Kurdish (Sorani, Kurmanji, Southern Kurdish): learn

01From first steps to fluency

Levels follow the descriptors of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) as a guide. A course here is not an official CEFR exam.

1. A1

   First steps

   Read and write the script. Greet, introduce yourself and ask simple questions.

   No course at this level yet.

2. A2

   Everyday use

   Handle routine tasks: shopping, travel, family and work.

   No course at this level yet.

3. B1 to B2

   Independent use

   Follow the news, write letters and take part in a discussion.

   No course at this level yet.

4. C1 to C2

   Proficient use

   Read literature, work in the language and interpret.

   No course at this level yet.

02Courses in the Academy

No Kurdish (Sorani, Kurmanji, Southern Kurdish) course is planned yet. Teachers and authors can propose one.

Propose a course

03Exams and levels

No official proficiency exam aligned to the CEFR is recorded for Kurdish (Sorani, Kurmanji, Southern Kurdish) yet.

Sources Council of Europe. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Companion volume. (2020) To verify

04Heritage-language programmes for children

Persian Saturday schools are run by volunteers and parents, often without a shared curriculum or trained teachers. The Council is preparing a shared curriculum, teacher training and a directory of schools.

• Heritage-language programme

  Mother tongue lessons (modersmål)

  Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) To verify Mother tongue lessons in Swedish schools, with teaching material by language.

• Heritage-language programme

  Mother tongue teaching (morsmål)

  Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Udir) Checked 2026-10-23 Verified

• Heritage-language programme

  Herkunftssprachlicher Unterricht

  Ministry of Schools and Education of North Rhine-Westphalia Checked 2026-10-23 Verified Heritage-language lessons in state schools of North Rhine-Westphalia.

• Heritage-language programme

  International Languages Elementary Program

  Ontario Ministry of Education To verify

• Heritage-language programme

  Community languages schools

  Department of Education, Victoria To verify

Public programmes in some host countries. Which languages each offers is set locally; check the programme for Kurdish (Sorani, Kurmanji, Southern Kurdish).

05Teacher training

• Heritage language education · Practitioner

  Saturday-school teacher training

  Teaching Persian to children of the diaspora in weekend and community schools.

  Wave 1 · 30 h Outline drafted

06Study elsewhere

• Study

  Iranian languages

  Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University Checked 2026-10-23 Verified

• Study

  Persian, Kurdish and Armenian

  Inalco (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales) Checked 2026-10-23 Verified

• Study

  Persian

  SOAS University of London Checked 2026-10-23 Verified

• Study

  Kurdish Studies

  Centre for Kurdish Studies, University of Exeter Checked 2026-10-23 Verified

Institutions that teach or research the region’s languages. A listing is not a partnership or an endorsement.

07Research and sources

Recent and relevant work on this page’s subject, from approved open scholarly sources. Metadata and links only. Titles stay as published. Not yet reviewed.

1. Next word prediction based on the N-gram model for Kurdish Sorani and Kurmanji

   Hozan K. Hamarashid, Soran A. Saeed, Tarik Ahmed Rashid · 2020 · Neural Computing and Applications

   ArticleOpenAlexCrossrefDataCitearXivOpen accessCC-BY-4.0

2. Can Linguistic Distance help Language Classification? Assessing Hawrami-Zaza and Kurmanji-Sorani

   Hossein Hassani · 2021 · arXiv

   PreprintDataCitearXivOpen accessCC-BY-4.0

3. KASET – Kurmanji and Sorani Kurdish Speech and Transcripts

   Dana Delgado, Kevin Walker, Stephanie Strassel et al. · 2024 · Linguistic Data Consortium

   DatasetDataCite

4. Mabast dataset for Sorani Kurdish dialect semantic text classification.

   Hasan IE, Al-Atroshi SJA · 2026 · Data Brief

   ArticleEurope PMCOpen access

5. Calibrating Kurmanji and Sorani

   Michael L. Chyet · 2018 · Routledge Handbook on the Kurds

   ChapterCrossref

6. A descriptive and comparative study of adverb construction in Kurdish (Sorani and Kurmanji) and English.

   Ahmad Ahmadyan · 2025 · Biannual Journal of the Kurdish Language & Literature Studies

   ArticleDataCiteOpen accessCC-BY-4.0

7. Adyan: automated annotating named entity recognition dataset for sorani kurdish language.

   Wahid CH, Nabi RM · 2025 · Data Brief

   ArticleEurope PMCOpen access

8. Dasinya: A dataset and preprocessing pipeline for the Badini Kurdish dialect.

   Saeed VA, Jacksi K · 2026 · Data Brief

   ArticleEurope PMCOpen access

9. Making Kurdish Visible: Digital Language Practices, Identity, and Belonging among Kurdish Youth in Türkiye

   mehmet sirin filiz, ziyattin YILDIRIMÇAKAR, Naif Ergün · 2026 · Zenodo

   DatasetZenodoCC-BY-4.0

10. Polysemy of Particle in Kurdish Language

    Bayan Mala Hamadameen, Talib Husen Ali · 2023 · Zanco Journal of Humanity Sciences

    ArticleDOAJOpen access

11. Sorani Kurdish versus Kurmanji Kurdish: An Empirical Comparison

    Kyumars Sheykh Esmaili, Shahin Salavati · 2013

    ArticleOpenAlex

12. Supplementary Data for "Language Attitudes and Perceptual Recognition in a Context of Non-State Standardization: Evidence from Kurmanji Kurdish"

    ziyattin YILDIRIMÇAKAR · 2026 · Zenodo

    DatasetZenodoOpen accessCC-BY-4.0

Sources, licences and fetch dates: arXiv (Metadata CC0 1.0; papers under their own licences), 2026-10-23; Crossref (Metadata facts, any use; abstracts may be publisher-owned and are never shown), 2026-10-23; DataCite (CC0 1.0 (DataCite metadata)), 2026-10-23; DOAJ (Metadata CC0 1.0 (DOAJ); articles under their own open licences), 2026-10-23; Europe PMC (Metadata reusable; full text under each article’s licence), 2026-10-23; OpenAlex (CC0-1.0 data; metered API (free key)), 2026-10-23; Zenodo (Metadata CC0 1.0; each record under its own licence), 2026-10-23.