Pashto and Dari Language Instruction and Curriculum for Universities and Government Programs

The U.S. Foreign Service Institute estimates about 44 weeks, or 1,100 class hours, for an English speaker to reach professional working proficiency in Dari, the same category as Farsi and half the time it gives Arabic. FSI does not list Pashto; we plan Pashto programs on the same scale. We design four-semester university sequences to reach ACTFL Intermediate Mid to High. Heritage speakers move faster in speaking and need focused literacy work.

Dari and Farsi are both Persian, and educated speakers understand each other, but they differ in pronunciation, everyday vocabulary and some grammar. A university in Afghan Dari is پوهنتون (pohantun); in Iranian Persian it is دانشگاه (daneshgah). We teach Afghan Dari, never Iranian materials relabeled as Dari, and we run Farsi-to-Dari conversion courses for learners who already speak Iranian Persian.

It depends on the work. Pashto is the first language of most Afghans in the south and east and of Pashtun communities across the border; Dari is the most widely shared language in Afghanistan and in much of its government and academic life. Many programs teach both, in the order the mission requires. We recommend an order after a needs analysis of your learners, their missions and the communities they will serve.

Whichever your program uses: the ILR scale for U.S. government programs, including Department of Defense (Department of War) language programs, the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines for universities, the CEFR for European programs and STANAG 6001 for NATO and allied defense schools. We set entry and exit levels on that scale and report against it. Our crosswalk shows how the four relate.

For government learners, the DLPT5 tests listening and reading in Pashto-Afghan and Dari-Afghan, in a lower range from ILR 0+ to 3. ACTFL, through Language Testing International, offers the OPI in both languages and the OPIc in Pashto. It lists no Writing Proficiency Test (WPT) and no reading or listening test in either language, so we use our own ILR- and ACTFL-referenced assessments for those skills.

Yes. We build proficiency first, then teach test formats, timing and strategy, with diagnostic practice before each test window. Ariana Nexus does not give official tests: the DLPT5 is scheduled through your test control officer, and ACTFL tests through Language Testing International.

Yes. We teach under your course number and syllabus template, inside your LMS, with a faculty sponsor or as instructor of record where your rules allow. Credit, grades and the transcript stay with your university; we supply the syllabus, materials, assessments and grade recommendations.

Yes. A shared course lets each campus enroll its own students in one live section on a common calendar, with credit granted by each home institution. It is the most efficient way to keep a less commonly taught language on the timetable.

Yes, in a separate track. Heritage learners often speak well but read and write little, or speak a family dialect. We place them by skill, build literacy and formal registers, and respect the variety they bring, whether Kandahari or Nangarhari Pashto, or Kabuli, Herati, Hazaragi or another Dari dialect.

Pashto courses name their variety: Kandahari (southern), Nangarhari (eastern), central or northern, with listening work across the others. Dari courses teach Kabuli Dari, the standard in Afghan media and government, with listening work in Herati, Hazaragi and northern dialects. Every syllabus states its variety and spelling standard.

University-educated Afghan instructors who are native or near-native in the variety they teach, trained in proficiency-based teaching, observed before they teach alone and calibrated to ILR and ACTFL descriptors every year. No U.S. credential tests a teacher’s Pashto or Dari, so we set and audit our own standard, and we train instructors for other programs.

Both. We teach live online, on campus, on site through mobile training teams, in blended formats and through self-paced modules with a tutor. We work in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and in Canada, Europe and Australia, depending on the type and scale of the program.

You choose. Materials written for you can be owned by your institution, licensed to you in perpetuity or released under an open license such as CC BY. Files are delivered in editable formats and standard LMS packages, so you are never locked into a platform.

Yes. Everything we deliver meets WCAG 2.1 AA and Section 508: Pashto and Dari as real right-to-left text, not images; captions and transcripts for audio and video; alt text and tagged documents. Under the Justice Department’s ADA Title II rule, public entities must meet WCAG 2.1 AA for web and course content by April 26, 2027 or April 26, 2028, depending on their size.

We work under FERPA as a school official under your direct control, keep data in the United States with encryption and multi-factor access, record speaking assessments only with consent and delete them on your schedule. Learner data never trains AI models. We complete HECVAT 4 and security questionnaires on request, and apply NIST SP 800-171 controls when a government program involves Controlled Unclassified Information.

Yes. Uzbeki, Turkmeni, Balochi, Pashayi and Aimaq are taught by arrangement, and research tutorials are available in the other 17 Afghan languages. Programs outside the United States can be taught through French, German, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew, Urdu, Arabic, Hindi, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian, Turkish or Swedish.

Carefully. Classes often bring together veterans of the war in Afghanistan and students from families shaped by it. Material on conflict, displacement and moral injury is introduced with notice, no one is asked to share family history or politics, and sources are named and balanced. The protocol is set by Diana Ayubi, Psy.D.