Help Me Learn Some Urdu...

[Pakistanisage]

Lol...dude even kids in pakistan curse in English...i hear fcuk more than any other urdu curse like bhenchood!!

Imported bags, imported shoes, ...leaders and now imported curses


I have many friends from Karachi n believe me their urdu isn't all that great either..it's mostly street lingo they speak. except for their parents who are real urdu speakers.

I would probably never get to live in Karachi cuz most of my family is in Lahore, even those who lived in khi moved back to lahore now...maybe Islamabad would be a good option if i ever move back...who knows

You are correct in your judgement that not everyone in Karachi is a native speaker of Urdu language. There are only two kinds of people who speak pure Urdu language:

1. People whose mother tongue is Urdu ( i.e. Native speakers of Urdu ).
2. Other pakistanis who have made concious effort to learn proper Urdu and who make a concious effort to use correct diction. This is why we had many great Urdu poets who hailed from Punjab like Muhammad Iqbal, Faiz ahmed Faiz etc.

 

[Pakistanisage]

Can you explain the meaning of that. I have heard it number of times but do't know the real meaning...

See the post #17 for La hawl wa la quwwat wa illa wa billah

 

[nalandapride]

Istehmaal is an Urdu word.

Prayog - No such word in Urdu, maybe because it is a Sanskrit originated word.

Istemaal is a "loanword" but both Prayog and Istemaal are used commonly in Hindi.

 

[FireFighter]

Okay next word 'dastuur'

Aisey dustoor ko mein nahin maanta...a shair from habib jalib's great poem, had to listen to it twice to get the gist of it

I faced the same predicament when I left Pakistan about 12 years ago, living in Nigeria & the US. But I have realized that I improved my Urdu (& become fluent in Punjabi) even though I wasn't in Pakistan.

You've got to watch more Urdu TV though (especially the news programs), & practice if you want to improve your Urdu. Trust me, it's not hard. I have a big interest in linguistics, & Farsi & Rekhta Urdu tops them. Which made the process a lot smoother for me.

Baydaar is a very famous word, especially used in Urdu poetry, "ghaflat ki neend se baydaar karna". Awakening from the "sleep of negligence/willful ignorance".

That's precisely what I have been doing this whole year watching news and political talk shows and i feel i have greatly improved. I just can't stand the dramas. I find them to be really futile and mentally and intellectually draining. However I've become really slow at reading, reading a newspaper column feels like a mission...usually stop reading after a few paragraphs

Firefighter, that is a commendable effort. If you really want to spruce up your Urdu, I would highly recommend that you look into the poetry of Muhammad Iqbal ( Allama ), the greatest Urdu poet of the Subcontinent. This will introduce high level Urdu to you. Muhammad Iqbal was a Scholar of Arabic and Farsi (Persian) and as such wrote beautiful Urdu. Infact that is the difference between Hindi and Urdu, in my mind. Hindi has many Sanskrit words whereas Urdu is more heavily laden with Arabic and Farsi words. However in many parts of India ( Delhi, UP, Bihar), Hindus speak pure Urdu but prefer to call it Hindi, because politically they do not want to admit thay are speaking Urdu which they consider to be the language of Muslims.

Reading Iqbal is tentamount to mental torture...lol the urdu level is too high and difficult for me to comprehend
I have read some of Iqbal's works in English and believe me he has influenced me to a large extent in understanding Islam. Reconstruction of Religious Thoughts was one of the best reads. I have to admit he works have sparked an interest in me to learn Urdu and Islam.

 

[SQ8]

For the people that are interested, this is a video from Lucknow, & this is EXACTLY the kind of Urdu spoken in Pakistan (& not in most parts of India):

Except the use of "mein" instead of "ham"..
although many of the original migrants still use "ham".

 

[nalandapride]

Reading Iqbal is tentamount to mental torture...lol the urdu level is too high and difficult for me to comprehend
I have read some of Iqbal's works in English and believe me he has influenced me to a large extent in understanding Islam. Reconstruction of Religious Thoughts was one of the best reads. I have to admit he works have sparked an interest in me to learn Urdu and Islam.

In Hindi, our greatest Writer is Munshi Premchand and his language of simplest of all but he got famous because of the theme of his writings. British were so much fearful of his writings they banned him so many times but every time his writings emerged with new Pen name. You may heard of movie, "Shatranj ke Khiladi", it is based on his novel, a theme based on 1857 war of independence.

 

[nalandapride]

Except the use of "mein" instead of "ham"..
although many of the original migrants still use "ham".

Hum is Commonly used instead of main in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Other speak "main" only.

 

[nalandapride]

Firefighter, that is a commendable effort. If you really want to spruce up your Urdu, I would highly recommend that you look into the poetry of Muhammad Iqbal ( Allama ), the greatest Urdu poet of the Subcontinent. This will introduce high level Urdu to you. Muhammad Iqbal was a Scholar of Arabic and Farsi (Persian) and as such wrote beautiful Urdu. Infact that is the difference between Hindi and Urdu, in my mind. Hindi has many Sanskrit words whereas Urdu is more heavily laden with Arabic and Farsi words. However in many parts of India ( Delhi, UP, Bihar), Hindus speak pure Urdu but prefer to call it Hindi, because politically they do not want to admit thay are speaking Urdu which they consider to be the language of Muslims.

In Old part of cities like Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Hyderabad are dominated by Muslims and they speak Urdu otherwise its Hindi everywhere. I was difficult for me to understand Urdu until I started watching Pakistani news shows on Youtube.

 

[Luftwaffe]

la haula wa la quwwata illa billah.....


La Halwa Qauwat Wala. !!!

Don't you miss our beloved halwa I am going to ask ama jee to cook qauwat wala halwa.

 

[53fd]

Except the use of "mein" instead of "ham"..
although many of the original migrants still use "ham".

That is true, we can say that the Lakhnawi dialect of Urdu is more royal/grand than the one spoken in Delhi/Pakistan. The Lakhnawi version is extremely polite, royal/grand, very upper class & formal. They even say 'nosh farmaye' for eating. Daulat-Kada when referring to someone else's home, ghareeb khana when referring to your own home. The Urdu spoken in Delhi is closest to the Urdu spoken in Pakistan.

There are some other differences in Lakhnawi & Delhvi Urdu as well. In Lucknow, many things are given a 'masculine' status, whereas in Delhi, a lot of things are given 'feminine' status. Dahi khatta he in Lakhnawi Urdu, whereas dahi khatti he in Delhvi Urdu.

 

[nalandapride]

That is true, we can say that the Lakhnawi dialect of Urdu is more royal/grand than the one spoken in Delhi/Pakistan. The Lakhnawi version is extremely polite, royal/grand, very upper class & formal. They even say 'nosh farmaye' for eating. Daulat-Kada when referring to someone else's home, ghareeb khana when referring to your own home. The Urdu spoken in Delhi is closest to the Urdu spoken in Pakistan.

There are some other differences in Lakhnawi & Delhvi Urdu as well. In Lucknow, many things are given a 'masculine' status, whereas in Delhi, a lot of things are given 'feminine' status. Dahi khatta he in Lakhnawi Urdu, whereas dahi khatti he in Delhvi Urdu.

Hyderabadi Baatan (Hyderabadi baatein) Enjoy it. This was a low budget movie but a big hit because of Hyderabadi slang.

 

[Pakistanisage]

Istemaal is a "loanword" but both Prayog and Istemaal are used commonly in Hindi.

That is the point , Genius.

The thread is about Urdu and not Hindi.

 

[53fd]

Okay next word 'dastuur'

Aisey dustoor ko mein nahin maanta...a shair from habib jalib's great poem, had to listen to it twice to get the gist of it

Dastoor is a simple word, means custom/tradition.

That's precisely what I have been doing this whole year watching news and political talk shows and i feel i have greatly improved. I just can't stand the dramas. I find them to be really futile and mentally and intellectually draining.

I don't watch any Indian/Pakistani dramas either, they don't help in anyway in improving your Urdu , & are exactly the things you have said here (that is my personal opinion at least).

This person has excellent Urdu, & it is a pleasure to listen to him speak:

However I've become really slow at reading, reading a newspaper column feels like a mission...usually stop reading after a few paragraphs

I think that, while it is important to be able to read the script fluently, is not as imperative as speaking the language fluently.

 

[Pakistanisage]

The word DASTOOR means TRADITION.

 

[nalandapride]

That is the point , Genius.

The thread is about Urdu and not Hindi.

That comment was not for you.