Would Urdu become extinct ??

[Kompromat]

Please dont turn my thread into Urdu vs Hindi , i dont give a damn about what it was , but i do care about what it is and what it will be.

 

[A.R.]

Hi
Urdu is a great language i don't think it faces any danger of becoming extinct. Ghazals which are very popular in India and Pakistan are mostly in Urdu,Didn't Obama say some where that he is also a fan of Urdu poetry. Pakistani's don't speak Hindi as much as Indians speak Urdu, right? So i don't think there is any imminent threat to Urdu, if we can improve economy and infrastructure, it will consolidate the influence of Urdu

you are right... urdu dosent seem to be in danger...
but i had not met any person till yet who speaks urdu in front of me(not even the muslim cleriks)...

just by improving economy you cant improve the status of your national language.... official danda of govt is must...

here is the example of your favorite country china..
majority speak and understand only in mandarin ... yet they are economialy strong... make the largest spoken language in the world... which is followed by english.. and hindi is the third largest language...

the people must not shy while speaking their national language in a group of people speaking english

 

[EjazR]

Urdu and Hindi follow the same grammatical constructs. The only difference is vocabulary which is also interchangeable. That is why it was referred to as Hindustani.

The scripts might be different but script is just like the cover of a language and doesn't change whats inside. Infact, there is an interesting story of a south India (who probably was an intelligent man) when the controversy of scripts and Hindustani emerged before independence. He suggested that the language be called Hindustani and the english script be used instead which would be considered neutral. Ofcourse he was shouted down as being a south Indian who had no idea of what the script meant, but who knows what would have happened if that was accepted. Turkish language gave up the arabic script for roman and still hasn't lost any of its turkishness.

And, just to clarify India still has the largest number of native Urdu speakers (50+ million) in the world. Its definitely an Indian origin language and quite young compared to Sanskrit say which was developed in centers of Delhi, Lucknow and Hyderabad. Even now, I know of Hyderabadi googlers who are working on transliteration projects and google Urdu search engines along with 10s of other Indian languages.

The way a language is kept alive is what contribution is made to the world at large. Do we have quality media and journals, scientific literature e.t.c. in Urdu? Is Urdu being made easy to teach to other people who want to learn it? How extensive is the use of Urdu on the Internet which is the new medium of our age? These are questions that should be answered.

 

[Kompromat]

Ejaz most of those questions have negative answers in pakistan that is why i am worried.

 

[mr42O]

Hello fellows.

Time to Save Urdu ?

English in Pakistan has now become a status symbol , people specially our young fellows take pride in speaking fluent English which is admireable considering the English is an International Language and a wider source to communicate to each other over the internet and sharing knowledge.

But what about our National language ???
I see my fellows speak a considerable amount of english words while speaking Urdu or as we refer to it the term "Gulabi urdu" & they when asked about the Urdu equallent of that English term , all you hear is a giggle isn't it a shame really !

Many of our students are quite bad at Urdu and score minimum marks in this subject and consider urdu as a useless subject to study.

Moreover to make things even worse , our national media has adopted this culture and now no one speaks clear urdu on news neither on urdu talk shows.

Everyone tends to speak english even in Urdu programs for some unknown reasons , ain't we going into a state of inferiority complex ?

Some internet sources rate urdu as the 19th biggest language in the world even when Pakistan is the 6th Biggest country in the world.

It shows that our national language is not safe, considering that the 3rd largest source of islamic knowledge is in urdu it becomes much important and urgent to take timely massures to help our National language.


This is a dillema faced by many other countries ie Germany here is an example.

Conservatives Want German Language Protected in Constitution | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 02.12.2008

Members please give suggessions on how we can save our national language.

"Be Pakistani , speak Urdu."

Thanks: BB

Urdu should be spoken in office, home etc. All forms should be in urdu too. I have been to many EU countries and always get shocked almost no one in Spain, France, Germnay etc dont speak English despite they can they will never answer you in English.

WE SHOULD SPEAK URDU also other ppl with different langue should speak there languge. Cultur is very important.

 

[Bill Longley]

there is no threat to urdu, its a living language and yes like every living language undergoing evolution.(evolution is sign of life) so no need to worry.
there are millions in Pakistan,india and Bangladesh who speak urdu

اردو کو کوئی خطرا نہیں ہے بھائی۔۔۔گھبرانے کی ضرورت نہیں

 

[Shamsher]

but my Eng sucks i'm good in urdu 70% and totally awesome in Pashto my language

 

[Ahmad]

there is no threat to urdu, its a living language and yes like every living language undergoing evolution.(evolution is sign of life) so no need to worry.
there are millions in Pakistan,india and Bangladesh who speak urdu

A language will loses its status if it doesnt have an official backing, i mean proper backing. it will eventually lose everything if it remains the langauge of street. For now it might be OK, but what happens to it in 200 years time? People will probably be ashamed of speaking it. And what type of langauge would it be if less than half Urdo and more than half other langauges.

 

[Bill Longley]

A language will loses its status if it doesnt have an official backing, i mean proper backing. it will eventually lose everything if it remains the langauge of street. For now it might be OK, but what happens to it in 200 years time? People will probably be ashamed of speaking it. And what type of langauge would it be if less than half Urdo and more than half other langauges.

Urdu is national language. there are urdu universities and fedral urdu board. there are dozens of quality Urdu digests. Our youngsters like urdu poetry and literature.
Come to any university in Pakistan and you will see hundreds of urdu lovers.

to say urdu is in danger is not a right thig , its only sensationalism

 

[prodevelopment]

And what type of langauge would it be if less than half Urdo and more than half other langauges.

It will be an amazing language because a lot more people would be able to understand each other. And that's the purpose of language, to communicate.

The phenomenon is called evolution. We can't cling on to our past. Look at English. It is one of the most transformed languages over the years. It has evolved so that many more people can understand and communicate with each other.

I for one would love it if a hybrid language could be made. Already there are too many problems in the world because people do not understand each other....

 

[bc040400065]

Not only in school/college levels, but very importantly in Universities.

that is the problem... we hardly have any thing in urdu when it comes to higher education institutions.. i myself is a example.... till i was in higher secondary we used to write in urdu to some extent. but after that i have just almost forgot how to write in urdu... although i daily read urdu news papers . Our education systems and specially the private schools hardly give any importance to urdu... kids now a days don't even know about urdu counting... if you ask them to pronounce numbers in urdu they hardly get to 10 which is a shame but thats what they are being taught in private schools.
So one thing that needs to be done is to have same curriculum throughtout pakistan for all types of schools, specially private sectors schools and atleast general subjects should be taught in urdu.. and science subjects should be in english.

 

[Ahmad]

It will be an amazing language because a lot more people would be able to understand each other. And that's the purpose of language, to communicate.

Trust me that language will be nameless and wont be understood by anyone. It wont be English, it wont be persian, it wont be Urdo.

The phenomenon is called evolution. We can't cling on to our past. Look at English. It is one of the most transformed languages over the years. It has evolved so that many more people can understand and communicate with each other.

It is spoken by many people because 1-they have had strong language policy for centuries. 2-they have been economic power. 3-they have had political power. 4-they have had the knowledge of science etc and some other reasons.

I for one would love it if a hybrid language could be made. Already there are too many problems in the world because people do not understand each other....

Pakistanis and indians understand each other very well, but they are each others' fierce enemy.

 

[Ahmad]

that is the problem... we hardly have any thing in urdu when it comes to higher education institutions.. i myself is a example.... till i was in higher secondary we used to write in urdu to some extent. but after that i have just almost forgot how to write in urdu... although i daily read urdu news papers . Our education systems and specially the private schools hardly give any importance to urdu... kids now a days don't even know about urdu counting... if you ask them to pronounce numbers in urdu they hardly get to 10 which is a shame but thats what they are being taught in private schools.
So one thing that needs to be done is to have same curriculum throughtout pakistan for all types of schools, specially private sectors schools and atleast general subjects should be taught in urdu.. and science subjects should be in english.

which is a shame, urdo is part of you guys identity and culture, dont forget it.

 

[U-571]

O Come on guys! Lets be BRUTALLY HONEST

We need to have a command in English for reasons that I donot have to explain.

As far as urdu is concerned, I donot care even if it becomes extinct perhaps in 100 to 150 years from now.

For me, language has no PATRIOTIC DIMENSION to it. Language is used for communication and people will communicate in a language that suits them, whether this is URDU, ENGLISH or a language of ALIENS from another planet.

either you are an indian trolling here or you have severe lack of basic understanding. oustide my home country i-e pakistan urdu serves as the biggest thing by which i can express my patriotism. it brings my countrymen together and we talk in such a great environnment. if any arabic person or any other person comes who doesnt know urdu we have to switch back to english and we dont find having a company of a different language at all.

be it any nation, it is proud of it mother tongue arabs, iranians, chinese etc they all express in their language to express their patriotism.

and of course why didnt hitler switched to english for eg, more people speak english then german. it was also easy to understand the motives of allied forces during the 2nd WW?? german language was the essence of his empire. he even established all previous german pagan cultures and traditions and a strange religion to honour his country.

 

[prodevelopment]

Trust me that language will be nameless and wont be understood by anyone. It wont be English, it wont be persian, it wont be Urdo.

Does it matter what the language is called?

It is spoken by many people because 1-they have had strong language policy for centuries. 2-they have been economic power. 3-they have had political power. 4-they have had the knowledge of science etc and some other reasons.

Of course those are the reasons. But so what? My point is that even English had to evolve!!! If English was stuck at the Shakespearean level, it would not have influenced the amount of people that it did.

Pakistanis and indians understand each other very well, but they are each others' fierce enemy.

Really? How many Indians have you spoken to? I personally have a hard time understanding some of my pakistani friends. But then again, I am from delhi and I have trouble understanding pure Punjabi, Bihari, Haryanavi, Gujarati, Rajasthani ..............


I repeat. Language is just the means to communicate. Leave it at that.