English overturning Persian in Iran?

Is English replacing Persian in Iran? Wishful thinking, to be sure. I think we're doing a good job wining the hearts and minds of the average Iranian, and what comes out of the mind are words--and some of those words are in English, the language of "The Great Satan."

The Tehran Times is a clownish news source, but I came across this article which might be alarmist, might be flat-out wrong, but it shouldn't be ignored:

Linguist Ali Khazaeifar has warned that Persian is gradually being swallowed up by the English language.

"Our problem will only be solved when each individual finds out that his mother tongue is in danger," Khazaeifar, head of the English department at Ferdowsi University in Mashhad, told the Persian service of ISNA on Monday.

He stated "Persian is being gradually and deceptively eaten away by a relentless enemy named the English language."

Khazaeifar went on to say that, "Ignorance of the Persian language must be addressed as a national problem and a solution must be found. The situation should be viewed as crucial at a national level if anything is to be achieved to overcome Iranian youths' lack of knowledge about their native tongue. People must be informed of the problem.

I find it impossible to believe that young people in Iran are going about their lives regularly speaking English, or even sometimes substituting it for Persian. Probably what is happening is that like the French, the Iranians, or at least Professor Khazaeifar, are noticing English words like "e-mail," "byte," "hip-hop" and the like are creeping into Persian.

Hey, word-borrowing from languages works both ways. It was the Iranians who gave the English-speaking world, via Arabic, the word "fatwa."

Technorati tags: iran خبر حقوق بشر محمود فتوى Persian language culture English news farsi