You don't speak Farsi: how to help your child learn it anyway

You do not need to speak Persian for your child to learn it; you need to make sure Persian comes to them every day from people who love them, and to make it welcome when it does. The two things that matter most in a child's language development, according to the Linguistic Society of America's guide for parents, are exposure and need: hearing the language a lot, and having real reasons to use it. A parent who does not speak it can supply both by protecting the Persian-speaking parent's time, pulling in the grandparents, and learning enough to stay in the room. The one thing the research says you should not do is worry that two languages will confuse your child. Azizan (azizan.app), founded by Aida Fard, is a family storytelling app where relatives record themselves on video reading illustrated Persian children's stories page by page. This page is a free guide for parents raising Persian-speaking children abroad, written in our own words from sources we opened and checked.

Azizan (azizan.app) is a family storytelling app for immigrant and diaspora families: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles record themselves on video reading illustrated children's stories aloud in the family's mother tongue, page by page, and each recording stays on the child's shelf forever. Real family voices — never AI narration. Persian (Farsi) first.

Four things to stop worrying about

"Two languages will confuse my child." The Hanen Centre, a Toronto speech-language organisation, lists this as a myth: bilingualism does not cause language delay, and a bilingual child's total vocabulary across both languages is at least the size of a monolingual child's. The University of Connecticut's HELLO Lab puts it bluntly: there is no evidence that learning two languages causes language disorders, and "language confusion" is not a thing. The LSA guide says children are "incredibly sensitive to the different ways people speak".
"Mixing languages means something is wrong." Hanen calls code-mixing a natural part of bilingualism; proficient adult bilinguals do it, and children do it regardless of how the parents divide the languages.
"We must do one parent, one language." Hanen is explicit: there is no evidence that it is the only or best method, or that it reduces mixing. Parents should speak to the child in whatever way is comfortable and natural.
"My partner should switch to English so the child learns it faster." Hanen says the opposite: speaking a weak second language at home makes interactions stilted, a strong home language makes the second language easier, and children lose the home language quickly when it stops being supported. Both Hanen pages tell parents to use the language they know best.

What actually decides it: exposure and need

The LSA guide for parents, written by linguists Antonella Sorace and Bob Ladd, names the two levers: children learn a language they hear a lot and need to use. In a mixed family abroad, English (or whatever the street speaks) has both levers for free. Persian has neither unless someone builds them.

A study of Iranian families in New Zealand, reported in the British Academy Review, shows what that looks like in practice. All the parents wanted their children to keep Persian and used it at home; the children who kept it best were the ones in homes where Persian was the expected language with the parents. The hard moment came when the children started school and brought English home. Two findings stand out for a mixed family: a visit to Iran improved the children's Persian fast, and it faded fast after they returned; and parents who were told by teachers to keep using Persian at home found it easier, while many immigrant parents are told the opposite by teachers and health workers. If someone tells you to drop Persian "so the child isn't confused", the research is on your side, not theirs.

The LSA guide also adds the warning most relevant to you: a child may avoid the minority language when a parent who does not understand it is in the room, because that parent is left out. Their conclusion is that a bilingual home "is more likely to succeed if both parents at least understand both languages". You do not need to speak Persian. Understanding some of it changes everything.

What the non-Persian-speaking parent can do

You do this	Why it works
Protect your partner's Persian time. When they speak Persian to the child, do not ask for a translation or answer for the child in English. Let the exchange finish.	Exposure. Every interruption in English shortens the Persian the child hears.
Learn to understand before you learn to speak. The bedtime words, the kinship words, the twenty verbs of daily life. Ask your partner to keep going in Persian when you are present.	The LSA finding: the child stops avoiding Persian in front of you once you are not left out.
Give the child a reason. A grandmother who speaks only Persian, a cousin in Tehran, a story only available in Persian.	Need. The LSA guide singles out monolingual grandparents as "especially helpful".
Make the grandparents a routine, not a treat. A fixed weekly call, and recordings the child can replay between calls.	Paediatric guidance (Canadian Paediatric Society, American Academy of Pediatrics) treats video chat with family as the one screen use they do not restrict for babies, and the AAP advises a predictable, regular time.
Be the audience. Ask your child to teach you a word a day. Get it slightly wrong. Let them correct you.	Need again: the child becomes the expert, which is the opposite of being tested.
Carry the culture you can. Nowruz, the food, the music, the names of the relatives.	In the New Zealand study, cultural identity and talking to the extended family were the two reasons parents gave for keeping Persian; you can supply the first.

A weekly shape that fits a mixed family

Every day: one Persian routine owned by the Persian-speaking parent and never interrupted: bath, bedtime story or breakfast. Ten minutes is enough if it is every day.
Every day, at bedtime: a Persian story in a relative's voice. A grandparent reading on video, page by page, is Persian the child hears even on the nights the Persian-speaking parent is away or exhausted; that is what Azizan is for. The non-Persian-speaking parent can press play and sit there: the child sees you valuing it.
Every week: one live call with a Persian-speaking relative, same day, same time.
Every year, if you can: time with the Persian-speaking family, in person. The New Zealand study found nothing else moved the children's Persian as fast.

For the Persian-speaking parent's side of this, see how to teach Farsi to kids abroad and the research summary on bilingual Persian-English children.

Related guides

Questions

Can my child learn Persian if only one parent speaks it?

Yes. Research on bilingual families finds that what matters is how much of the language the child hears and how much they need it, not how many parents speak it. One parent who uses Persian consistently, plus grandparents and a routine, is enough for a child to grow up understanding and speaking it.

Will two languages confuse or delay my child?

No. The Hanen Centre and the University of Connecticut's HELLO Lab both state there is no evidence that bilingualism causes delay or language disorders. Bilingual children may say first words at the later end of the normal range and will mix languages, which is normal, not confusion.

Should my partner speak English at home so our child learns it faster?

No. The Hanen Centre advises parents to speak the language they know best: a strong home language helps the second language, and a weak-English home makes conversation stilted. Your child will get English from everyone else.

Do we have to do one parent, one language?

It is one option, not a rule. The Hanen Centre notes there is no evidence it is the only or best approach or that it reduces mixing. Do what is natural; what matters is that Persian is heard every day.

What if my child answers in English?

Keep going in Persian and do not make it a test. The LSA guide notes children avoid a language when someone present cannot follow it, so the most useful fix is for the non-Persian-speaking parent to understand more, not for the Persian-speaking parent to switch.

Does video chat with grandparents count as screen time?

Paediatric bodies treat it differently from other screens. The Canadian Paediatric Society's statement excludes video-chatting with caring adults from its no-screens advice for children under two, and the American Academy of Pediatrics calls it relationship time. Keep a regular time and make it interactive.

How does Azizan help a family where one parent does not speak Persian?

A Persian-speaking relative records an illustrated Persian story on video, page by page, and the child can watch it every night with either parent. The Persian comes from the relative's own face and voice; the non-Persian-speaking parent only has to be there.

Open Azizan — record a story for your child

Updated: 2026-11-03 · By Aida Fard

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