Learn about the influence of English on Urdu
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Intro |
|---|
| Antoni: Why are so many English words used in Urdu? |
| Shazia: And are there any false friends? |
| Antoni: At UrduPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Mark Lee is on a business trip with his colleague. He realizes they've just missed the train and says, |
| "We missed the train." |
| Mark Lee: ہماری ٹرین چھوٹ گئی۔ (Hamari train choot gai.) |
| Dialogue |
| Mark Lee: ہماری ٹرین چھوٹ گئی۔ (Hamari train choot gai.) |
| Ijaz Hafeez : میں ایک ٹیکسی بُلاتا ہوں۔ (Mei aik taxi bulaata hun.) |
| Antoni: Once more with the English translation. |
| Mark Lee: ہماری ٹرین چھوٹ گئی۔ (Hamari train choot gai.) |
| Antoni: "We missed the train." |
| Ijaz Hafeez : میں ایک ٹیکسی بُلاتا ہوں۔ (Mei aik taxi bulaata hun.) |
| Antoni: "I'll call a taxi!" |
Lesson focus |
| Antoni: In this lesson, we will talk about English loanwords in the Urdu language. The English language and culture have imprinted deeply on Pakistani society, largely due to the historical colonial context of Pakistan. Remember that, before it gained its independence in 1947, Pakistan was under British rule for many decades. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Antoni: Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Mark Lee says "We missed the train?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Shazia as Mark Lee: ہماری ٹرین چھوٹ گئی۔ (Hamari train choot gai.) |
| [Recall 2] |
| Antoni: Now, let’s take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Mark's colleague says, "I'll call a taxi?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Shazia as Ijaz Hafeez : میں ایک ٹیکسی بُلاتا ہوں۔ (Mei aik taxi bulaata hun.) |
| Antoni: You might have noticed that both Mark and his colleague used a word of English origin. They mentioned the word |
| Shazia: ٹرین (train) |
| Antoni: or "train," and the word |
| Shazia: ٹیکسی (taxi) |
| Antoni: or "taxi." These two words may differ when you see them in written form, but, listening to them, you will know immediately that they are English words. The main characteristics of loanwords are that they don’t undergo any morphological and semantic changes. This means that they will sound and mean exactly the same as they originally do. |
| Let's see more examples, the first is |
| Shazia: برگر (burger) |
| Antoni: or "burger." Another word is |
| Shazia: چاکلیٹ (chocolate) |
| Antoni: or "chocolate." |
| Shazia: تھیٹر (theater) |
| Antoni: or "theater" |
| Shazia: کیمرا (camera), |
| Antoni: which is "camera." |
| Be careful, aside from loanwords, Urdu also has some false friends that resemble English words but are not loanwords. |
| False friends are a pair of words with the same sound and spelling but have completely different meanings. For instance, the word "ball" in English may refer to a round object that is often used in sports and games, but, in Urdu, the word |
| Shazia: بال (baal) |
| Antoni: refers to "hair." Another example would be the word |
| Shazia: کافی (kaafi). |
| Antoni: It may have thought of "coffee," but, no, it doesn’t refer to "coffee." Instead, it means "enough." You also have the word |
| Shazia: چیز (cheez). |
| Antoni: It does sound a lot like "cheese," but what it actually means is "thing" or "object." |
| Expansion |
| Antoni: So far, we’ve covered words that Urdu has borrowed from the English language. But did you know that English also has many words that it has borrowed from Urdu or at least are of Urdu origin? Again, not a surprise, considering the reality of cultural contact. One such word is |
| Shazia: جنگل (jungle). |
| Antoni: This word refers to the forest, and it’s where English has gotten the word "jungle." Another word is |
| Shazia: پاجامہ (pajaamah) |
| Antoni: which, as you might have guessed, is where the word "pajama" comes from. English has also borrowed the word "thug," which in Urdu is |
| Shazia: ٹھگ (thug) |
| Antoni: and "cummerbund," which comes from |
| Shazia: کمربند (cummerbund). |
Outro |
| Antoni: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Shazia: !الوداع (alwida!) |
| Antoni: See you soon! |
| Credits: Shazia Ashfaq (Urdu), Antoni (English, synthetic voice) |
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