Kurdish Languages and Peoples
Kurdish
The Kurdish people's homeland lies in a region covering parts of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. There is no single Kurdish language, but rather there are several distinct Kurdish languages.
Language map
| Kurmanji Kurdish is a variety of Northern Kurdish spoken in parts of northern Syria, and much of eastern Turkey. The New Testament and Psalms (with audio) are available from the YouVersion Bible app, and online at Bible.com. On YouTube there is the Joseph Story, and the Prophets’ Story, a presentation of the Gospel using stories from the whole Bible. Also available are the Jesus Film and Magdalena, and dramatized audio Bible Stories. |
| Behdini Kurdish - Behdini is another variety of Northern Kurdish, spoken around Dahuk in northern Iraq. The New Testament and Proverbs can be viewed online, and audio files from the Kitebi Piroz website. The New Testament is also available online and via Android and iPhone apps at kurdishliterature.org which also lists suppliers of print versions in Germany, Netherlands and USA. |
| Central Kurdish, also known as Sorani, is spoken in north-eastern Iraq, including the towns of Kirkuk, Irbil and Sulaymaniyah. The New Testament and Psalms are available as audio or text from the Kitebi Piroz website and a full bible was published in 2016 available on Bible.com with print versions from BiblicaEurope.com. A Bible app was released in 2017 for Android and iphone at pertukekem.com |
| Southern Kurdish is spoken in eastern central Iraq, close to the border with Iran. It is also known as Kurmanshah. There are currently no Scriptures or Bible stories available in Southern Kurdish. |
