Urdu Room : practice Urdu the natural way

Make an Urdu room in your home

For many Pakistani-Americans, especially those born or brought up in America, Urdu is a language that is heard but not spoken. This is a tragedy. Familiarity with Urdu connects us to our roots and is a way of maintaining contact with family members in Pakistan who, in most cases, do not speak English.

One way to make speaking Urdu an everyday experience is to establish an "Urdu room" at home. In this room everyone, from the oldest member of the family to the youngest, must speak in Urdu only.

This method has been used successfully by teachers of other languages. The Urdu room is bound to increase the use and comprehension of the language. The designated room should be one that is frequented by all family members on a regular basis. The kitchen and living room make ideal places.

Here are a few rules for the Urdu room:

1. Speaking in any language other than Urdu will result in a fine (putting $1.00 in a donation box, for example) or loss of privileges.

2. No one is allowed to laugh at or make fun of anyone else. Many youngsters shy away from speaking Urdu because of the ridicule heaped on them. If we want to keep this language alive in North America among the next generation, we must be more patient.

3. Each week, beginners are introduced to new words and their meanings. A bulletin board with the words and their meanings can also be put on the wall and anyone coming in the room during that week must use the words in a sentence.

4. Decorate the room with Urdu calligraphy, signs posted in Urdu (or its English transliteration) reminding family members that the room is Urdu-only. You can also put up pictures of Pakistan to give the room more of a "Pakistani" feel.

A great idea for the language to be passed on from one generation to the next.

Mohammad Khalil : Science Writer for Urdu

He makes Science simple, in Urdu

Amba Batra

New Delhi, October 20: While critics have been shouting themselves hoarse on how madarsas sideline Mathematics and Science, one man has been burning midnight oil for more than 30 years, turning out books for students in the language they understand.

Teacher and scientist Mohammad Khalil (61) believes the main reason behind the decline in students’ interest has been lack of material in Urdu. ‘‘One can never understand the basic concepts through translations which are available. They are more attractive if explained in one’s own language on which there is very little matter,’’ says Khalil, who has been selected for this year’s Ghalib Institute Award for his efforts to popularise Science in Urdu. ‘‘This (the award) is special as it has a lot of international recognition,’’ he said.



From articles on biotechnology for higher classes to books on animals and the environment, Khalil has come a long way. ‘‘Once I finished college and started teaching, I felt that students were the ones we needed to invest all this knowledge in. That is when I took up the job of taking out Science ki Duniya, a science journal in Urdu,’’ says Khalil. He joined the publication in 1976 and retired last year.

‘‘I wanted people to begin observing science around them and that was only possible if one made it as attractive and simple as possible. The kind of natural instinct that these children have towards science is tremendous,’’ says Khalil who picked Plant Sciences when he joined Delhi University.

Among his nationally acclaimed books are Ajeeb aur Gareeb Janwar and Nehru aur Science. Khalil has been awarded thrice by the National Council for Education Research and Training for his contributions in the subject.

Post-retirement, Khalil plans to write more books in Urdu for children and continue work with CSIR where he has been for the past six months. ‘‘I want to tell children about the natural things in the world so that they notice the birds and plants and learn more,’’ said Khalil.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=104225

Another example of individuals working tirelessly for Urdu; all these people need is support from the Urdu community.

International Award for Promotion of Urdu Literature

Qatar's literary organization of world fame 'Council for the Promotion of Urdu Literature honored India's famous author and research scholar Prof. Nisar Ahmad Farooqui and Pakistani novelist Abdullah Husain with 9th International Award for Promotion of Urdu Literature. This award consists of Rs. 1.5 lakh in cash and a gold medal each. Also the 7th Saleem Jafri International Award consisting of Rs. 75,000 in cash and a gold medal was given to England based Dr. Davis Mathews for his valuable literary service to Urdu. These awards were presented in Doha, capital of Qatar on 16 September when an international mushaira was held.
[milligazette, India]

Learn Urdu Writing

As mentioned in a previous post; the style of writing adopted by Urdu is called "nastaleeq" and its most stylized in its class. Learning it the correct way is difficult requiring lots of practice.

One site lets you see the hand movement for each of the letters making it some what easier for learners to follow along. Check out this excellent website, you can even buy the CD version for only $20.

http://pakdata.com/alif/alif.php

After 'Tumhari Amrita' Its 'Aapki Soniya'

Tumhari Amrita sequel is another stunner

Bella Jaisinghani

Seldom has hatred taken on such a beautiful garb as this. Listen to Soniya spew venom against Zulfiqar in Aapki Soniya in chaste Urdu, and the full intensity of her feelings hits you in a manner rarely seen on stage before. In an instant, the scenes of confrontation in K Asif’s Mughal-E-Azam flash before the mind’s eye. That was when the majesty and grandeur of the Urdu language was brought forward in all its finery without a single bad word being used.

Aapki Soniya was born with a silver spoon in its mouth. It is the sequel of a towering success as Tumhari Amrita which Shabana Azmi and Farooque Shaikh have been performing to packed houses across the world for no less than 13 years. Luckily, having the same writer in Javed Siddiqi has made it easier to live up to expectations.

The play stars Farooque Shaikh and Sonali Bendre, each propped up by nothing fancier than a desk and a chair, and a bunch of letters. Salim Arif has taken on the mantle of director while his wife Lubna Salim has produced the play.

The exchange starts with Soniya, Amrita’s French born daughter, writing to ageing governor Syed Zulfiqar Haider who is recuperating after a heart attack. She believes it is he who is responsible for leading her mother away from her when she was a baby. Soniya demands to know the exact nature of the relationship he shared with her mother and how Amrita could have been as callous as to leave her child in the care of her drunkard French lover, Andy. Zulfiqar, meanwhile, is equally disturbed by the revelation that Amrita had a daughter, and once he brings himself to accept that, the narrative progresses.

Each letter displays the nature of this strange relationship — Soniya’s threats, Zulfi’s coaxing and cajoling — even as some light moments are brought forward in a sea of tumult.

Sonali Bendre has worked hard on her diction and the results are evident; she does not fumble over Ghalib’s couplets or Siddiqi’s metaphors. She is the surprise element. Shaikh’s talent, meanwhile, is a foregone conclusion. He is the reason, Siddiqi says, a sequel became possible. True to nature, he stands rock-solid behind the script holding it up with his perfect intonations and his mellow voice. See the way he addresses Soniya as Bibi with respect, ladki! in exasperation and beti with fondness at the end of the play.

All the fears about Sonali Bendre being unable to perform and about the sequel not living up to expectations turned out to be unfounded. As Shaikh extended his hand to Sonali and brought her forward to take the final bow, the audience rose to its feet and erupted into applause. Playwright Javed Siddiqi was also greeted with a standing ovation. Addressing the audience as the third character in the play, Shaikh threw in a few words of praise for its responsiveness. Of course, the credit for it went to a class act.


http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=71454

After Tumhari Amrita, success of Aapki Soniya proves that Urdu can still reach out to a wider audience just on the strength of its language; all its needs a good presentation. Congratulations to all the people responsible for this play.

First Urdu Newspaper of Dubai

First Urdu newspaper in Dubai to be launched on Nov one

Hyderabad, Oct 11 (UNI) United Arab Emirates' first Urdu daily newspaper, 'Urdu Post', will be launched at Dubai on November to cater to the large number of Urdu-speaking expatriates from across the world, particulary non-resident Indians in Gulf and their Pakistani counterparts.

The 12-page multicolour paper will have four pages of news from India, four pages from Pakistan and remaining pages of news from Dubai and Emirates. The Indian news in the paper would be collated and filmed from Hyderabad where Urdu Post will have its bureau, S A Khan Naiyer, Chairman, Al-Taj group of companies UAE and Chairman of Urdu Post told reporters here today.

With 8.5 lakh Urdu community in UAE, including 5.5 lakh Pakistanis,' the Urdu Post would aim at creating bridges of understanding between the UAE expatriate community hailing from India and Pakistan, 80 per cent of whom are Urdu knowing. ''It would create an atmosphere of peace and fuelled with this inspiration we will publish the best material, which would please as well as inform people from different walks of life,'' he said.

Priced at one Dirham, the cost of Urdu Post would be half the price of any other newspaper in the Emriates. The company had already tied up with Khaleej Times to leverage its wide network and also made arrangement for its printing with 'Akhbar-ul-Arab,' the leading Arabic daily. The newspaper would be available at 600 retail outlets, more than 100 hyper markets, 46 Adnoc Gas Stations, 67 Al-Emirate Gas Stations, 156 Eppco and Enoc gas stations.

The company proposes to have an edition in London, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah and double its print order over one lakh in the next six months to have an extensive campaign and promotion drive in the entire Gulf region. It would also start an Internet edition of Urdu Post.

Andhra Pradesh Information Minister Mohd Shabbir Ali, who was present at the news conference, promised all assistance from the State Government and its department in promotion of the Urdu language daily.

He expressed hope that Urdu Post would help to foster better understanding and relationship between India and Pakistan even while keeping the NRIs' with news update from India.

http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG3_sub.asp?ccode=ENG3&newscode=75328

The Urdu community of Dubai needs to be congratulated on this occassion, Dubai is fast becoming another Urdu center outside of India and Pakistan.

Javed Akhtar

Son of the well-known Urdu poet and film lyricist, Jan Nissar Akhtar and Safia Akhtar, teacher and writer, Javed Akhtar belongs to a lineage that can be traced back to seven generations of writers. The highly respected Urdu poet, Majaz, was his mother’s brother and the work of Muzter Khairabadi, his grandfather, is looked upon as a milestone in Urdu poetry.

Both Jan Nissar Akhtar & Safia Akhtar were professors at Hamidia College, Bhopal. Javed Akhtar did his schooling at the Cambridge School in Bhopal, Calvin Talukadar College in Lucknow, Mintoo Circle at Aligarh, and graduated from Saifiya College, Bhopal in 1964.

Javed Akhtar started writing Urdu poetry in 1980. His first collection of nazms and ghazals, Tarkash, had a very successful release in 1995 and is in its seventh edition in Hindi and fourth edition in Urdu. It has received rave reviews both as a book and as India’s first audio book, having sold more than a hundred thousand copies. On the other hand, his Ghazal albums like Sangam, for example, in collaboration with the internationally acclaimed singer-composer, late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, also had record sales.

Akhtar is also known for his celebrated partnership with Salim Khan, with whom he wrote some of the biggest hits in Indian cinema during the 70s and 80s, which included story, screenplay and dialogue for films like Zanjeer, Deewar, Sholay, Haathi Mere Saathi, Seeta Aur Geeta, Don and Trishul.



After their split, Akhtar continued to write scripts for films which include Sagar, Mr. India, Betaab and Arjun have been tremendously successful at the box-office. He began writing lyrics with Yash Chopra’s Silsila. He is at present the highest paid lyricist in India. Many of his songs, in particular, from films like Mr. India, Sagar, Tezaab, 1942-A Love Story, Sardari Begum, Border, Saaz and of course Lagaan and recently Lakshya have been chart toppers and some have gone on to become classics.

For his writings Akhtar has won several awards. Awarded the National Award for the Best Lyricist for three years in succession (Saaz [1997], Border [1998] and Godmother [1999]. He was the recipient of Padmashri in 1999. After Lagaan, he is now penning the lyrics again for Ashutosh Gowarikar in Swades.

http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=9219

Visit Javed Akhtar's website:
http://www.javedakhtar.com/

Scientific Textbooks in Urdu

HEC to produce scientific textbooks in Urdu
Friday October 08, 2004 (1422 PST)


ISLAMABAD, October 09 (Online): The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has approved a scheme regarding production of Scientific Text Books in Urdu for Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology Karachi. For the purpose an amount about Rs 35 million, approved by the Departmental Development Working Party (DDWP) of HEC in its recent meeting, would be provided to the university within this fiscal year.

The scheme aims at promoting teaching training and research activities in National Language by producing 90 textbooks, within the current academic year. The books would be produced for the level of higher education in the fields of science, technology including arts, commerce, law and education to meet the immediate needs of the students of Federal Urdu University. The scheme further aims at imparting quality education at affordable fees so that higher education could be made available to the youth of lower income class, which is a large portion of the total population of the country.

It is hoped that through the scheme trained human resources in the latest specialized fields, creating in depth vision and understanding about the science subjects would be produced in national language for the students and scholars of the university. The scheme would also provide financial and technical incentives to those scholars who want to write in their national language for spreading knowledge of science and technology.

Production and revision of these textbooks would be followed as continuous process.

As a result of implementation of the scheme research base of the university, high learning institutes would not only be strengthened but these books would play a major role in the implementation of national language in all spheres of the life also.

Source of earning foreign exchange through exporting the books, would also be possible, where Urdu is popular language. The nation would be benefited by the talents of low income youth group which otherwise are being wasted.

Research material for basic and applied sciences would be available to masses for exploitation of local resources. So efficiency of the education system would be enhanced using national language as the medium of instruction.

http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=79934

Urdu and Jazz

Another example to show how Urdu is alive today.

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Talking music with Hariharan
Malvika Nanda
October 6

He comes across as an amiable person who likes to take life easy. Hariharan, who triggered a craze of fusion music with Colonial Cousins, constantly likes to experiment with his music.

“A singer needn’t conform to one genre. But the compositions should have soul. Ghazals are middle-of-the-road music; I tune ghazals only after I’ve got the words right. Words are very important, as is literature,” says the singer who was in town for the Vaangmayee festival organised by Raja Radha Reddy.

Hariharan feels the quantum of good songs has shrunk in the last few years. What, according to him, is a good song? “A classical song may not necessarily be a good one. A song that appeals to your soul and is musically interesting is good. It should convey a certain message or emotion. It could be a fast song


The quantum of good songs has shrunk in the last few years, says Hariharan
but that musicality has to be there. Those kind of interesting melodies and music are rarer to come by. The creativity is getting throttled somewhere,”says this graduate in Science and Law.
While his musical career gives him no reason to complain, Hariharan is all set to come out with two new experimental projects. “I’m working on For You From Me, an album based on jazz music and Urdu. The other project called Lahore Ke Rang Hari Ke Sang, has been recorded in the Pakistani city itself and has a lot of stuff based on the writings of Bulle Shah,” he says.

When he talks of creativity and emotions, we get to see a different side of Hariharan. He dreams of acting and that too in a negative role. “I’d like to play a role that is quite different from the real me and shocks me when I see myself on screen,” says this fan of Al Pacino, Julia Roberts and Rani Mukherjee.

Well acting should come naturally to the singer with a striking resemblance to Kamal Hassan. “Once Govinda had come for my show and he said that here were two reasons for him being here: The first, he said was that I sing very well. Also, I resemble Kamal Hassan a lot,” he recalls with a laugh.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1044469,0047.htm

English-Urdu Dictionaries

English dominates the world around us and in some cases even understanding the words in your own language becomes easy when we read its meaning in English. here are some of the best resources for looking up English and Urdu words.

http://www.urduseek.com/ : you can look up words in both English and Urdu, Urdu is unicode enabled.

http://www.urduword.com/ : less word than urduseek.com but has other features like "word of the day", put their search on your website, search for word using your mobile phone.

http://www21.brinkster.com/urdudict/default.asp : if you don't have access to Unicode Urdu and would like to access using "Roman Urdu" then try this one.

http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/platts/ : Platts is one of the oldest Urdu dictionary around. If you are looking for some old Urdu words then this is the place where you can find them.

http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/?view=usa&ci=0195793404 : if you rather have the dictionary in your hands then try this Oxford English-Urdu Dictionary compiled by Shanul Haq Haqqi.

http://www.ijunoon.net/urdudic/index.asp : another English to Urdu Online Dictionary.

enjoy your searching and give me your feedback on which ones you like and why?

Urdu Survey Reveals Trends

Urdu Survey in Patna

The Urdu Markaz Azimbad, Patna conducted a survey on ground realities about use of Urdu by Urdu-speaking population in the capital of Bihar where Urdu was accorded the second official language status in 1981. Though the sample survey had a slender base of only 150 families, the outcome is revealing in many ways. We present the gist of the survey:

Questions: Answers


Religious books in your house are in which script? Urdu/Arabic
Yes 77 % percent

Can you read Urdu?
Yes 87 % percent

Can you write in Urdu?
Yes77 % percent

Do you write letters in Urdu?
Yes 99 % percent

Do you receive letters in Urdu?
Yes 85 % percent

Do you write application for Govt offices in Urdu?
Yes 3 % percent

Do you read Urdu newspapers?
Yes 62 % percent

Do you purchase Urdu literary magazines?
Yes 34 % percent

Are you satisfied with teaching of Urdu in College or school?
Yes 38 % percent

Do you feel the need for an Urdu teaching centre?
Yes 94 % percent

Do you watch Urdu news on TV?
Yes 61 % percent

Do you listen to Urdu news broadcast on radio
Yes 40 % percent

Do you watch Urdu programmes on TV
Yes 61 % percent

Do you listen to Urdu programmes on Radio
Yes 38 % percent

Would you like to keep Urdu alive
Yes 86 % percent

You studied through which medium by Urdu only
Yes 25 % percent

(Remaining said they studied either through English or Hindi medium)
(Source: Daily Qaumi Awaz, New Delhi)

http://www.islamicvoice.com/may.2002/secular.htm#usp

[picture of famous Patna landmark : Golghar]

The interesting thing is that even though only 25% had their schooling in Urdu medium school still 77% can write in Urdu. This will be a lesson to people in UP and elsewhere who don't have access to Urdu medium schools they can still have their children learn Urdu.

Another important point is that even though 86% wants to keep Urdu alive only 25% help the language by buying Urdu literary magazine and only 3% writes to the government in Urdu language. At least a respectable 62% reads Urdu newspaper, I wonder how many pay for the newspaper subscription. Survey like this should be done not only in different parts of India but also Pakistan to find the trends and changes in the attitude of the Urdu speaking population. This will be useful to people who are active in the development of the language.