I know a couple who are born and raised here in Canada. Both of them hardly speak any Urdu but they are determined to teach their kid Urdu. I know they are going to fail miserably since both of them are grammatically way off and their accents are not even close but I like the effort they are putting in.
What would you do if you were in their shoes? Is language that important?
I'ld take the kid and myself to a learning institue or spend maximum time with someone who was fluent in urdu.
I'll make sure they speak it better than I do (if I ever have kids that is)
It depends on how old the kids are. If they're young, don't teach them outside the environment, it has to be in context otherwise they'll hate you for ever. Kids pick up languages in the natural environment very quickly. If they can afford it, there's nothing better than a trip to Pakistan. The TV, the kids story books (not the qaida's), the urdu speaking friends (kids only) etc will all help.
here at our Masjid sunday school, we have urdu classes and Arabic for small kids. What about the grandparents?
Ladies that is very sweet of you, but in the big scheme of things Urdu is not an international language. I can see an emotional bond and identity issue, but if parents feel they have an identity without really knowing much of Urdu then I don’t see why it is so important for them to teach their kids. It sounds more like a psychological issue than a language one.
Having said all that, I find abcd/bbcd (dutch ;) ) speaking Urdu/Punjabi quite sexy. :-)
Urdu classes. They were a lot of fun, at least for me. I never did my homework though and was on the same lesson for about a year. :D They were still fun though.
Fayz, international or not, I just think it’s a beautiful language. I’m very glad that my dad took the time to teach us to read/write urdu.
I want my kids to speak it fluently with their grandparents. SO yeah it’s a psychological ‘issue’ 
PS- 
I honestly think the masjid sunday school idea for teaching urdu is terrible. It probably puts alot of people off urdu for life, especially if they are regularly beaten for getting their daals and zaals mixed up.. Kids need a huge amount of stimulation which a lot of masjids simply cannot provide. And urdu has to be one of the hardest languages ever to learn, if only going by the grammar.
Most of my class fellows in high-school were foreign born Pakistanis who had come to Pakistan just for the sake of learning urdu (and culture too I guess). They had separate classes for urdu..called ‘Easy Urdu’. But those ba$tards never went to Easy urdu classes 
cuz our urdu teacher was too much fun to tease …but they learnt their Urdu alright…even got married to desi girls 
Lol, fayz, I still have my urdu school text books. I spent a couple of months in Pakistan. It was the first time I read Insha and I loved it (or the bits I could understand with help from parents).
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by XTC: *
I honestly think the masjid sunday school idea for teaching urdu is terrible. It probably puts alot of people off urdu for life, especially if they are regularly beaten for getting their daals and zaals mixed up.. Kids need a huge amount of stimulation which a lot of masjids simply cannot provide. And urdu has to be one of the hardest languages ever to learn, if only going by the grammar.
[/QUOTE]
I agree. Learning new languages is not exciting for everyone ...they should put more research and effort in teaching Urdu in foreign countries. Masjids are not gonna cut it.
^
say what?
And like fayz said, it's hardly a necessity. No harm in learning something outside of the curriculum, but really isn't a must in my opinion.
apni zabaaan apni pehchaan.. waisay bhi urdu is a really sweet language.. if one knows it properly i am sure they will enjoy reading texts in urdu more than anyother langauge, just my opinion
ever since i came to canada i miss urdu .. there is barely a chance when i leave a well written piece of urdu pass by me without reading it.. i guess its just coz thats the only courses i got A's in back home
urdu hai jiska naam, hum hi jaante haiN daagH
saare jahaaN meiN dhoom humari zabaaN ki hai
good luck to those parents teaching their kids urdu .. its a good thing and i appriciate their efforts
I am teaching my kid urdu and I hope to teach arabic later...god willing.
I learned urdu at Sunday school in England. It was a lot of fun. Not strict at all. I found it easier to pick up the alphabet as I had already finished reading the Quran.
Having some form of a cultural influence also makes a difference. My parents would watch a lot of Pakistani drama's which unlike your typical Bollywood film shows a lot of morals and cultural values about Pakistani family's.
If you were to ever meet me in person you would think I was an abcd or whatever that phrase is. I'm very British/Canadian and always will be. However, I understand the language and the culture fluently.
So, although I was born and raised in the west and I have an accent, when left with no choice but to talk in Urdu, I can.
I would want my children to have the same option :)
urdu? my kidz [if i ever have any inshallah] r gona be learning urdu, punjabi AND arabic [inshallah] :D
I speak punjabi at home, so my kids will learn punjabi from me inshallah.
My wife would be an urdu speaking girl, so they'll learn urdu from her.
Ofcourse they'll learn how to speak arabic by learning how to read Quran.
And last but not least, they'll learn English at school.
In other words, inshallah they'll be able to speak/read/write Punjabi, Urdu, Arabic, and English just like me.
Aslam O Alaikum Faiz.
Ya i think it is important that my child(ren) learn
Urdu at least talk Urdu coz if they go to Pk and
they don't speak a word Urdu then how they will
talk to them daddi and daddajaan and other family there.
So i will teach my child Urdu from beginning.
But if they dont learn it for beginnig then i will learn them.
Coz it is important.
Allah Hafiz.
In there position? I'd get a sat dish and sit down and watch some quality programming with my kids. Other than that, a nice trip to Pakistan would be good for everyone.