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

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

Some information to think about.

Punjabi is second largest immigrant language spoken in Canada - Newseastwest: The Indian diaspora, Bollywood

The first Punjabi class in Canada started in 1908 at the Khalsa Diwan Society gurdwara in Vancouver.

The first Punjabi newspaper in Canada –Swadesh Sewak – was started in Vancouver in 1910.

Canada’s first Punjabi book – Dushman di Khoj Bhal – (Search of the Enemy) by Munsha Singh Dukhi was printed in Vancouver in 1914.

Today, Punjabi is the third most spoken language in Canada with at least 460,000 speakers.

Surrey, with close to 100,000 speakers of Punjabi, has now become the largest Punjabi-speaking community outside Punjab.
Brampton in Ontario is close second with 91,000 speakers of Punjabi.

How Punjabi in Canada became the third most spoken language - Newseastwest: The Indian diaspora, Bollywood

The first Punjabi class in Canada started in 1908 at the Khalsa Diwan Society gurdwara in Vancouver.
The first Punjabi newspaper in Canada –Swadesh Sewak – was started in Vancouver in 1910.
Canada’s first Punjabi book – Dushman di Khoj Bhal – (Search of the Enemy) by Munsha Singh Dukhi was printed in Vancouver in 1914.
Today, Punjabi is the third most spoken language in Canada with at least 460,000 speakers.
Surrey, with close to 100,000 speakers of Punjabi, has now become the largest Punjabi-speaking community outside Punjab.
Brampton in Ontario is close second with 91,000 speakers of Punjabi.

Commets:

While Canada population is not so big compared to overall north America, at this stage after a little over 100 years, with many generations, Punjabi continued its progress in a country where it was not spoken ever before.

Spanish continued to grow and yes, it is mainly because of close proximity of Spanish speaking countries, the Spanish speaking people did not lose touch even after migration.

Largest Arab population (Both Christians, Muslims and Jews concentrated in One city of Michigan namely Dearborn. The streets after decades still have signs in Arabic.

Chinese continued their heritage for a long time in many areas of North America as well.

**

The beauty of a society is in its multiculturalism, and not in homogeneity.**

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

Punjabi has a religious connotation though. More importantly though an infrastructure was/has been built for it in Canada/many parts of Canada. Also, you need to keep in mind punjabi immigration into canada is a continual process, not to mention the major influx didn’t happen until the early 90’s so we’re still only in the first/second generation, and very few are in the third/fourth gen.

The main reasons for this occurrence (point of the thread) can be summed up as:

Urdu vs Local/Ethnic Language. I met a family here in which the kids speak Sindhi only and not Urdu because their parents speak Sindhi with them.

Lack of resources. Arabic,Punjabi have an infrastructure built which makes it easier (comparatively) to learn. Blame everyone for that. Blame no one for that. You can go either way, but it is what it is. There aren’t that many programs/resources to pursue it and/or learn it.

People don’t care. Can’t expect everyone too, especially when you get to beyond the first or second generation. This happens with all languages/people. Often just the food remains, the rest of the culture dissipates.

Lack of effort on parents. Can’t really blame them though..it’s not like most of them have any experience or preparation for teaching a language.

Lack of interaction in that lingo leads to less learning/vocab expansion and also fixing of mistakes.

–
A point about your last post. These languages are still being spoken as a result of the continual immigration and not because of the people living there for 1/2/3/etc generations. In USA, look at the Irish, Italians, Japanese, and Chinese who’ve been around for 2-3 generations…they all speak English.

The very few families/groups that can maintain their first language communities have an built up a infrastructure, and/or have a tremendous population in the country area, and given their language some sort of importance. I think people will give more importance to Pashto over Urdu, Punjabi over Urdu, Sindhi over Urdu, and so forth.

So yeah

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

My mom taught me how to read/write Urdu (I’m better at the reading) through text books she got from my dad’s friend who was a principal at the Pakistani school ten minutes from where we lived. I think speaking/understanding is more important than being able to read/write it. And if parents speak Urdu in the home, it baffles me as to how the kids cannot emulate the parents or construct a basic sentence or why they speak with a twang (that sounds affected) when you’re exposed to the language daily/regularly. I know there are exceptions but I’ve actually come across Desis of the the younger generation that are not only ashamed of speaking Urdu, they’ll mock those who can manage to. It’s sad because I haven’t come across such “consciousness” in Hispanics, Arabs, etc. Again, I understand there are exceptions, but this has been my experience.

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

This is due to the influx Punjabi Sikhs to western Canada after 1984. 95% of the Canadian born Sikhs can’t read or write Punjabi and I doubt that their future generations will be proficient in the language.

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

Couldn’t agree more. Pakistanis take note.

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

Zaban-e-yar-e mun Turkie, wa mun Turkie nami danum,
Che khush boodi 'gar boodi zabanash dar dahane mun.

&
/پارسی گو گرچه تازی خوشتر است
عشق را خود صد زبان دیگر است

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

Maybe our friends from the other side of the border can chip in but as far as I know and told, India has no national language. They have two ‘official’ languages -Hindi and English. Hindi is more popular in North whereas English takes a preference in South. All in all, knowing the respective regional mother tongue is just as important and useful. Pakistan should certainly look at India to see how she should also encourage and accept people preserving and communicating in their mother tongues. Maybe be a generous guess but an average educated and well travelled Indian could easily be a quadrilingual.

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

On the negative side - this language caused troubles in Pakistan twice(and one of the reasons of EP separation)! Sad! On the positive side - it is a language of communication between the speakers of two different languages within Pakistan and outside Pakistan!

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

being unable to read urdu is one thing and having no desire to learn is the other thing. those who dont even wish to learn urdu should think twice before claiming the right of commenting on everything happens in Pakistan. you dont know urdu or any local language means you dont know what actully average Pakistani thinks and feels. so, that implies you would not know what Pakistan really is.

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

Diwana, despite being the national language, I think there are still places where Urdu doesn’t have much of a presence. In such places, the local language is the primary language and Urdu may be viewed as secondary by the inhabitants. This is a possible reason for a Pakistani person not speaking Urdu despite being born in Pakistan.

I have a Pakistani friend whose family is from Peshawar and he and his family only speak Pashto and Dari (and English). For the longest time, I thought he was a fellow countryman and didn’t even realise he was Pakistani. In a conversation regarding languages, I once asked his father if they spoke Urdu as I’d never heard them speak it before. He said he never learned because he never saw the need as most matters in Peshawar can be sorted out in Pashto and that he never suggested his family learn it because he doesn’t see a use for it here (in the UK).

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What your information fails to disclose is how many of the current speakers of the language are 3rd gen or beyond..look it up. Heritage language attrition at 3rd gen and beyond is quite significant. Often the communities keep the language going due to new immigrants and not older immigrants subsequent generations staying fluent.

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

I don’t mean to be rude…but no one gets to say who can say or do what. People in Pakistan have no problem coming up with their own theories about Western Pakistanis so why can’t they bear a few comments? This thread is a prime example of it. “Oh these Westerners are so ill bred…they don’t know Urdu”. Why can’t I respond?

Language is great…it doesn’t have to be Urdu. I’d prefer my kids learn Arabic and Spanish…both useful and highly practical. One will help them understand their deen and the other will help them gain leverage in their careers.

Disclaimer: Urdu IMHO is a beautiful language rich in history and character. I have nothing against it and most probably my kids will learn it because I speak Urdu primarily in my home. That’s how I learned it. But I don’t think it should be a focus point.

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

I vote for a “dislike” button on GS.

Everyone who is hating on non-resident Pakistanis, please stop hating on your own people. What exactly are non-resident Pakistanis doing to harm you personally? Are they coming back to steal “your” land? Are they claiming rights over “your” prized possessions? Are they defaming Pakistan or Pakistanis? What exactly is it that bugs people about them? I fail to understand why our people have so much hatred for each other. Why can’t we live and let live?

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

hey… you are forgetting. You are a moderator..you edit his post and give infraction points…that ought to teach him a lesson :smiley:

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

Lisaani fasaddat :cobra:

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

You think you are better than others? showing off mushkil urdu n all that :mad:

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

jalti pe tail daalna ik aasan muhawra hai :sunnyboy:

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

^You’ve emphasized Arabic because it helps us to understand the Quran and deen, which is important. You’ve emphasized Spanish because of it’s prevalence in the US and it helping one become marketable career-wise. I understand that deen and career are important/essential aspects of one’s life…but isn’t family and heritage also an important aspect of life? Why is it being dismissed or downplayed? That doesn’t make sense to me…kya yeh cheezain zindagi ha hissa nahi?

So facilitation of communication with your family (both immediate and extended) takes a backseat to career? These are the people you see everyday…they are your parents or connected to them…they are a part of you. Ghairon k saath Spanish main baat karna is more zaroori than being able to converse with your family? Reading and writing na sahi…but you should be able to speak/understand it.

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

Usted bro enojado?

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

May be they don’t perceive need for this. Not specific to Reha or any other non-resident Pakistani poster here, but there definitely exists this thought in non-resident Pakistanis ‘jis gaon jaana hi nahin uska rasta kia poochna’.