This is both for those living abroad or in Pakistan.
How much effort do you as parents put in to teach your children Urdu. Do you encourage them to read urdu stories, magazines? Do you converse with them in English or you make an effort to talk to them in Urdu.
To all those who have been raised abroad, do you know how to read or write Urdu?
It’s sad that Urdu is depleting as far as its richness and literature goes as all the younger kids of today even in Pakistan openly express their dislike for Urdu as a subject. I hardly hear anybody discussing about good urdu novels, storybooks. We used to love reading the magazines like Taleem-o-Tarbyat in our childhood but I have barely seen anybody even talking about this.
**i live with my Bro and Bhabhi and their children. we speak to each other in our own language which is Poorbii Zabaan while children don't know Urdu at all...they do understand a little...like 10%...and we all speak to them in English.
i wish my nieces and nephew knew how to speak Urdu. They have NEVER been to India so when they go next year for the FIRST time, they will sure have problem communicating with relatives. they will need interpreters...lol
The thing is my Bro and Bhabhi never enforced Urdu in the house. they never insisted them to speak Urdu...which i think was NOT right...the kids should have been bilingual.**
I have seen several people of my generation and younger...who were born and raised in the US and have this funky Urdu with an American twang to it....and I don't understand the phenomenon. I've read that one of the things your accent is based upon is what you're exposed to. So when you grown up hearing your parents speak Urdu with the proper accent....how does that explain kids who can't speak the language and when they do attempt it.................their accents are very much like the Angrezi Desis that are sometimes seen in dramas and Bollywood movies with that really exaggerated gora accent. ***Yes, I know that not everyone is like this. But I don't understand the ones that are. And I'm probably going to get anday and tamatar hurled at me for this post.
For example, my aunt speaks in Urdu to her kids often enough. But DAMN....the kids can't even say the most basic of urdu words correctly. Her youngest daughter can't even say "theek hoon"....she'll pronounce it as "tiku"....what the hell's a "tiku"?? Or they'll say simple words like "acha".....as "aaaaachaaa".....how the hell do you mess up "acha"???? I personally feel like there's something "more" to it....such as perhaps a feeling of self-consciousness or embarrassment in speaking Urdu that they don't want to admit to. Her eldest daughter does not have this problems....she speaks Urdu fluently and with the correct accent and her English is fine as well.
I think one should at least try for their kids to at least understand and speak urdu ..if not write or read
And embarrassment is there..and sadly it's alot in Pakistan. Ive seen kids bragging about how they hate Urdu as a subject and they have never read an urdu story ever!
What's with the stigma? I think both languages should be equally important.
looking through that disney princess thread in parenting I was wondering if anyone read taleem o tarbiyat, naunehal, phool, etc. while growing up because thats what I read all my life.. I didnt even know about the disney princess for a very long time!!!
I did try reading bachoN ki duniya, bachoN ka baagh but it didnt catch me at all!! taleem o tarbiyat was the best!
re: the topic!! My husband and I speak urdu and I am hoping our son will pick up on that too.. I dont know if I will be making an extra effort for him to learn Urdu but I do wish to make an extra effort for him to learn Arabic mainly for it being a more popular language than Urdu and to understand n learn Quran better than just memorizing it like I did as a child... I am sure he will be speaking urdu as well so no biggie!!
I speak urdu in my house and if my children don't speak I don't talk to them. At least they should know and understand Urdu. Writing urdu is hard but probably they might be able to read it a little because they know how to read Quran and arabic script so they can sound out some words and thats about it which is sad.
looking through that disney princess thread in parenting I was wondering if anyone read taleem o tarbiyat, naunehal, phool, etc. while growing up because thats what I read all my life.. I didnt even know about the disney princess for a very long time!!!
I did try reading bachoN ki duniya, bachoN ka baagh but it didnt catch me at all!! taleem o tarbiyat was the best!
re: the topic!! My husband and I speak urdu and I am hoping our son will pick up on that too.. I dont know if I will be making an extra effort for him to learn Urdu but I do wish to make an extra effort for him to learn Arabic mainly for it being a more popular language than Urdu and to understand n learn Quran better than just memorizing it like I did as a child... I am sure he will be speaking urdu as well so no biggie!!
Well said. I grew up reading Nonehal and taleem o tarbiyat too.....and these magazines have done wonders for my Urdu. I think speaking Urdu with kids is extremely important but at the same time you need to bring out the interest in kids by having them to read interesting books and magazines.
When I was growing up there was a strict rule in our house to speak Urdu only. My mother used to teach me Urdu at home reading and writing and I used to go to Urdu classes every week. I could read, write and speak well enough to get an A at GCSE. I even used to write my own little poems and letters to Pakistan. Now however as I've lost practice I cannot write and reading is difficult.
I tried to get my younger cousins to speak Urdu, but I have given up, cos if their parents don't even speak Urdu with them then they'll never learn properly. Inshallah when I have children, I'm definitely going to try my best to teach them Urdu as well as I can.
Just to provide some insight, kids growing up outside have a gora accent because English is their first language, not Urdu. It doesn't matter if their parents speak Urdu at home...they hear English most of the time outside so they can't help but have an accent. I agree, it is bad if a "Pakistani" kid doesn't know Urdu...language is the main connection to your culture.
It's just like how children in Pakistan go to British and American schools from childhood but they still have accents. They can speak English fluently but many of them have a strong Pakistani accent while speaking in English. Their professors speak English fluently and some profs are even from outside, but still they can't grasp the authentic English accent. (no offence to anyone)
One remedy for kids growing up outside is to visit Pakistan frequently, every couple of years maybe. That is the only way they can get the authentic accent, when they are literally surrounded by Urdu.
I have seen several people of my generation and younger...who were born and raised in the US and have this funky Urdu with an American twang to it....and I don't understand the phenomenon. I've read that one of the things your accent is based upon is what you're exposed to. So when you grown up hearing your parents speak Urdu with the proper accent....how does that explain kids who can't speak the language and when they do attempt it.................their accents are very much like the Angrezi Desis that are sometimes seen in dramas and Bollywood movies with that really exaggerated gora accent. ***Yes, I know that not everyone is like this. But I don't understand the ones that are. And I'm probably going to get anday and tamatar hurled at me for this post.
We were never allowed to speak English to our parents as kids, it was always punjabi. Me and my brothers spoke English amongst outselves though so we picked up both languages before starting school. The Aunti who taught us Quran was urdu speaking, so my brothers and I started picking that up from her. I'm glad I can speak Urdu and punjabi fluently, it's quite upsetting to see older generations struggling to keep up with their grandchildren because they can't speak the same language. I'll definitely be doing the same when I have kids - urdu and punjabi will always come first.
And yes, trips to Pakistan definitely help. I've visited every year since I was 9 and people there sometimes don't believe I was born and raised in the UK.
When we were younger we had the rule ‘No English’, I still remember our grandpa would get uber pissed whenever he heard us talking in English. My older brother didn’t get exposed to English until school and he’s four years older, so by the time I went to school I was exposed to it a lot more due to him. However I think as we grew older,the rule kind of vanished, maybe it was because my grandparents moved out (to live with my chacha’s). I also only went to Pakistan once when I was 10…I am sure that makes a huge difference.
So the older siblings, my older brother and me, can speak Punjabi fluently with no problems however my younger sisters and brother aren’t as perfect. It’s funny because the younger they get the worst they get. It’s funny that RV mentioned it, my younger sister has this southern twang in her Punjabi, actually she has it in her English too and we have always been in California so we don’t know where she gets it from.
Between siblings we mainly speak English (we still have our punjabi times though) but with mom its always punjabi and with dad its a mix. While I can understand Urdu perfectly fine, I don’t feel comfortable speaking it. I hate that I’m not comfortable with Urdu because (at least the people around me-besides family) only speak Urdu and don’t understand Punjabi. However my parents and my older brother can read, write and speak Urdu. Out of the blue my parents will get on my case about learning to read and write urdu…but I can’t be brothered now its too late they should have thought about it earlier
My 3 years old daughter speaks urdu and little punjabi and gud english. We speak urdu only with them, bt once we start play group she was introduced to english.
We were told by her pedi that its great to talk to them in urdu, if we are concerned, choose a particular time like story time, bath time and start communicating in english.
My parents do not speak to us in English - ever. We have always conversed in Urdu. As sisters, we might speak to each other in English with Urdu mixed in but Urdu will always be a part of us. When we were kids, my mom wouldn't even respond until we spoke in Urdu - no English in the house.
Do we read it? I read it but my reading is slow. I try but its a work in progress. I want to be able to read and write it VERY well someday, Inshallah.
Half the desis coming from Pakistan can't speak Urdu properly. Look at tv shows, and I am not talking actors bit avg joes that are being interviewed they butcher the beautiful language.
Heavy accents exist I can usually tell an avg Pathan vs punjabi vs Sindhi by their accents. It is then completely understandable why kids who grow up here don't speak Urdu properly.
In my household Urdu was the rule, grew up speaking English and Urdu and
As far as literature goes, the quality of what is there for kids had steadily declined as far back as the 80s.
The ishtiaq Ahmed effect..man that dudes writings became even lamer but he laughed all his way to the bank
Aaj kal to a fresh of the boat girl from Karachi says "marrrkit" instead of market with a rolled r. Humarey bachey toh becharey yahan paida huey hain.
hehe agreed. That's what I am saying.
It's a shame Pakistani kids living in Pak now have such incorrect Urdu..
But I also wanted to know about ppl in the west, do they still make an effort to speak Urdu completely at home, because I have hardly met kids here who manage to speak Urdu at all. Mostly do understand it but cannot reply back in urdu. Just a thought !
