Intelligible with Hindi, but has formal vocabulary borrowed from Arabic and Persian. The second or third language of most Pakistanis for whom it is not the mother tongue. National language. Grammar. Arabic script in Nastaliq style with several extra characters used.
Urdu is the third largest language spoken in the world.
The word “Urdu” is from the Turkish language.
Urdu has 37 alphabets
Besides Pakistan Urdu is also spoken in:
India
Population 48,062,000 in India (1997 IMA).
Alternate names ISLAMI, UNDRI, URUDU
Dialects DAKHINI (DAKANI, DECCAN, DESIA, MIRGAN), PINJARI, REKHTA (REKHTI). Dakhini is freer of Persian and Arabic loans than Urdu. Rekhta is a form of Urdu used in poetry. National language. Arabic script for both Urdu and Dakhini.
Mauritius
Population 64,000 in Mauritius (1993 Johnstone).
Often used in government and politics.
South Africa
Population 170,000 South Asian Muslims in South Africa (1987).
Most speak English. Merchants, traders, industrial, professional (medicine, computers), clerical workers, craftsmen.
Is urdu dying as a language? It is the official language of only one country -Pakistan. Although, according to the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan, Urdu was to become the state language (i.e. used in offices)besides the national language.
On the very important medium - internet, even while conversing we use English and that too in Roman English. Is that good? Does that mean that after a few years we might abolish the Arabic/Persian alphabet of Urdu with English? What is your opinion on this?
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*Originally posted by Islamabad: *
On the very important medium - internet, even while conversing we use English and that too in Roman English. Is that good? Does that mean that after a few years we might abolish the Arabic/Persian alphabet of Urdu with English? What is your opinion on this?
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its teh same with any other language, they use english alphabet online in chat etc.
being how large teh population of urdu speakers is, I doubt it is a dying language, or will die out anytime soon. as far as the script goes, there was some movement a while back to adopt roman alphabet like the turks did but the movement never gained ground. Is it possible, sure, is it likely, no.
When I was visiting Singapore, Taiwan, Tokyo and even Hong Kong, I noticed that most natives use local language key-boards and local language (Mandarin, Japanese etc) encoded browsers. I am sure they are also familiar with English, as they speak English pretty well, but they do make a very concious effort to have their local language alive in all aspects of their life, including online experiences.
Even here in the States, many high-tech company employees of Oriental origins set their computers to view Chinese or Japanese characters/websites and use local websites and similar key-boards too. All their emails are sent in their own language too.
Point being, there is probably more we can do if we care about Urdu, without sacrificing the need to learn English or French or whatever language we learn to work and excel in international job market and gain expertise in our chosen professions. We can use Urdu more in our every day lives, if we want to.
The problem is that Urdu just does not have as much exposure as some other languages, because, hand-to-heart, there are not as many Urdu users in the world of Internet as there are for English, French, Chinese or even Hindi. Therefore, even multi-lingual websites often times ignore Urdu (Hotmail or Google are couple of examples).
urdu was made by utilizing words from other language, adding more words to it grows the language. I am sure podeena and chutney are imported words as well
the words that you suggested seem to have persian touch in some cases as well.
I have many Arab friends who all chat with me in Arabic on the MSN messenger. Actually they spend 90% of their time on the internet on Arabic sites. We have a very confused nation. Half the students in Pakistan study in Urdu, while the rest in English. I myself studied urdu till class five and then switched to English. The alarming thing is that even small children in Pakistan know "sixty five" more that "painsath". Even in daily use Urdu is not being used properly. Our leaders especially use a alternate word for any word for any word they do not want the nation to understand:
"Logistical support" to America
"Reconstruction and Development"
"Accountability Bureau"
etc............
ActuallyI love Arabic more than any other language. English is good since a lot of Knowledge is in English. English is an internatinal languge but we Pakistanis are loosing our identity which we shuould have tried to strengthen. Many industrialized and technologically advanced countries use their own languages completely. Chinese in China, Japanese in Japan, French in France and many north African countries, German etc.... I think we are the only country (pakistan) who have not paid attention towards manking a truly Pakistani culture and society. (I do not like nationalism and only believe on Islamic nationalism but to forge unity within we need some degree of Pakistaniat)
Maybe the well educated people in Pakistan will be able to take advantage of many of the websites in English like this one, but what about the rest. The only language which atleast all can understand is Urdu.
Another reason for having urdu throughout would be to finish the atmosphere of English speakers superiority in Pakistan. It has been observed that anybody who can speak English well can exert a lot of pressure on other non-English speakers. Since it is used in offices, I hardly find even an application written properly. Many of the subordinates in offices may even hesitate in expressing themselves properly because of lack of English!
I guess Sindhis are better at having Sindhi as their state language. Punjab on the other hand, has Urdu being used in offices. The Federal Govt (instead of Wifaqi Hukumat ) is more impressed by the West.;)
the funny ting i saw was the "urdu dictionary board" in karachi. I mean it really should be idara-e-lughat-e-urdu or idarah e urdu lughat, I can understand that they translate it and write urdu disctionary board in english but even in urdu its written as urdu dictionary board.
I think urdu itself is a very sweet language, its very appealing and easy on the tongue. However, Punjabi is rough and not soo poetic.
Hey let me ask you guys this. When I'm trying to learn Urdu or Farsi, I don't seem to have a hard time saying any word, it comes very easy for me. Do any of you guys have a hard time with any of the Arabic sounds? I only ask b/c I have seen at times non Arabs have a hard time with some of the Arabic letters and sound like the "haa", it should have a long sound to it. So, any of you have trouble with some Arabic words or sounds that you cannot say?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Fraudz: *
the funny ting i saw was the "urdu dictionary board" in karachi. I mean it really should be idara-e-lughat-e-urdu or idarah e urdu lughat, I can understand that they translate it and write urdu disctionary board in english but even in urdu its written as urdu dictionary board.
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Because "dictionary" is also used in Urdu as a regular word :~p
Because "dictionary" is also used in Urdu as a regular word :~p
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"also" but a recent addition. and we have a word for it already that is widely used in urdu literature. same situation with board :D
anyhow u can go to urdu bazaar and see bookstores with teh book depot written in urdu, and the way they join the characters makes it read more like bukud poo than book depot.
what can i say, I am supposedly a confused farangi desi :D
Languages add new words all the time, disocnnection between dialects is a common problem in most languages. Chinese is not one language. I am sure Xtreme or Disco Duck can confirm how much English dialect changes every couple of miles in the UK. A lot needs to be done to promote the language, I agree, a lot also needs to be done to promote regional languages. perhaps Universal Arabic script software for all Arabic script languages like persian, pashto, Sindhi etc
I think Mush opened an urdu University recently as well.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Majestic: *
I think urdu itself is a very sweet language, its very appealing and easy on the tongue. However, Punjabi is rough and not soo poetic.
Hey let me ask you guys this. When I'm trying to learn Urdu or Farsi, I don't seem to have a hard time saying any word, it comes very easy for me. Do any of you guys have a hard time with any of the Arabic sounds? I only ask b/c I have seen at times non Arabs have a hard time with some of the Arabic letters and sound like the "haa", it should have a long sound to it. So, any of you have trouble with some Arabic words or sounds that you cannot say?
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Sweet indeed is every language. I used to think Punjabi is rude. When I used it a lot and listened to it, I actually started liking it and it didn't sound rude anymore.
Arabic is very easy. Since urdu is a ladder to Arabic, one can learn it much easily than others would. We have to make sure that the haa sound is pronounced the way it should be. To read the Quran, which we should, all pronounciations should be right. Just like we make an effort to speak good English (well now it comes naturally), speaking Arabic in the right way should also be a priority.
If the Arabic words are not pronounced right, the meaning changes a lot.
