Urdu should be replaced with Farsi - Interesting Read

[A1Kaid]

Urdu is 90% farsi - I'm always suprised by some Pakistanis who say that they do not speak or understand farsi -- If one reads and writes urdu, one reads and writes farsi and Dari and Pashto for that matter.

"Urdu is 90% farsi"-Muse

No Urdu is not 90% Farsi, though Urdu does contain a lot of vocabulary and words from Farsi. If Urdu was 90% Farsi, this could mean that Hindi speaking people could also understand Farsi because Urdu and Hindi have similar words and we can both understand each other...So think about that repercussion of what you said about Urdu being 90% Farsi...



Now let's do a live cross-examination.



Below, is a video of news coverage conducted in Farsi/Persian in Iran.

Now below here is a video of Zahid Hamid (a wonderful articulate Urdu speaker) speaking Urdu on News 1.

Clearly Urdu is not 90% Farsi, I'm sure most Urdu speakers listening to the first video in Farsi have difficulty understanding the Farsi language...




Though I find this debate a very interesting debate, that Urdu should be replaced with Farsi.


You know if Pakistan had adopted Farsi, we would be culturally closer to the Persians, in fact there would have been a "Farsi Speaking belt", Iran-Afghanistan-Tajikistan-Pakistan. Some of the pros of this move would mean we would have access to a world of Persian news, books, articles, literature, poetry, songs, and more.

Currently Pakistan is officially a dual-language state, using both Urdu and English (as official languages) (yes there are other languages spoken...) but if Pakistanis decide not to ditch Urdu than perhaps Pakistan should work toward adopting a new language (perhaps Persian) and yet maintaining Urdu. Finally, it should also be taken unto consideration that Pres.Gov. and Founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah desired Urdu to be the official language of Pakistani people, so replacing Urdu with Farsi would contradict and go against Quaid e Azam's aspiration and desire.

 

[Beskar]

Mullah and his ideology made sure he would kill culture in Pakistan and he, Mullah, killed film industry in Pakistan.

And which kind of Mullah's are we talking about here? Because we all know that they come in all shapes and sizes.

Most of the Pashto and Punjabi films today (Even the ones dating back to the 80's) are sexually driven and have a lot of sexual undertones. Quite vulgar to say the least. Exactly why we don't see many families in Pakistan visiting their local theatres. So mullah's aren't the issue here.

The problem is, We never had a government which established a proper film school or an Arts/Dramatics academy. If that wouldn't have been the case, we wouldn't be ashamed of our present film industry.

 

[A1Kaid]

By the way S. Mods/ Admins please add a poll to this thread, to help us survey what the Pakistani people think about this issue.


Question: Should Urdu be replaced with Farsi in Pakistan?

Answers:

1) Yes

2) No

3) Maybe- Under Certain Conditions

4) Undecided

 

[muse]

Bezerk

Hindi films are also vulgar or not - but as Pakistanis we should at least be free to decide what is vulgar and what is not for ourselves -Don't you think?

And if Pakistanis want to spend their money on vulgar Pakistani films with heavy sexual overtones, well, it's their money and they should have the freedom to spend it. Don't you think?

 

[Beskar]

Bezerk

Hindi films are also vulgar or not - but as Pakistanis we should at least be free to decide what is vulgar and what is not for ourselves -Don't you think?

And if Pakistanis want to spend their money on vulgar Pakistani films with heavy sexual overtones, well, it's their money and they should have the freedom to spend it. Don't you think?

That wasn't my point. My point was that Mullah's aren't the problem standing in between a decent, professional and a mature Pakistani film industry. If they were, they would've shut down "Lollywood" and the Pashto film industries ages ago. We all know that the Mullah's oppose anything "Sexual". Then how come these industries are still thriving yet you believe that Mullah's are the ones who are not letting us establish ourselves in the world of entertainment?

The problem is with our own people who would rather settle for "Mindless" entertainment instead of realizing that Pakistan deserves a professional and quality film industry of its own which would also project the entertainment us Pakistani's would "choose" to produce AND watch instead of settling for whatever is thrown at us by our eastern neighbour.

 

[muse]

Film industry takes time to mature and production value means $$ - our film industry reflects our society - the stories, the kind of "action" is the kind that comes from our society.

I'm sure you agree, art without patrons, ceases to be art.

 

[EjazR]

Persian, Urdu, English, or Arabic language in Pakistan?

I agree with some of the points that author makes.

The anti-muhajir / anti-urdu tone in these articles is very shocking, particularly looking at the reasons given for the anti-urdu stance.

 

[alirulesall123]

if mistakenly u r made head of pakistan nation, then god forbid, we may already witness in our lives sun rising in the west and setting in the east with ur extremist ideas coming directly from america's a$$.

What the Hell? Do you even realize how much easier it would be for Pakistanis to excel in the World if Urdu was written in English? Or are you that blinded by your hatred for the West? Grow up.

 

[Khalids]

What the Hell? Do you even realize how much easier it would be for Pakistanis to excel in the World if Urdu was written in English? Or are you that blinded by your hatred for the West? Grow up.

Both English and Urdu have majority of different phonetic sounds, especially, many Urdu words can not be pronounced correctly in English because of this difference, e.g. Pahar (Mountain), Charhna (To Mount), and thousands of words more. These 'khari boli' phonetic sounds don't have exact alternative phonetic symbols in Roman Script so it may become disastrous for Urdu to transform its script from Arabic to Roman.

I have seen many posts in this forum that contain Urdu in Roman script but still many members feel it hard to understand. So, it may not be the solution. Its, off topic rather. The debate is that should we have some language other than Urdu as our national language or not. Farsi may be a strong contestant for the following reasons;

1- It has a wast and rich literature, not only in rhetoric but in science and technology too,

2- It has enjoyed the status of official language during the Muslim rule in subcontinent, so its not an alien language to us et large, as is the case of English having totally different grammatical structure than Urdu and other native languages,

3- Any language has a particular culture, we are culturally more familiar with Persian than English,

4- One may say that we have latest knowledge in English. Persian, as being a very strong historical language, has capability to translate latest science & technology literature. And it is being used practically at higher education level in Iran, we can benefit from it more than Urdu in terms of contemporary literature, and

5- Being linguistically closer to Urdu than English, we may have better literacy rate if adopt a Persian curriculum than adopting English curriculum in our schools.

 

[Righteous_Fire]

Nah! are you kidding me??

Urdu is our glue it binds the whole body of the Pakistani people together. You may go to Kalam in Swat and find ultra strong village Pushto speakers or go to the eternal wastes of Turbat and find sweet Barahwi/Balochi speakers, the arid deserts of Nagar Parkar and find Tharis or the heart of Punjab and find Manmoji Punjabi Pakistanis but if you dont understand them or they dont understand a single word you say ------------------------> speak sweet Urdu and instantly you have brotherly Love

I have great love for Iran and its people and Farsi. They are the French of the Islamic world and Farsi is sweeter than French but Urdu is Urdu

You only need to delve deep into the addictive ghazals of Ghalib or the ever flowing poetry of wise Iqbal and you'll understand Urdu is irreplaceable

I am a full blooded firebranded meat eating Tribal minded ultra conservative D ) Pushtoon and my mother tongue is Pushto but the mother tongue of my Fatherland (Pakistan) is Urdu.

I am a hard facts science driven realist scientists to the core and for that matter I have deep love for the English of Science and the English of the melo Shakespeare but Urdu it cannot eliminate.

Urdu is the mother tongue of 160 million Pakistanis and many many Indians (since Cha Cha Ghalib and all the famous poets of Urdu both Muslim and Hindu were Indians since they were born and died in what today is India).

So Urdu is the heart that beats in the core of Pakistan.

 

[SeaGull]

Nah! are you kidding me??

Urdu is our glue it binds the whole body of the Pakistani people together. You may go to Kalam in Swat and find ultra strong village Pushto speakers or go to the eternal wastes of Turbat and find sweet Barahwi/Balochi speakers, the arid deserts of Nagar Parkar and find Tharis or the heart of Punjab and find Manmoji Punjabi Pakistanis but if you dont understand them or they dont understand a single word you say ------------------------> speak sweet Urdu and instantly you have brotherly Love

I have great love for Iran and its people and Farsi. They are the French of the Islamic world and Farsi is sweeter than French but Urdu is Urdu

You only need to delve deep into the addictive ghazals of Ghalib or the ever flowing poetry of wise Iqbal and you'll understand Urdu is irreplaceable

I am a full blooded firebranded meat eating Tribal minded ultra conservative D ) Pushtoon and my mother tongue is Pushto but the mother tongue of my Fatherland (Pakistan) is Urdu.

I am a hard facts science driven realist scientists to the core and for that matter I have deep love for the English of Science and the English of the melo Shakespeare but Urdu it cannot eliminate.

Urdu is the mother tongue of 160 million Pakistanis and many many Indians (since Cha Cha Ghalib and all the famous poets of Urdu both Muslim and Hindu were Indians since they were born and died in what today is India).

So Urdu is the heart that beats in the core of Pakistan.

WAAHH!! Kiya kehne - Bhai Ghalib ke Bhatijey.

That was very well presented. Just passing by - thought would say my Hello.

 

[Righteous_Fire]

WAAHH!! Kiya kehne - Bhai Ghalib ke Bhatijey.

That was very well presented. Just passing by - thought would say my Hello.

Thanx my Dear Bangali Brother

I wish I had a bangladesh flag icon here as well i would have flown the two (Pak & Bangla) together but here it is:

 

[SeaGull]

Thanx my Dear Bangali Brother

I wish I had a bangladesh flag icon here as well i would have flown the two (Pak & Bangla) together but here it is:

Nice to know you are from the Land of Guns - GREAT PEOPLE.

Honoured to have you as a friend. I had written to your Musharraf to get the hell out of your hair. Wonder if you have seen it - it was titled 'Profiles of an Exit Strategy'.
Don't know where it is now - you will have to fish it out, though.
Good wishes to you all
See you later.

 

[Developereo]

Didn't blame India. We failed to produce a quality film industry for our own people and that's exactly why we had to settle for your film industry. More than half of our population cannot understand English and that's the reason why the influx of Indian entertainment never stopped. If anything, our own people are to blame in that regard.

And I can call Indian entertainment "Mindless" and that's my opinion so I hope you didn't take it too seriously.

We used to have a pretty decent film industry and a superb playback songs industry until the early 80s. (Sohail Rana, Mehdi Hasan, Ahmed Rushdi, ...)

The Indians copied our stuff, often without giving credit.

Check out some old Pakistani songs on youtube. You will be amazed at the combination of poetic lyics, good music and fantastic voices.

Also, our TV dramas used to be excellent. It was a truism that Pakistanis preferred Indian movies over ours, and Indians preferred PTV dramas over theirs.

 

[Khalids]

^^^ And then entered Mullah (religious and liberal) to destroy all the moderate cultural aspects of our society. From films to Basant, we witnessed nothing but blood.

Just want to avoid an off topic debate other wise a lot can be said on it.