As of late 2025, Duolingo does not offer a Persian (Farsi) course, and there is no public evidence of one being in development. The primary reasons are complex and structural, going beyond simple demand:
- Linguistic Challenge (Dual-Register System): Persian has a significant difference between its formal, written form (ketābi) and its colloquial, spoken form (goftāri). Duolingo’s translation-based model struggles to teach both simultaneously, which is essential for real-world fluency.
- Technical Hurdles (Right-to-Left Script): Persian uses a Right-to-Left (RTL) script. Duolingo’s platform, built primarily for Left-to-Right languages, has historically faced persistent and complex bugs when implementing RTL languages like Arabic and Hebrew. Fixing these for a new language is a significant engineering investment.
- Context and Culture: Persian is a “context-heavy” language where the correct translation depends heavily on the social relationship between speakers (e.g., the use of Taarof). Duolingo’s single-answer system cannot easily accommodate this linguistic nuance.