Sorry, I am born to a Pakistani but cannot read Urdu

[ajazali]

Re: Sorry, I am born to a Pakistani but cannot read Urdu

@Mezhgan

I’d hate to be rude, but that is utterly ridiculous. You don’t have to speak the language spoken in a country in order to be informed about current events in said country or have an understanding of the local people’s opinions about said current events. It is quite possible to read or hear about current events taking place in a certain country in a language other than that country’s official language. For example, you don’t have to speak fluent Arabic to understand that the situation in Syria is appalling and that the average people living there are rather unhappy and troubled about it. Every major news publication in the world has asserted this at one point or another in a variety of languages and thus, it is quite easy for a person to become educated and up to date on this matter.

Similarly, it’s quite possible for Pakistanis living abroad to be informed about what’s going on in Pakistan through the variety of English language news mediums available. If we were to follow your logic, no one would ever be able to comment on any event taking place in any country whose language they didn’t speak and there would be no such concept as “world news.”

You are giving a very basic example, as you know what media is telling you even though that is subject to media’s likes and dislikes. I am talking about **knowing a country **, not getting the news from remote. And to know a country you have to speak with average people in a language they speak and understand. Pakistan is special case where one or two percent would know English and you cannot guess or generalize anything about average Pakistanis.

I said first-hand experience, connection with people and understanding the feeling of common people. Maybe you don’t find any difference between these two but if you comment on n matter in Syria, not necessarily on war and another person knowing local language and have been interacting with local people comment on the same matter, whose opinion will get more value?