All you guppies living abroad!!

Hangout GupShup Cafe
21

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

:hehe:] I guess anu’ bhai needs no introduction when it comes to urdu. Sir jee is the betaab badshah of urdu and poetry :salute:]

Right I’ll make a start on you questions. I wsa born in England and my family and I, moved back home to Mirpur, :salute:] Azad Kashmir :salute:] when I was 18 months.

To cut this long dastaan short, I went to a overseas grammer school, completed 4 jamatein and was 1 and half weeks into my 5aanchvee, when we sadly moved back here for good. :(]

So, I have been partly raised between a.k and Inglastaan.

Did I enjoy it? Man i loved it and cherished every bit of my life back home and loved going to school. I can read, write and speak urdu, shukar alhamdulilah and I’m extremely grateful 1stly to the almighty and 2condly to my validain, 4 taking us back home and now 11 years on, I haven’t forgotten what I learn’t.

I also picked up panjabi as i’ve went along but have’t received any formal teaching as such in punjabi. It’s not that hard really.

Right and what’s my viewpoint of it now… well I want to study urdu further in the near future :insha:] as 1 can never stop learning, that’s how I see it anyways.

Well now coming to your last ?.. I don’t have any kids :D] as of yet but, If I had any, then I would start teaching them @ home and send them to local community centres from age 4.

As I myself, had buniyaadi taleem from my ammi hazoor from age 4, nothing over the top, just basic pati, writing on takhti etc and I started prep {nursery] when I was 5.

I feel the mahaul 1 lives in really helps the child learn quickly and adapt to things in general. This worked for me i felt, we had people around us who spoke urdu, kashmiri, pashtu, some hindko etc and that helped me in some way, as you picked up new words from your elders as you went along etc

I hope all that helps.

peace out :flower1:]

22

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

do you guys have spelling bee in urdu? it will really help

23

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

^ no thanks..u indians wuld probably win that too...nerds..

24

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

no problem speaking it… reading can be done too if given enuff time :blush:
but no way can i write anything besides my name … dont know if writing is as important as speaking it… my mom used to want all us kids to know how to write urdu…got us books.. set aside time for it… so we could write letters to her in the language (little did she know that emailing would become so big. and written letters would die a fast death)… but we (the kids) just never thought it that important…

she still tries to rope me in with "what if there is a saazish going on in ure in-laws.. and ppl write things out in urdu..and send each other letters! what will u do :mad: "

MHMMMM

25

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

^ :hehe:

u can scan those letters and post it on gupshup. we can translate it for u :smiley:

26

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

:rotfl:
it’s betaaj, not betaab :salute:

27

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

thank you everyone for your great input!!

Mr. fraudia…hmmmm…i would love to know how often u were taught urdu , in early years …lets say on primary level…n how often u practiced writing , if u can recall it ,…???

uzzy…thanx a lot for your detailed reply …it was really encouraging …!!:slight_smile:

meeni…i think u r in uk…??? so , do you ppl get variety of languages to select one for GCSE…(sorry i don’t have a clue) …is this choice offered only in uk …or elsewhere too in british schools…???
i think here they offer french or spanish …but i’m not sure ???

smooth guy…thanx a lot …the family you mentioned looks like mine …:slight_smile:
though i’m not practicing ‘only urdu’ right now …as its just a start for their english n they need some coaching …but i’m quite strict about mixing languages while talking …it has to be ONE language …either urdu or english!

Femme the bright kid :smiley: …how’s your urdu now…???:slight_smile:

sadzzzz…hehe…ur name n ‘pakistan zindabad’ …how cute,…!!!:slight_smile:

umar talib…i would love to know what were these opportunities actually…???
i’ll really appreciate if you could elaborate…!!:slight_smile:

sadiyah…u were raised abroad…??? n u did some courses in karachi at what age…??? were you forced to learn or it was your own choice …??? did u find it hard…???(sorry too many questions)

suroor…thats great!!..it as same for me …plus my mother was quite keen to make sure we develop a taste for urdu literature …she still has a big library …which was started when i was a kid

sehar,…aww don’t tell me learning till grade 5 didn’t help …i think u r under estimating yourself …r u talking about the style in writing (expression) or was it meant for the actual word writing …???

LUC…thanks for a detailed reply …hmmm…so u learned it in pakistan…i think its easier to learn a language when u r surrounded by people who speak it !!!

khawateen…:hehe: your mum’s incentive is quite great …though it isn’t working (or is it???)
well, i know emails n stufff …n i hardly ever write letters …but there is soo much more to urdu if you can write n read …i don’t want my kids to miss out on those …someone remembers ‘aankh micholi’ kids magazine …it used to be the best urdu monthly back then …n i still have many certificates n gifts i recieved for my writings in that …then i wrote for a few times in ‘phool’ too (nawa-e-waqt group) so i definitely can’t stand it if my kids don’t know a thing of urdu literature!!

:slight_smile:

28

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

I can speak read, write and Urdu. It is because from the early age my parents always spoke Urdu at home. I was born in Islamabad, but when I was 2 my parents first moved out of Pakistan. We went to Iran, there we had a Pakistani School, so right from the early age I was taught to read and write Urdu. (this was in late 70's)

Then we moved to several different countries, Belgium (early 80's), Germany (mid 80's), then a little while in UK (1989/90) and Finally now in Holland since 1991.

This also gave me the chance to learn all those languages spoken in those countries. I only went back to Pakistan twice in 1981 I think and again in 1990. So you can say I was totally out of touch with Urdu and Pakistan, etc. But only because Urdu was the language spoken was the key for me being able to speak Urdu.

29

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

No problem.

The answer to your question is that many languages can be taken at GCSE/A Level. It depends on the school you go to and the area you live in and also the exam boards. If you live in an area with many Urdu speakers then Urdu may be offered by the school as a course.
In my case I was offered a choice between Spanish and French, so I chose Spanish but I got my dad to write a letter to my school to enter me for Urdu as well. I had no lessons at school… it was extra. I took the reading, writing and listening papers at my school but I had to go to a different school to the my Speaking.

30

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

chacha ghalib and iqbal, along with aatish and mir have had a good influence on my urdu....
i think if one can read and understand their writing, he shud be declared an authority in urdu language....

Once again ....
Once again ....
31

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

Ok that is true. It may be easy for people who have lived in Pakistan or have learnt lots from their parents etc but for some people it is not as easy.

32

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

I have been ‘raised abroad’ as I was not even born in Pk. However I can speak Urdu fluently without any problem. When I try very hard I can even read Urdu, but very slowly. That’s about it.

Once again ....
33

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

Beta half our politicians cant read or write period, forget Urdu. Sheeeesh.

34

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

agreed…i shud have been more specific…i meant this for a pakistani raised in “pakistan” who can read and write in english but cannot read and write in urdu…now i am confused…
BTW chachu the politicians of any country who cannot read or write “period” are definitely loosers..i donot object to that

Once again ....
35

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

^^ I agree look at Bush :D The guy is a Harvard and Yale grad. I think my dogs are more educated than him. Atleast they listen and sit down when you tell them to. Bush just attacks anything that moves.
Bad Doggy.

36

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

I can read and write, can also do creative writing. Man of many talents or may be jack of all trades. I still think i am cool :P

----> TimePass
37

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

^^ Amazing similarities between Buddy and You. He thinks he is cool as well, but sheena is more creative.

38

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

Yay Urrdoo kya balaa hauta hay?

Sohni de nakhrai
39

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

I lived for 10 years in Pak before moving to the US so I knew the basics of urdu and have to an extent carried that with me still. I do every now and then try to read magazines in urdu or urdu poetry to reinforce my reading skills. Unfortunately my writing has suffered as I don't ever have to write in urdu. My spoken urdu is pretty good alhamdulillah but sometimes I do have to translate words from english to urdu in my mind before I speak as I have a hard time carrying on a full conversation in urdu w/out inserting english words.

My brothers who have grown up here know how to speak but cannot read/write. Have they ever had the need to read/write urdu? No. So for them and most people that have grown up here, the spoken urdu is good enough.

40

Re: All you guppies living abroad!!

In my books it’s pretty good :smiley: I can read write and speak in urdu. I haven;t written in urdu for yrs now so sometimes when i do take the time to write up something just for the heck of it I have to think about the spelling for a bit but it usually comes back to mind and thats only for some words with the ‘seen’ swaad’ issues or ‘tay’ and toin’ etc.