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| '''Urdu'''(اردو) is an ] which originated in the 13th century. Urdu along with ] is called the "]". Hindustani is the third most extensively understood language in the world after ] and ].According to a recent Science magazine article,it is going to surpass English in the next 20 years,becoming the second most understood language in the world. Urdu is the 20th most spoken language in the world, spoken by about 60 million people as a mother tongue, and about 110 million including second language speakers. It is the official language of ] and one of the official languages of ]. | '''Urdu'''(اردو) is an ] which originated in the 13th century. Urdu along with ] is called the "]". Hindustani is the third most extensively understood language in the world after ] and ]. According to a recent Science magazine article, it is going to surpass English in the next 20 years, becoming the second most understood language in the world. Urdu is the 20th most spoken language in the world, spoken by about 60 million people as a mother tongue, and about 110 million including second language speakers. It is the official language of ] and one of the official languages of ]. | ||
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Revision as of 07:36, 1 April 2004
Urdu(اردو) is an Indo-European language which originated in the 13th century. Urdu along with Hindi is called the "Hindustani language". Hindustani is the third most extensively understood language in the world after English and Mandarin. According to a recent Science magazine article, it is going to surpass English in the next 20 years, becoming the second most understood language in the world. Urdu is the 20th most spoken language in the world, spoken by about 60 million people as a mother tongue, and about 110 million including second language speakers. It is the official language of Pakistan and one of the official languages of India.
| Urdu (اردو ) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Pakistan, India and 19 other countries |
| Total speakers: | 104 Million |
| Ranking: | 20 |
| Genetic classification: |
Indo-European |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | Pakistan, India |
| Regulated by: | not regulated by a language academy |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1: | ur |
| ISO 639-2: | urd |
| SIL: | URD |
|
Grammatically, Urdu and Hindi are considered dialects of a single language which differ mainly in vocabulary where Urdu has borrowed from Persian and Arabic and Hindi has borrowed from Sanskrit. Simply put, Urdu is very similar to Hindi, more so one fluent in Urdu could understand a movie in Hindi. The vocabulary is different in some respects (similar to how some Americans speakers say "soda" where others say "pop" ), but one can make oneself understood well enough to be understandable.
Urdu is written in a derivative of the Persian alphabet which is itself derivative of the Arabic alphabet. It is read from right to left. Urdu is similar in appearance and letters to Arabic, Farsi, and Pashto. Urdu differs in appearance from Arabic in that it used the more complex and beautiful nastaliq script whereas Arabic tends to the more modern naskh. Nastaliq is notoriously difficult to typeset, so Urdu newspapers are made from hand-written masters. Although the styles are different, people who can read Urdu can read Arabic, as Arabic uses the same alphabet but with fewer letters. There are efforts underway to develop more practical Urdu support on computers. (Hindi, although it has common words, is written in the Devanagari alphabet).
Urdu is a lingua franca among many people in that region, but it is not necessarily everyone's first language. Only 8% of Pakistanis speak Urdu as their primary language, but nearly everyone in the country can understand spoken Urdu. As a result, Urdu is used as a more formal language while people use their various mother tongues (such as Punjabi) in casual speech.
Transliterations of Urdu into Roman letters usually omit many subtle pronunciations which have no equivalent in English or other languages which are written with the Roman alphabet, such as a sharp exhale at the end of certain words. Some books try to address this problem by accenting vowels and the 'h' letters, but this can just make things worse.
Some scholarly Islamic works, like the writings of Syed Abul A'la Maududi were originally written in Urdu.
Urdu is also well-known for its beautiful Urdu poetry. The Ghazal (عزل)is a form of poetry that was used very extensively by Urdu poets. Urdu has the honour of being the language that gave birth to a new genre of poetry, the Noha (نوحہ).
Common Phrases
Hello = Assalaam O Alaikum (a common Muslim greeting)
Hello = Adaab (secular)
Good Bye = Khuda Haafiz (literally means God protect you)
yes = Haan(casual), ji(formal)
no = Nahi
please = Meherbani
thank you = Shukriya
It is nice to meet you = Aap se mil kar khushi hui
How are you? = Aapka Kya hal hey?
Do you speak English? = Kya aap angrezi boltay heyn?
I do not speak Urdu. = Main Urdu naheen bolta.
My name is ... = Mera nam ... hai.
Which way to Lahore = Lahore kiss taraf heyh