The Rape of the Urdu Language(from Ancient Pakistan)

[Yankee-stani]

Language is always fluid and subject evolutionary pressures. If a language fails to fullfil people's needs, people will either dump it change that language. It happened throughout the history. No law can protect a language as law doesn't create one to begin with.

The point is we gotta treat Urdu as a national language with respect by using more native sounding words not turn it into some trash heap of random languages

 

[Old School]

The point is we gotta treat Urdu as a national language with respect by using more native sounding words not turn it into some trash heap of random languages

I am always against having a national language imposed by law. However, English and Farsi together should have been set as our official language in 1947 based on the multi lingual nature of Pakistan. A national language and an official language are not the same things. USA doesn't have an officially recognized national language at the federal level though English is widely used.

 

[Yankee-stani]

I am always against having a national language imposed by law. However, English and Farsi together should have been set as our official language in 1947 based on the multi lingual nature of Pakistan. A national language and an official language is not the same thing. USA doesn't have an officially recognized national language at the federal level though English is widely used.

Farsi or at least Dari should have been adopted in 1947 but its been 70 years since then Pak state has failed to set a proper cultural and national policy but sleeping as politicians loot crazy at least we could still use Urdu at this point

 

[Old School]

Farsi or at least Dari should have been adopted in 1947 but its been 70 years since then Pak state has failed to set a proper cultural and national policy but sleeping as politicians loot crazy at least we could still use Urdu at this point

I oppose Urdu as it favors the native Urdu speakers over other native speakers such as Punjabi, Pashtun etc. Not to mention other groups.

 

[Yankee-stani]

I oppose Urdu as it favors the native Urdu speakers over other native speakers such as Punjabi, Pashtun etc. Not to mention other groups.

It would have been easier had it not been for the Eastern Wing grrrr

 

[Old School]

It is not easy to adopt a new language no one in Pakistan speaks farsi. Urdu is medium of education since British era.

Therefore, English should be the way to move on now.

 

[Yankee-stani]

Therefore, English should be the way to move on now.

Ew Dari or Farsi English can be used for international soft power only

 

[That Guy]

Languages evolve and change, and are constantly influenced by other surrounding languages.

A language that does not change, is a dead language. Latin is a good example of this.

When the Israelis revived Hebrew, they found that they had no Hebrew words for a lot of modern things. So they had to borrow from other languages, primarily from Hebrew's sister language, Arabic. In fact, Arabic was used to fix almost all the problems that Hebrew faced, in order to modernize the language.

 

[m52k85]

The rape of Urdu language ~
How transliteration and "Roman Urdu" have destroyed this language

When languages are not properly protected and taught, the result is this. Behold the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority's "translation" of Islamabad International Airport (see photo).

- International = بین اقوامی (Bainul Aqwami)
- Airport =ہوائی اڈے (Hawai Adda)

Yes, this is actually a real photo. The CAA actually approved this translation. It makes me wonder what the average IQ is of the people running this government department. And this nonsense is not an isolated incident. In 2018, The Citizens Archive of Pakistan inaugurated the "National History Museum" as the "نیشنل ہستورے میوزیم".

- Museum =عجائب گھر (Ajaib Ghar)
- National = قومی (Quami)
- History = تاریخ (Tareekh)

And this is not just about Urdu...all our languages in Pakistan are under threat due to ignorance like this. The lack of ownership of our languages and lack of language laws results in this type of circus, where Anglicisation is allowed to run rampant.

Clearly the planning and constructing of the exhibits at this "National History Museum" were done first in English, and then "translated" into Urdu – and I use the term "translated" very loosely, as you can see in the photos that I've uploaded and highlighted.

If the planners of this museum do not know how to translate “National History Museum” into Urdu, then what else can you entrust them with? Throughout the museum you see absolutely mind numbing Urdu translations. It almost seems as if someone took the exhibit descriptions and used “Google Translator” to automatically translate them from English to Urdu. In some cases, the Urdu translations were actually LITERALLY transliterated from English.

Furthermore, the people of Punjab funded this museum, so where is Punjabi (Shahmukhi) language for your exhibit descriptions? Are regional languages inferior and not relevant? Also, you refer to yourselves as a “national” museum, so shouldn’t our other regional languages also be present? Where is Sindhi? Pashto? Baluchi etc.?

Even our urban neighbourhoods haven't been spared. Traditionally they have always been named to reflect our culture or history - places like Gulberg, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Nazimabad, Anarkali, Lyari, Faizabad etc. All these places have culture, history and soul about them. Nowadays however, places like "Paragon City", "Eden Avenue", "Ideal Garden Housing Scheme", "DHA City", "Bahria Town", "Arian City", "Top City" seem to be the norm. Does this not seem problematic? "Bahria Town" is not actually a town, it's a private company named "Bahria Town Private Limited". Why are company names replacing the names of villages and localities which have stood for over 500 years?

For many of you, this might not be a big deal, but for me and anyone who loves history, this is a tragedy in the making and it needs to stop. When LDA was formed, an emphasis was made to keep these names alive. It is for this reason why Lahore has so much character to it...for example, places like:

- Anarkali
- Badami Bagh
- Gawalmandi
- Daroghawala
- Shahdara
- Mughulpura
- Ichra
- Mazang
- Baghbanpura
- Thokar Niaz Baig
- Kot Lakhpat
- Babu Sabu
- etc....

When Lahore expanded east of Canal Road and towards Thokar in the 1970s, new housing subdivisions were constructed and given names by the LDA to reflect the local culture, such as:

- Gulberg
- Samanabad
- Gulshan-e-Ravi
- Gulshan-e-Iqbal
- Ghaziabad
- Nabipura
- Batapur
- Sabzazar
- etc...

The most interesting is Batapur. When the Bata Shoe Factory opened in east Lahore, the company also constructed a new housing estate adjacent to the factory. Instead of giving it a soulless name like "Bata Employees Cooperative Housing Society" or "Bata City" or "Bata Town", they named it Batapur...a name that is still used today. This was not only a smart marketing move, but it also respected the local culture and language.

Then the 1980s arrived...and it was during this period that Lahore began changing its naming philosophy. Instead of respecting the local culture, Anglo names were given to new housing developments, such as:

- Faisal Town
- Garden Town
- Muslim Town
- Model Town
- Johar Town
- Firdous Colony
- Islamia Park
- New Garden Town

These names have no soul to them whatsoever. Despite the fact Urdu and Punjabi words already exist, the Anglo terms were adopted. For example, the word for TOWN in Urdu and Punjabi would be any of the following:

- Abad (آباد)
- Abadi (آبادی)
- Pur (پور)
- Pura (پورہ)
- Mahalla (محله)

In Urdu, there is no word for colony as this was adopted from English. However, Urdu (as is the case for all other Pakistani languages) has traditionally always borrowed from Persian, and it should have applied in this case. The term for "colony" or "town" in Persian is Shahrak (شهرک). For example, Tehran's "Qarb Town" is referred to as "Shahrak-e Gharb". Similar names could have easily applied to places like:

- Faisal Town as Shahrak-e-Faisal (شهرک فیصل)
- Garden Town as Shahrak-e-Bagh (شهرک باغ)
- Johar Town as Shahrak-e-Johar (شهرک جوہر)
- Firdous Colony as Shahrak-e-Firdous (شهرک فردوس)

Then words like "Park" and "New" were introduced, despite the fact these terms already had an Urdu and Punjabi equivalent.

- Park is Bagh (باغ)
- New is Naya (نیا) or Nei (نئی)

Why "town", "colony", "park" and "new" were introduced by LDA is unknown. But this is the LDA we're talking about...they're not the smartest bunch of people.

And this practice of English transliteration into Urdu even more apparent when you start reading road signs.

- Road = سڑک (Sarak)
- Highway = شاہراہ (Shahrah)
- Street or Boulevard = خیابان (Khayban)
- Expressway = بزرگراه (Bazargarah)
- Motorway = موٹروے (Since no Urdu word exists, acceptable to adopt English variant).

Or start reading signs for common places or appliances.

School = مدرسہ (Madrassa)
Nursery = پودا گھر (Poda Ghar)

Fridge = سرد خانہ (Sahrd Khana)
Freezer = برف خانہ (Barf Khana)
Oven = تندور (Tandoor)
Microwave = مائکروویو (No translation...acceptable to adopt from inventive language of origin)
Vacuum cleaner = برقی جھاڑو (Barki Jahroo)

SIM = This is an acronym. The sound "SYM" is adopted by every language. سیم (Urdu & Persian), Shimu (Japanese), Simka (Chinese)

What are we telling the world when we disrespect our own languages? It tells the world we are a dead nation. When university is pronounced as "you nee vastee", you are essentially defining yourselves as an ignorant nation.

University = جامعہ not یونیورسٹی

What needs to be done:
1. Enforce strict language laws - government of Pakistan should ensure that Urdu translations are proper and is written in Nastaliq script.

2. Promote regional languages - provincial governments should enforce regional languages and ensure they are taught in schools.

3. Promote Pakistan as a trilingual nation. Every Pakistani student should be taught mother tongue + Urdu + English.

4. Issue severe fines against companies, media houses and publications which do not promote trilingualism or use Roman Urdu.

Source-Ancient Pakistan

What is 'lane' in Urdu?

 

[imadul]

My fellow countey man would be irked we Pakistanis are bunch of uncivilised greedy peoples,we don't have any love for history,culture,literature,ethics and moral values all we care about is money.
If this trend continued in 2 decades we would be a nation without language,literature,culture and own
architect style.

Channels have ripped apart civility and proper language. Everyone wants to say some english words though they know just few words of it. So pathetic. If someone ashamed of Urdu, speak fully in english. People on tv start speaking in english but after one half line they just go out of breadth and revert back to urdu.

 

[TMA]

Languages evolve and change, and are constantly influenced by other surrounding languages.

A language that does not change, is a dead language. Latin is a good example of this.

When the Israelis revived Hebrew, they found that they had no Hebrew words for a lot of modern things. So they had to borrow from other languages, primarily from Hebrew's sister language, Arabic. In fact, Arabic was used to fix almost all the problems that Hebrew faced, in order to modernize the language.

English is not a sister language. It would have been better to have borrowed from Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Pukhto, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Balochi etc

Language is always fluid and subject to evolutionary pressures. If a language fails to fullfil people's needs, people will either dump it or change that language. It happened throughout the history. No law can protect a language as law doesn't create one to begin with.

It is when people die out that language dies.
People create language.

Channels have ripped apart civility and proper language. Everyone wants to say some english words though they know just few words of it. So pathetic. If someone ashamed of Urdu, speak fully in english. People on tv start speaking in english but after one half line they just go out of breadth and revert back to urdu.

It is an inferiority complex.

 

[That Guy]

English is not a sister language. It would have been better to have borrowed from Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Pukhto, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Balochi etc

It doesn't necessarily have to be a sister language, but that's besides the point.

Language often evolves from street slang, which (if spoken widely enough) makes it's way to the common dictionary. That slang can come from anywhere, and from any language. It's not something that can actually be stopped.

 

[313ghazi]

Great article, poor title.

 

[blueazure]

dear mods

kindly change title and warn the poster

urdu is our national pride, this is an insult

 

[StormBreaker]

I miss the times of when Karachi areas were named as Kharadar, Meethadar, Golimar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Bagheecha etc etc.... Now new areas are named as DHA Phase 6,8 etc or Bahria Town or New North Nazimabad (wtf)

Nothing wrong.
Names such as Golimar, lalukhet, khaaradar, all seems absurd.
Bahadurabad, OK.
But Gulistan E Johar, Gulshan e iqbal, DHA, Bahria town, all seems really good

I oppose Urdu as it favors the native Urdu speakers over other native speakers such as Punjabi, Pashtun etc. Not to mention other groups.

People like you are really screwed minded.
Those same people who speak urdu had their own languages as well back when they were in Hindustan. Memons, Gujratis, Punjabis, Hyderabadi people, most of them had their first languages NOT urdu and many even now at home. Urdu is just an english counterpart of Subcontinent, since Akbar’s time.
Your beef for the Urdu language has closed your and some other forumers minds to think realistically with history on mind.
You can go to balochistan and speak in your own mother tongue (punjabi, pashto), and then get response in balochi and while all this, both the parties have no idea what the other is speaking...

Ajeeb...