Are you less Pakistani if you do not speak Urdu or were raised primarily abroad

[Yankee-stani]

There are 8.8 Million Pakistanis in the diaspora living in many corners of the world mainly in the Anglosphere(UK,Canada,USA,NZ and Australia) and the GCC Arab states. At least 3-4 generations have lived abroad many of us primarily speak the English language daily this forum run by expats embodies that however they are many "experts" who deride those Pakistanis that dont speak Urdu as non-Pakistani or dont know Pakistan as if expats visiting only in summers or once few years have the same knowledge or know how of daily dealings than local who was born there.For Pakistani news I do rely on Pakistani media by having relatives or my parents translate because I find the content in English tend to be biased or done by Pakistani expats abroad or small "elite clique".

 

[Valar.]

If you have Pakistani citizenship, you are a Pakistani. Period.

 

[Karl]

No, you're more Indian.

 

[Safriz]

The English don't consider anyone as English if they can't speak English.

 

[Crusher]

Not at all, for an educated person English is far more important in Pakistan than Urdu. Urdu is important only if you are uneducated and rely more on others to do the documentation kind of things for you. In fact we used to impress each other in Pakistan by speaking whatever "broken" English we could speak to each other. For me Urdu is just like Punjabi the local language where I grew up, the only difference was that we used to speak in Punjabi but read and write everything in Urdu language. Because I think that Urdu is standardized to a very good extent so reading/writing in Urdu language is like a very normal thing for almost all people in Pakistan.

 

[gangsta_rap]

yes

 

[Pakistansdefender]

There are 8.8 Million Pakistanis in the diaspora living in many corners of the world mainly in the Anglosphere(UK,Canada,USA,NZ and Australia) and the GCC Arab states. At least 3-4 generations have lived abroad many of us primarily speak the English language daily this forum run by expats embodies that however they are many "experts" who deride those Pakistanis that dont speak Urdu as non-Pakistani or dont know Pakistan as if expats visiting only in summers or once few years have the same knowledge or know how of daily dealings than local who was born there.For Pakistani news I do rely on Pakistani media by having relatives or my parents translate because I find the content in English tend to be biased or done by Pakistani expats abroad or small "elite clique".

This is also I say bais of our pakistani people. They see every one that is not following their way of life as inferior.
Now my own mother would take pity of English children, who were not raised and fed properly by their mothers because they were too busy in doing what white people do.
Anyways so a man sitting in a dingy street, with open gutters, dirty hands, no cleanliness and flies on his food carts and giving food in dirty plates, and flies all over, would tell you how dirty the foreigners are and as he a Muslim is clean and neat.
So its just double standard in our society.
Our society is really big in double standards sadly.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Pakistani is Pakistani, you have Pakistani Ancestry

 

[FuturePAF]

There are 8.8 Million Pakistanis in the diaspora living in many corners of the world mainly in the Anglosphere(UK,Canada,USA,NZ and Australia) and the GCC Arab states. At least 3-4 generations have lived abroad many of us primarily speak the English language daily this forum run by expats embodies that however they are many "experts" who deride those Pakistanis that dont speak Urdu as non-Pakistani or dont know Pakistan as if expats visiting only in summers or once few years have the same knowledge or know how of daily dealings than local who was born there.For Pakistani news I do rely on Pakistani media by having relatives or my parents translate because I find the content in English tend to be biased or done by Pakistani expats abroad or small "elite clique".

I recently spoke to an elderly Multani acquittance (now retired after having worked his entire life in Pakistan) who came to the US a few years ago, and spends nearly half the year in Pakistan. This is how he explained it to me:

”Those who have migrated to western counties and gotten citizenship there are citizens of that country. They are Pakistani-.... what ever country they live in. Pakistani-Americans for example. If you weren’t born in Pakistan you are of Pakistani ancestry but you are not ”Pakistani”. Even if both parents were born in Pakistan the child can not be considered Pakistani, because the child will accept the norms of the culture they live in as their own.”

This mirrors the experiences of other ethnic groups that have come to America, except the people that don’t look “White” are still considered outsiders, to one degree or another.

Being stuck in the middle; no longer considered Pakistani but not yet considered fully American, may make you feel a loss of identity. To bridge the gap, opening or running a community center can help.

With the “browning of America”, perhaps in a generation when minorities will make up the majority, then the preconception of what an American looks like will be expanded.

IMHO, If you go back to Pakistan, make a life there, learn the language and cultural norms, only then can you assimilate back into being a Pakistani. Even then, if you don’t have a Pakistani citizenship you aren't truly Pakistani.

here is an interesting clip of an Italian-American who considers herself “Italian” in the way Americans mean “Italian”, but if you ask an actual Italian, she is as American as any other.

 

[HttpError]

In my opinion, if technically speaking as long as you possess Pakistani citizenship you are a Pakistani. However, speaking Urdu and having strong ties with the land is also imperative. No one can question your "Pakistaniyat" but having this bond with language and land is what makes us love it. We need to promote our culture and language, we should be proud of our language just like Europeans and other societies are.

The problem with 3-4 generations living abroad is that after a certain time they will lose this touch (contact) with their motherland which is natural and inevitable. This is the human psyche if you live apart from your siblings or even parents after a certain time the relationship tends to get weak.

So I tell all my relatives to make their kids speak/write Urdu this is our duty and even make them live in Pakistan for at-least couple of years.

 

[Longhorn]

Personally I have been brought up in the UK from being a toddler. I speak English better than I speak Urdu, my values are more British than they are typically Pakistani, I hold a British passport, I would never consider returning to Pakistan except for a holiday, I disagree on Pakistani cultural norms, yet I feel Pakistani.
Nationalism is not dependent on any set criteria, what passport you hold, what language you speak, what values you espouse, what food you eat, what clothes you wear.
It depends on what you feel. It depends on your emotional attachment, to whatever state, culture, religion, or for that matter to whichever football team.
Allegiance and nationalism are a very personal thing. It neither seeks nor requires the approval of any person or any group of people.

 

[Nilgiri]

There are 8.8 Million Pakistanis in the diaspora living in many corners of the world mainly in the Anglosphere(UK,Canada,USA,NZ and Australia) and the GCC Arab states. At least 3-4 generations have lived abroad many of us primarily speak the English language daily this forum run by expats embodies that however they are many "experts" who deride those Pakistanis that dont speak Urdu as non-Pakistani or dont know Pakistan as if expats visiting only in summers or once few years have the same knowledge or know how of daily dealings than local who was born there.For Pakistani news I do rely on Pakistani media by having relatives or my parents translate because I find the content in English tend to be biased or done by Pakistani expats abroad or small "elite clique".

Pay no heed to such people. Your heart is truly known to you only...and to almighty God.

You love your Pakistan more than lot of more "proper" Pakistanis I have come across (who are fluent in Urdu and other languages of Pakistan and have large, credible, sustained, recent, ongoing connection to homeland etc etc etc)...because they are simply perceptibly lacking in faith and love for their homeland...they disparage it badly/wrongly or they artificially propagate something else about it rather than be frank, honest and truthful like you should be to anything you truly love.

 

[StormBreaker]

اگر آپ اردو نہیں جانتے ہیں تو آپ پاکستانی نہیں ہیں۔

podrías traducir eso al español para mí ?

 

[Nilgiri]

Personally I have been brought up in the UK from being a toddler. I speak English better than I speak Urdu, my values are more British than they are typically Pakistani, I hold a British passport, I would never consider returning to Pakistan except for a holiday, I disagree on Pakistani cultural norms, yet I feel Pakistani.
Nationalism is not dependent on any set criteria, what passport you hold, what language you speak, what values you espouse, what food you eat, what clothes you wear.
It depends on what you feel. It depends on your emotional attachment, to whatever state, culture, religion, or for that matter to whichever football team.
Allegiance and nationalism are a very personal thing. It neither seeks nor requires the approval of any person or any group of people.

This is 100% spot on.

 

[HalfMoon]

podrías traducir eso al español para mí ?

ایک دوسری زبان کا ہونا ایسا ہے جیسے ایک دوسری روح ہونا۔