Experience shows that learning the Persian-Arabic script is a big hurdle for the study of the Persian language for those who have not grown up with this script in daily contact like native Iranians. This is especially true for  Iranians of the second generation living abroad. Although most of these young people can speak Persian, they are, unfortunately, illiterate in terms of the Persian language.

Replace the Persian-Arabic script? 

Since the end of the 19th Century and completely independent of the problematic situation of Iranians living abroad, the calls for replacing the Persian-Arabic script by an easier-to-learn script have been getting more prominent. Most of the time, Latin and sometimes also the ancient Avestan script have been proposed as bases for a new script. An entirely new script would also be a possibility. Although the proponents of such a project suggest a gradual introduction and provide a substantially automated transfer of the existing literature based on the current advances in computer technology in prospect, the opponents are afraid of a break with the cultural past, to put it bluntly.

Way out: A second alphabet

A way out to this dilemma seems to be a second, parallel script. The current script will continue to be used. It will not get replaced, but just supplemented by the second script. A look at the Iranian history shows that parallel writings were also in use in the past.

Approach to design Alefbâ ye 2^om

In addition to various publications on Persian grammar and spelling, recent proposals/discussions for transcription / orthography and spell checking of the Persian were studied in depth, including the respective links listed below:

1. Âmuzeŝ e tarânevisi, transcripta.blogfa.com
2. Dabire, ida.liu.se/~jalma/dabire/dabire.pdf
3. Dastur e xatt e fârsi, persianacademy.ir/fa/das.aspx
4. Dastur e xatt e tâjiki, noormags.com/view/fa/articlepage/595488
5. Desphilic, desphilic.com
6. eFarsi, ida.liu.se/~jalma/efarsi.pdf
7. Eurofãrsi, eurofarsi.com
8. Fârsinevisi bâ alefbâ ye Lâtin: bâcenevisi; cegunenevisi
9. Pârsiye Jahâni, unipers.com
10. Pársik, persiandirect.com/projects/ipa2
11. Persik, puyescgaraan.com/Persik.htm
12. Piŝnahâd e avvaliyye barâ ye xatt e fanni e fârsi, masudkhayyam.com; forum.persianlanguage.ir/topic/4
13. Virastyar, virastyar.ir

By drawing on the above proposals and developing them further, a consistent and comprehensive method of transcribing the Persian was constructed on the basis of the Latin alphabet and optimized by applications in various iterations with approximately 15,000 words, phrases and compositions. This method carries the name Alefbâ ye 2^om (2^nd Alphabet).

Next steps

Alefbâ ye 2^om serves as the basis for the creation of a multilingual dictionary and spell check extensions (word list and rules) to be integrated with Office applications and browsers. These tools are designated to support those who intend to publish content in this script.