Things to know about Kurdish
Kurdish is the language spoken by the Kurdish people in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, and other areas in the Middle East and the former Soviet Union.
In different areas, Kurdish is written in different alphabets. The Sorani alphabet is a variation of the Arabic alphabet used by Kurdish speakers in Iraq and Iran. In Turkey and Syria, Kurdish speakers write with a variation of the Latin alphabet called the Kurmanji alphabet. Finally, in parts of the former Soviet Union, Kurdish speakers prefer a Cyrillic alphabet, similar but not identical to that used by Russian. However, there are fewer Kurdish speakers who use this alphabet than either of the other two writing systems, and the Kurdish Cyrillic alphabet is not currently supported in this application.
See the instructions below for information on typing in the various Kurdish alphabets that are supported.
Using Kurdish Sorani Lessons
When using the Sorani alphabet, Kurdish is written in a flowing script that runs from right to left, the opposite of English. Most letters in the Kurdish Sorani alphabet connect to the letters preceding and following them, just as in English cursive writing. Therefore, letters often change shape depending on their placement within a word.
To type Kurdish Sorani characters:
- Position your cursor somewhere where you can type, and verify that the virtual keyboard layout is set to Kurdish Sorani.
- Locate the character you want on the virtual keyboard, then click on it or press the corresponding key on your physical keyboard. The virtual keyboard shows the stand-alone form of each letter, but the characters will automatically change form to connect to one another as you type. Note that some punctuation marks, such as the question mark, are available on the keyboard by pressing the Shift key. One additional character is available by clicking
beside the virtual keyboard. See Typing special scripts for details.
Using Transliterated Kurdish Sorani Lessons
Some lessons may include transliterated Kurdish Sorani content in addition to content which uses the actual Kurdish Sorani characters. This phonetic transliteration may not be identical to Kurdish written with the Kurmanji alphabet. However, you can use these transliterated lists to help you master vocabulary and pronunciation before tackling the Sorani alphabet. Transliterated Kurdish is written from left to right, just like English. You do not have to type actual Kurdish Sorani characters in transliterated Kurdish Sorani lessons. You can type the transliterations in any activity or assessment that requires typed answers.
Using Kurdish Kurmanji Lessons
The Kurdish Kurmanji alphabet is also similar to the Latin alphabet, but with some special characters such as ê. There are two methods for typing these characters.
The simplest method is to use the character suggestions. To do so, type the base character for the letter you want, then select the special character from the set of characters which appears.
The other method is to use the virtual keyboard with the layout set to Kurdish Kurmanji. (If necessary, you can change the layout by clicking 
and selecting an option in the Keyboard Language menu.)
Locate the character you want on the virtual keyboard, then click on it or press the corresponding key on your physical keyboard. Capital letters and certain punctuation marks are available by holding down the Shift key. Note, however, that the positions of the punctuation marks are not the same as on the English keyboard, so you will need to look carefully as you type.
See Typing Accents and Special Characters for details on both typing methods.