In this episode, we compare some of the many similarities between Kurdish and Balochi, with Jalal and Çîya as the Kurdish speakers representing both the Sorani and Kurmanji dialects, and Abubakr and Rauf, as the Balochi speakers, comparing a list of words and sentences.
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Kurdish and Balochi are both classified as Western Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It should be noted that the Kurdish language is divided into different dialects, and in this video both the Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) and Central Kurdish (Sorani) dialects are represented.
Kurds and Balochis have had a long historical connection with one another and so have the languages. Balochi (بلۏچی‎) is more specifically classified as a Northwestern Iranian language and native to the Balochistan region, which is within Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. In addition to that, the Balochi language is spoken by a significant number of people in Oman, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, an parts of East Africa, as well as in diaspora communities around the world.
The Kurdish language is mainly divided into three groups. Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) is the largest, spoken in Turkey, Syria, northern Iraq, and northwest and northeast Iran. Central Kurdish (Sorani) is primarily spoken in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Iranian Kurdistan Province. Southern Kurdish (Pehlewani) is for the most part spoken in Kermanshah and Ilam provinces of Iran and in the Khanaqin district of eastern Iraq.
Literary Kurdish works have been written extensively in Kurmanji and Sorani, as well Pehlewani, Zaza, and Gorani (Hawrami), with many famous poets, such as Mela Huseynê Bateyî, Malaye Jaziri (Nîşanî), Faqi Tayran (Feqiyê Teyran), Ahmad Khani (Ehmedê Xanî‎), and Mahmud Bayazidi who wrote in the Kurmancî dialect; Nalî (نالی‎), Haji Qadir Koyi (Hacî Qadirî Koyî), Sheikh Riza Talabani (شێخ ڕەزای تاڵەبانی), Mahwi (مەحوی) who wrote in the Sorani dialect.