story still makes sense.

What you want Persian for decides what to read and who to practice with.

• 💬Talk With Family or FriendsRead and hear casual Persian about meals and family visits. Ask a relative how they say things at home, because the spoken form is often shorter than the written one.
• ✈️Travel in IranRead about taking a taxi and ordering food. Rehearse your questions out loud with a tutor before you go.
• 📜Read Persian PoetryPick one short poem by Hafez or Saadi, and look up each word in it. Read it out loud until you can say it smoothly.
• 📰Follow the NewsChoose stories you've already read about in English. Read only the headline and the opening paragraph until they come easily.
• 💼Use Persian at WorkRead Persian about your own job. In tutor sessions, describe one task you do and ask the tutor to repeat what you missed.
• 🎓Study in IranUniversities in Iran ask international students for AMFA, the official Persian proficiency test. It covers listening, reading, writing and speaking, so practice all four.

To see how the hours add up, read the fastest way to learn Persian.

When short stories start to feel easy, try a news story on BBC News Persian, or read a Hafez poem on Ganjoor.

• 🔤Skipping the LettersFinglish, which is Persian in Latin letters, works for texting friends. Signs, menus and books use the Persian letters, so learn them when you want to read those. Bubblegum's alphabet course teaches the short vowel marks in its first chapter.
• 🗺️Mixing in Dari or Tajik by AccidentDari, from Afghanistan, and Tajik, written in Cyrillic, use some different words and sounds. Check that a course or video says it teaches the Persian of Iran, if that's the one you want.
• 🗂️Starting With a 500-Word ListA word list gives meanings, but it can't show you how a word is used or what it sounds like in quick speech. Collect words from stories, and review each one inside its sentence.