Chicago Festival: FARSI vs. PERSIAN
March 16, 2004

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Kamyszew [mailto:info@chicagodocfestival.org]
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 2:58 PM
To: Pejman Akbarzadeh
Cc: program@chicagodocfestival.org
Subject: Re: Chicago Festival: FARSI vs. PERSIAN

Dear Pejman Akbarzadeh,

We much appreciate your kind instructive e-mail correcting our mistake.
The error has been already brought to our attention, and we are changing
it immediately.

We thank you for your time and concern. Look forward to meeting you at
the Chicago International Documentary Festival.

Best regards,
Christopher Kamyszew
Executive Director
CIDF

-----Original Message-----
From: Pejman Akbarzadeh persia_1980@yahoo.com
To: info@chicagodocfestival.org
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 11:59:27 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Chicago Festival : FARSI vs. PERSIAN

Dear Friends @ Chicago Festival,

I noticed that you are using the word "Farsi" (instead of "Persian") as
English name of our language in your festival, texts, etc.

I would like to point out that FARSI (which is originally PARSI) is
the native name of our language and PERSIAN is its English equivalent;
as the native name of German language is 'Deutsch', but we never use
'Deutsch' in place of 'German' in English; or native term of Greek
Language is "Ellinika" and always in English we say 'Greek' language,
not 'Ellinika' language.

If you notice the title of dictionaries that have been written by
several great Persian scholars (eg. Prof. Moein, Prof. Aryanpour, Prof.
Baateni, etc.) The title of all of them is "English-Persian Dictionary"
not "English-Farsi Dictionary". Meanwhile the official institution
"Farhangestan" (the Academy of Persian language and literature, in
Tehran) in an announcement has rejected the use of the word 'Farsi'
instead of 'Persian' in English. (I have attached it).

According to Dr. Hossein Sameie (visiting linguistics professor of
Emory University in Atlanta), "PERSIAN, alongside the name of a
language, may be used, as an adjective, for the other aspects of our
history and culture. For example, we can speak about 'Persian
Literature', 'Persian Gulf', 'Persian Carpet', 'Persian Food'; this
way, 'Persian' may be a common concept and function as a link between
all aspects of Iranian [Persian] life, including language. 'Farsi' does
not have such a characteristic..."

And finally, of course you are aware that all international brocasting
centers (eg. BBC, VOA, DW, etc.) have "Persian Service" not "Farsi
Service";
BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/index.shtml
VOA: http://www.voanews.com/persian/index.cfm
DW: http://www.dwelle.de/persian/
Radio Free Europe: http://www.rferl.org/bd/ir/
etc.
If you want to have more information, please do not hesitate to contact
me. If possible, please revise your English texts and programs and please
use the proper English name for our language; PERSIAN, not FARSI.

Thank you so much for your attention.

Best regards,
Pejman Akbarzadeh
Member of ARTISTS WITHOUT FRONTIERS
http://artistswithoutfrontiers.com/pakbarzadeh/index.html

P.S.--- The Announcement of the Persian Academy:
The Language of the nation of Iran [Persia] in English is called
"Persian" [or in other European languages: Persane, Persisch, Persa,
Persiska, etc.] and is known worldwide as PERSIAN. Recently some
Iranians [Persians] have been trying to use "Farsi" instead of Persian,
the trend which has also been followed by some non-Iranians. This has
occurred to the extent that it has raised the question "Which is the
correct word, in English, for the language of Iran's people, Persian or
Farsi?"

This question was put to the official institution FARHANGESTAN (Persian
Language and Literature Academy in Tehran) by the Commerce Department
for Australia, at Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In their 34th meeting on 7th of December 1992, the Persian Academy unanimously passed the resolution that this language must be called PERSIAN and the reasons given were:

1- PERSIAN has been used in a variety of publications including
cultural, scientific and diplomatic documents for centuries and,
therefore, it connotes a very significant historical and cultural
meaning. Hence, changing PERSIAN to FARSI is to negate this established
important precedence.

2- Changing PERSIAN to FARSI may give the impression that it is a new
language, and this may well be the intention of some Farsi users.

3- It may also give the impression that FARSI is a dialect of some
parts of Iran and not the predominant (official) language of this
country.

4- Fortunately, FARSI has never been used in any research paper or
university document in any Western language and the proposal of its
usage will create doubt and ambiguity about the name of the official
language of our country.