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How to recognize Kurdish (Sorani)

Kurdish (Sorani) is one of 5 languages in Grafle's Arabic Script group. Here's what it looks like, where you'll see it on signs, and how to tell it apart from its lookalikes.

Spot it fast

Writes every vowel — ە, ۆ and ێ appear constantly, so words look 'fully spelled out'.

What Kurdish (Sorani) looks like

هەموو مرۆڤێک ئازاد و لە کەرامەت و مافدا یەکسان لەدایک دەبێت.

سڵاو، چۆنیت؟

زمانی کوردی زۆر جوانە.

Arabic Script scripts: Flowing right-to-left script where letters connect like cursive; dots above and below distinguish letters.

Where you'll see it on signs

Iraq
Iran

Easy to confuse with

Arabic — Sorani writes every vowel — ە, ۆ and ێ appear constantly — and drops Arabic's ال article.
Persian (Farsi) — Sorani spells out all its vowels (ە ۆ ێ everywhere); Persian leaves most vowels unwritten.
Urdu — Sorani sits flat and spells every vowel with ە/ۆ/ێ; Urdu slopes diagonally in nastaliq.