Is Urdu under threat?

[Raja.Pakistani]

Non Muslim learned Arabic and Persian when knowledge and information was available in these languages but now English is taking over as you get all sort of latest information/development/research material in English. We teach all science subjects in Urdu in our Government high school but then suddenly teach all these subjects in English at FSC/FA/Intermediate level because our academic expert cannot translate it in Urdu. So what's the point of teaching these subject in urdu from grade 8 to 10 when you are going to read them in English at college and uni?

 

[474474]

Many people are praising english and it's inportance, you don't realize that the most anglophiles are found in THIRD WORLD countries, yet MOST of the developed countries hardly care about English and to them it's just another optional language they can use for their own benifit, nothing important

 

[Raja.Pakistani]

Many people are praising english and it's inportance, you don't realize that the most anglophiles are found in THIRD WORLD countries, yet MOST of the developed countries hardly care about English and to them it's just another optional language they can use for their own benifit, nothing important

Why official language or language of courts is not Urdu in Pakistan? We Pakistani communicate to each others in English even on this forum. You cannot compare Pakistan/India/Bangladesh with French, Turkish, Dutch, Chinese etc because they had different history and never been colonised by the British. Our founders and leaders were even more fluent in English than Urdu

Can a Sindhi/Punjabi/pashtun/balochi speak Urdu fluently without learning it or without getting any education? I guess no. Our literacy rate is not as high as countries you are comparing us . They are also more homogeneous than India or Pakistan. I don't think Punjabi or other native languages of Pakistan should consider as language of P a i N Du backward class while Urdu should considered language of elite class. I love Urdu as much as i love any other native language of Pakistan. I love all different variety of culture and music flavour these local languages bring to us. I speak Punjabi with Punjabi people , Urdu with any other Pakistani who cannot understand Punjabi and speak English with foreigners. It should not be a matter of dominance and people should be free to express themselves in any language they find easy.

 

[interhacker]

har samay mashthisk maithun karna sawasth ke liye hanikarak hota hai !!!

I didn't understand a word. Can you please translate to English?

 

[Kambojaric]

That's quite interesting. I know Persian was spoken in Lahore till the British came and systematically took it out of our institutions and replaced it with English, but I never thought of it that way before, to separate us from our western region and align us more towards our east...

The British actually had a well planned out language policy which encouraged the assimilation of the provinces of todays Pakistan especially Punjab into British India via the patronage given to Urdu. This link is quite interesting and Mir lays out several reasons for why Urdu was used as a replacement for Persian. One reason that she mentions is that that the Company's personnel (both British and the natives from Bengal and UP) were already well versed in Urdu and so making Urdu the official language in Punjab as well made life easier for them. Secondly and this is the point I mentioned in my first post "An additional reason for promoting Urdu was that it aided the integration of the new province (Punjab) into the Company's Indian territories. Act 29 had declared Hindustani the administrative language of Bihar, NWP and parts of the Central Provinces ... In light of the widespread use of Hindustani, John Lawrence went so far as to refer to it as the lingua franca of India ... That the Punjab was included in the area using the lingua franca facilitated the regions integration into the Company's Raj".

The Social Space of Language: Vernacular Culture in British Colonial Punjab - Farina Mir - Google Books

 

[dexter]

I love URDU !
If u say that urdu is imposed on u so better think before saying that urdu is the main communication language across all over the country making the four provinces a one hand so plz respect ur national language ! Urdu is language of muslims of sub-continent and if u research that today most of people in Pakistan speak wrong urdu so urdu is not a threat its under the threat !
Comeon Pakistanioo ab ek hi cheez bchi he tum log us pe bhi laro ge

Urdu he jiska naam hum hi jante hen Daagh
Saare jahan mein dhum hamare zuban ki he

 

[Argus Panoptes]

I love URDU !
If u say that urdu is imposed on u so better think before saying that urdu is the main communication language across all over the country making the four provinces a one hand so plz respect ur national language ! Urdu is language of muslims of sub-continent and if u research that today most of people in Pakistan speak wrong urdu so urdu is not a threat its under the threat !
Comeon Pakistanioo ab ek hi cheez bchi he tum log us pe bhi laro ge

Urdu he jiska naam hum hi jante hen Daagh
Saare jahan mein dhum hamare zuban ki he

Please note that Daagh lived from 1831 to 1905. It was a very different world back then, compared to now.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

Do you guys think that Classic Urdu is under threat of extinction?

I recently saw a movie called in In Custody/Muhafiz (1993) by Ismail Merchant ( it's on youtube, can someone post it?)

what a beautiful, yet very sad film! showing the death of Urdu language in India and it being replaced by Hindi every where

It's a must watch movie! because it shows the death of Urdu, as well as the classic muslim culture of the subcontinent

do you think this is also happening in Pakistan?

The moderators themselves dont allow Urdu posts in PDF and your blaming others.

 

[Contrarian]

No. Its actually the opposite in Pakistan. Urdu is actually threatening the existence of other languages most notably punjabi.

Hindi in todays india is very much diluted by Urdu. So some would rather call it Hurdu.

Classic muslim culture is certainly in trouble as many people have adapted western culture, but this can be said about many other cultures.

Practically speaking
English is suppressing Hindi in India.
Hindi is suppressing Regional Languages

Urdu has been coopted by Hindi.

Classical Urdu is on decline.
Urdu uses many Hindi words now - much more than it used to a few decades back. But Hindi also uses many Urdu words.

Is it the same thing in Pakistan?
I heard that Indian TV channels and movies have started putting Hindi words in the Urdu lexicon over there as well ?

 

[474474]

All these Urdu haters use Urdu all the time to do bussiness with Iranis and Afghanis and Sri Lankans and all in the Middle East I've seen it with my own eyes, sometimes english isn't the answer

 

[Kambojaric]

I love URDU !
If u say that urdu is imposed on u so better think before saying that urdu is the main communication language across all over the country making the four provinces a one hand so plz respect ur national language ! Urdu is language of muslims of sub-continent and if u research that today most of people in Pakistan speak wrong urdu so urdu is not a threat its under the threat !
Comeon Pakistanioo ab ek hi cheez bchi he tum log us pe bhi laro ge

Urdu he jiska naam hum hi jante hen Daagh
Saare jahan mein dhum hamare zuban ki he

For good or bad it is the national language of Pakistan now so I have nothing against Urdu or its rise. I just feel that its important to recognize in what circumstances it came to be the predominant language in Pakistan. I also hope that in the future at some point, Farsi will be made available as a second language to learn at schools to bring us closer to our ancestors and also be able to read our own national poet, the vast majority of whose work is in Farsi. I think there are very few countries in the world today whose national poet wrote in a language that very few people there can understand.

 

[RangerPK]

Urdu he jiska naam hum hi jante hen Daagh
Saare jahan mein dhum hamare zuban ki he

I don't like that sher nor I agree with it.

 

[RangerPK]

Self Delete.

 

[dexter]

I don't like that sher nor I agree with it.

To jalte raho

 

[RangerPK]

To jalte raho

Of what? As I said, Urdu is my first language.

PS: The reason I don't like that sher is because it is ethnocentric and it encourages ethnocentric mentality, which in opinion can become dangerous.