"Almost all Talesh we asked felt that only the older generation now spoke really pure Taleshi... Even among this section of the population we found that Persian had had a big impact, especially on the lexicon; and the further south we went in the Talesh region, the more marked this impact was... Only a handful of parents reported speaking Taleshi consistently to their children: three fathers in Asalem and one in Masule (out of thirty questioned). Parents repeatedly explained to us that they preferred to speak Persian to their children [and] we observed that children generally replied in Persian to their parents even if the latter spoke to them in Taleshi... Taleshi remains the dominant language in informal domains for many aged 25 and over, albeit mixed with a high volume of Persian and/or Turkish loanwords in many areas. Taleshi is mostly spoken by middle-aged and older people. The younger generation (0-25 years) are experiencing language shift to Persian (with some shift to Turkish in private domains north of Asalem), although this process is neither complete nor ubiquitous."

"With regard to Persian, we found very few people who could not converse with us fluently... Language attitudes to Taleshi for use in the home and as a medium for artistic expression (e.g. songs and poetry) are generally positive, However, most parents preferred their children to learn Persian, to which attitudes were positive across all generations. Most felt that a Taleshi accent was a disadvantage when looking for a job; and many reported
that Taleshi was a language whose time was passing."

There is no written language.