Learn which languages are similar to Urdu
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| Urdu Teachers Answer Your Questions - Lesson #2 - What Languages Are Similar to Urdu? |
Intro |
|---|
| Michael: What languages are similar to Urdu? |
| Shazia: And are they mutually intelligible? |
| Michael: At UrduPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben is confused about the relationship between Urdu and Hindi. He talks about it with his classmate. He says, |
| "Urdu and Hindi sound similar." |
| Ben Lee: اردو اور ہندی ایک طرح ہی سنائی دیتی ہیں۔ (Urdu aur Hindi aik tarah he sunai deti hain.) |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: اردو اور ہندی ایک طرح ہی سنائی دیتی ہیں۔ (Urdu aur Hindi aik tarah he sunai deti hain.) |
| Umer Shakeel: جی ہاں، لیکن حروف مختلف ہیں۔ (Jee haan, lekin haroof mukhtalif hain.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: اردو اور ہندی ایک طرح ہی سنائی دیتی ہیں۔ (Urdu aur Hindi aik tarah he sunai deti hain.) |
| Michael: "Urdu and Hindi sound similar." |
| Umer Shakeel: جی ہاں، لیکن حروف مختلف ہیں۔ (Jee haan, lekin haroof mukhtalif hain.) |
| Michael: "Yes, but the alphabets are different." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: It’s not unusual for learners of the Urdu language to confuse Urdu with Hindi. After all, the two languages are closely related. In fact, spoken Urdu and Hindi are mutually intelligible to the point that they are thought to be a variety of another language referred to as |
| Shazia: ہندی-اردو (Hindi-Urdu) |
| Michael: or "Hindi-Urdu." Some go as far as to consider the two languages as a register of "Hindustani," or |
| Shazia: ہندوستانی (Hindustani) |
| Michael: The truth is that the Urdu language is a member of the Indo-Aryan group belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. It is the native-language of nearly 70 million people and is spoken as a second language by over 100 million people in India and Pakistan. As such, it is an official language of the two countries mentioned. Urdu is not limited to India and Pakistan, though. Notable speech communities also exist in places like |
| Shazia: متّحدہ عرب امارات (Muttahidah Arab Amaraat) |
| Michael: or the "United Arab Emirates," |
| Shazia: یونائیٹڈ کنگڈم (United Kingdom) |
| Michael: which is the "United Kingdom," |
| Shazia: ریاست ہائے متحدہ امریکہ (riyasat haaye muttahidah Amrikah) |
| Michael: which is the "US." Two aspects where Urdu is very similar to Hindi are grammar and phonology. In terms of lexicon, both languages have borrowed considerably from other sources. Urdu has the Arabic and Persian languages as its primary sources, while Hindi has Sanskrit. This is why they are treated as independent languages despite their close similarity. Their main distinction, however, is in their writing systems. While Hindi uses Devanagari, Urdu uses Nastaliq, or |
| Shazia: نستعلیق (Nastaleeq) |
| Michael: which is a modified form of Perso-Arabic script. Phonologically, Urdu sounds are the same as those of Hindi. The only difference is that Urdu uses the complete set of aspirated stops that characterized the Indo-Aryan group of languages. |
| Michael: In addition, while there isn’t a huge difference between Urdu and Hindi from a grammatical point of view, a major distinction of Urdu is that it uses more Perso-Arabic prefixes and suffixes than Hindi. This is not a surprise at all, considering that Arabic and Persian are Urdu’s two major influences. |
| Michael: One interesting thing about the relation between Urdu and Hindi is that many Hindi words are actually borrowed from Urdu. Hindi speakers use these words all the time, thinking that they are either indigenous or have been borrowed from Sanskrit. The truth is that they are of Urdu origin. One such word is |
| Shazia: دوست (dost) |
| Michael: or "friend." Another one is the word |
| Shazia: اخبار (akhbaar) |
| Michael: or "newspaper." Finally, although both Urdu and Hindi mark the plural form of a word by changing the suffix, |
| Shazia: [آ] -aa to [ای] -ee |
| Michael: in some cases, Urdu uses the suffix, |
| Shazia: [آت] -aat |
| Michael: Such is the case in the words "papers," or |
| Shazia: کاغذات (kaagazaat) |
| Michael: and "houses," or |
| Shazia: مکانات (makaanaat) |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, we have learned that the language most similar to Urdu is Hindi and that the two are mutually intelligible to some extent. Both languages share the same Indo-Aryan base and are quite similar in terms of grammar and phonology. Despite their many similarities, the two languages are also unique in many aspects, including their writing systems, which is why each one is considered a distinct language. |
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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