Language Facts:
Speakers: 40 million
Family: Indo-Iranian
Status: Official in Afghanistan, recognized minority language in Pakistan
Family: Indo-Iranian
Status: Official in Afghanistan, recognized minority language in Pakistan
Script: Perso-Arabic
Overview: Despite it’s large number of speakers, resources for learning Pashto are sparse. You’ll find more available if you also speak Urdu. It might be possible to reverse engineer learning content from the large amount of English learning material in the Pashto language, due to the large diaspora of Afghans across the world learning English. Pashto has as a fantastic literary tradition, and is a worthwhile endeavour if you have connections to Afghans or Afghanistan.
Learn Pashto:
Books:
Pashto : An Elementary Textbook : 2 volume bundle. Reported some issues on acquiring the audio, but the best Pashto textbook available
Free Basics PDF – from Ohio State University
Pashto Basics – PDF from University of Montana
Youtube:
Learn Pashto – great channel, short videos.
Learn Pashto – another channel, in Urdu, with online video lessons.
Pashto with Bangash – video lessons in mostly Urdu, with some English.
Online:
Pashto Dictionary – via Glosbe
Anki Deck – with audio recorded for about 500 words. Great for mastering the writing system and learning how to read and pronounce. However, no translations are included.
Courses:
Pimsleur Pashto – Classic audio course. Available as a subscription with a free trial. Great for pronunciation and basic dialogue.