Apps like Discord and Reddit for your own language
Looking for Discord or Reddit style communities in Farsi, Armenian or another language? Where diaspora groups really gather, and how translation helps.
If you want a Discord or Reddit style community in your own language, the honest answer is that the app matters less than where your people already are. For Persian speakers, that is mostly Telegram and Instagram, with some Discord servers for younger people. For Armenians, Facebook Groups and Telegram carry a lot of it. For language practice, Discord servers built for learners are some of the best rooms online. Reddit has language subreddits, but they are mostly in English about the language, not in it. And if you want live rooms where people who speak different languages can actually understand each other, that is the gap I built Hashti to fill, with live translation in 29 languages.
Why "Discord or Reddit" breaks down in other languages
I am Armenian-Iranian and I live in Los Angeles. At home we switch between Farsi, Armenian and English in one sentence. When I went looking for Discord and Reddit style communities in Farsi or Armenian, I kept hitting the same wall. Both apps are built around English. Search works best in English. The big communities are in English. Even the subreddits about Iran or Armenia are mostly written in English.
That is not a complaint about those apps. It is just the shape of them. If you speak another language at home, "an app like Discord or Reddit" really means "a place like that, but where my language is normal." That is a different search, and it has different answers.
Where language communities actually gather
Telegram
For Persian speakers, Telegram has been a center of online life for years, and a lot of Russian, Arabic and Central Asian community life lives there too. Public groups and channels cover news, jokes, poetry, local city groups, and buy-and-sell boards for diaspora neighborhoods. Group voice chats exist, and some groups use them like a Discord voice channel.
What works: your language is the default, not a guest. What does not: discovery is mostly word of mouth or links, and big public groups attract spam. Moderation is only as good as the admins.
Facebook Groups
For Armenians, and for many older diaspora communities, Facebook Groups are still where things happen. Church events, family news, "does anyone know a good dentist in Glendale who speaks Armenian," all of it. The thread and comment format is the closest thing to Reddit that many communities actually use.
What works: the people are there, including parents and grandparents. What does not: it is not built for live talk, and younger people often are not there.
Discord language servers
Discord is where language practice is strongest. There are large servers built just for learners, with channels for each language, voice channels for speaking practice, and roles that show your native and target languages. If you are learning Spanish, Japanese or English, these servers are genuinely good.
What works: structure and voice. What does not: for smaller languages like Armenian, the servers are small or quiet, and you need an invite link or a server list to find them. The interface still assumes you read English.
Reddit language subreddits
Reddit has subreddits for almost every language and country. They are useful for questions, resources and finding the other places listed here. But most posts are in English, about the language. If you want to read and write in Farsi all day, Reddit is not that place, in my experience.
The problem none of these solve: talking across languages
Every app above works when everyone in the room shares a language. The moment they do not, people go quiet or fall back to broken English.
This happens to me all the time. A cousin in Yerevan wants to talk to my friend from Mexico City. A Persian speaker in Tehran wants to practice with an English speaker in Ohio, but is not ready to speak only English yet. Someone new to Los Angeles wants to join a local conversation and is not confident in English. The usual fix is copying messages into a translator and pasting the result back. It works, slowly, and it kills the flow.
That is why Hashti has live translation built into rooms and chats. You write in your language, the other person reads it in theirs, and you can read their reply in yours. It covers 29 languages. You can read more about how live translation works in Hashti.
What Hashti is, and what it is not
Hashti is a free app for adults, 18 and up, out now on the App Store, with Android in closed testing. It has public rooms with names and topics, private chats, calls and a walkie-talkie. Rooms are live talk, closer to a Discord channel than a Reddit thread.
Every account checks its identity once against a government document. The photo is deleted afterward, but a fingerprint of the document stays, so the same document cannot open a second account. Unverified accounts cannot host rooms, speak in voice rooms or message strangers. Twelve verified reports closes an account for good. For diaspora communities, where the same troll can follow a group from app to app, I think that matters.
Here is what you should know before trying it:
- Translation is part of Hashti Plus, $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. Rooms, chats, calls and the walkie-talkie are free without it.
- The app's own menus and buttons are English today. A Farsi interface is being built. If you do not read any English, that will be frustrating for now.
- Hashti is new. There are far fewer rooms than on Telegram or Discord, and a Persian or Armenian room may be quiet at certain hours.
- Machine translation is good, not perfect. Poetry, jokes, slang and Finglish (Farsi typed in Latin letters) all lose something. I still tell people to learn the language if they can. Translation is a bridge, not a replacement.
- It is not for threads, archives or voting. If you want Reddit's shape, use a subreddit or a Facebook group.
How I would choose, by what you want
- You want to read and write in Farsi all day: Telegram groups and channels.
- You want your Armenian community, including older relatives: Facebook Groups, plus Telegram.
- You are learning a big language and want speaking practice: a Discord language server.
- You want to ask questions about a language in English: Reddit's language subreddits.
- You want to talk live with people who speak a different language than you, without copy and paste: Hashti, with Plus for translation.
- You want a mix: most people I know use two of these, one for their own language and one for crossing over.
Small habits that make language rooms better
Say which language you are comfortable in when you join a room. People adjust quickly when they know. If you are practicing, say so; most native speakers are kind when they know you are learning.
Write short sentences when you rely on translation. Long, nested sentences come out strange in any translator. Skip slang until you know the room.
And be patient with people writing in a second or third language, including in English. Everyone in a multilingual room is doing some work to be understood.
My bottom line
There is no Discord or Reddit that was built for Farsi or Armenian first. Your language community probably already lives on Telegram, Facebook or a Discord server, and you should go there. Where those apps stop is the moment two people do not share a language. That is the problem I care about most, and it is why Hashti exists. Try it if that is your problem. If it is not, the apps above will serve you well.
Hashti is free, and it is 18+. Hashti Plus — live translation, writing help and catch-ups — is $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, and nothing else costs anything. How rooms work is on the rooms page, and how reports and the ID check work is on the safety page.