Learn where Urdu is spoken
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| Urdu Teachers Answer Your Questions - Lesson #1 - Where Is Urdu Spoken? |
Intro |
|---|
| Michael: Where is Urdu spoken? |
| Shazia: And how many varieties of Urdu are there? |
| Michael: At UrduPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Nimrah is meeting another college student, Jack, for the first time. On hearing Jack speak Urdu, Nimrah asks, |
| "Where did you learn Urdu?" |
| Nimrah Waqar: آپ نے اردو کہاں سے سیکھی؟ (Aap nay Urdu kahan say seekhi?) |
| Dialogue |
| Michael: Listen to the entire conversation. |
| Nimrah Waqar: آپ نے اردو کہاں سے سیکھی؟ (Aap nay Urdu kahan say seekhi?) |
| Jack Jones: یوکے میں۔ (UK mein.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation: |
| Nimrah Waqar: آپ نے اردو کہاں سے سیکھی؟ (Aap nay Urdu kahan say seekhi?) |
| Michael: "Where did you learn Urdu?" |
| Jack Jones : یوکے میں۔ (UK mein.) |
| Michael: "In the UK." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Urdu, or |
| Shazia: اردو (Urdu), |
| Michael: is the national language of Pakistan. It's one of the most widely spoken languages and has a total of 170 million speakers. As such, it is spoken not only in Pakistan but other places, including the Middle East, |
| Shazia: مشرقِ وُسطٰی (Mashriq-e-wusta) |
| Michael: Nepal, |
| Shazia: نیپال (Nepal) |
| Michael: Bangladesh, |
| Shazia: بنگلہ دیش (Bangladesh) |
| Michael: and India. |
| Shazia: انڈیا (India) |
| Michael: In the dialogue, Nimrah asks Jack where he learned to speak Urdu, to which Jack responds that he learned it in the United Kingdom. Interestingly, there are around four hundred thousand speakers of Urdu in the UK. Most of these speakers identify themselves as having Pakistani heritage. However, the Urdu language did not originate in Pakistan. Urdu is a form of Hindustani, or |
| Shazia: ہندوستانی (Hindustani) |
| Michael: It began developing in North India in the 12th century and was based on the language spoken in Delhi. The contact of the Muslim and Hindu cultures during the Islamic conquests led to the development of the language, which is heavily influenced by the Arabic, Persian, and Turkish languages. This is one reason that Urdu is written right-to-left, with its alphabet being a modification of Persian. In terms of variety, Urdu has a few recognized dialects. These include |
| Shazia: دکھنی (dakhani), [PAUSE] ریختہ (rekhtah), [PAUSE] ڈھاکہ (dhaka), and کھڑی بولی (khari boli). |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then, repeat after the native speaker focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say, "Where did you learn Urdu?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Shazia as Nimrah Waqar: آپ نے اردو کہاں سے سیکھی؟ (Aap nay Urdu kahan say seekhi?) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Shazia as Nimrah Waqar: آپ نے اردو کہاں سے سیکھی؟ (Aap nay Urdu kahan say seekhi?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Shazia as Nimrah Waqar: آپ نے اردو کہاں سے سیکھی؟ (Aap nay Urdu kahan say seekhi?) |
| Michael: And do you remember how to say "In the UK?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Shazia as Jack Jones: یوکے میں۔ (UK mein.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Shazia as Jack Jones: یوکے میں۔ (UK mein.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Shazia as Jack Jones: یوکے میں۔ (UK mein.) |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Shazia: !الوداع (alwida!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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