Your Ultimate Urdu Pronunciation Guide

Urdu Pronunciation

Proper pronunciation in the Urdu language is important for a number of reasons. You want to be able to sound like a native speaker, and you want others to be able to understand your words. Just as grammar is important, proper Urdu pronunciation is vital to knowing the language. It also helps you when you are listening to speakers of the language, because you will be able to pick out the individual words they are saying, so you can process the meaning of their sentence more quickly. Because native speakers speak very quickly, understanding pronunciation will improve your grasp of what is happening with speakers around you.

An interesting thing about Urdu is that you write what you speak using the Nastaliq script because it is highly phonetic. This means you can easily learn the pronunciation of unknown words just from their written structure.

There are many consonants with the same pronunciation as English, though differences exist. On the other hand, vowels in Urdu are different from those in English and in general, Urdu has more vowels and consonants than English. The vowels bear some similarity to Hindi vowels, but in most cases are different.

Many languages have special sounds or special consonants and, in some cases, vowels to represent foreign language loanwords. But in Urdu, there are no special words or symbols designed specifically to represent the foreign words. The consonants and vowels of the Urdu language are rich enough to represent all the foreign words and sounds and hence, unlike Hindi, there are no special letters for foreign languages.

1) Use voice recording tools to perfect your pronunciation

UrduPod101 has plenty of resources to help you with your Urdu pronunciation, so be sure to make thorough use of our recordings with native Urdu speakers. These are available not only to demonstrate to you how you should pronounce Urdu vocabulary, but also sentences and dialogues. Watch and listen to these over and over again to train your ear, and watch the teacher’s mouth as she speaks in the video lessons. Then, copy the speech as best you can. Later, you can record yourself to hear if you sound like a native speaker and compare yourself with native speakers. Great for self-motivation.

2) Practice in front of the mirror.

And see that you’re copying the correct lip and mouth movements.

3) Use our UrduPod101 dictionary!

Use the Urdu dictionary provided by UrduPod101 to look up words and listen to the audio pronunciation. This will go a long way towards giving you an idea of how to pronounce a word or letter correctly.

4) Train your ear to the language!

Make an effort to often listen to Urdu music and recorded books, and watch plenty of Urdu movies and/or TV shows in Urdu. This will train your ear to the language, and you’ll be surprised how quickly you pick up the accent. Remember, this is the way we learned to speak when we were young - mostly by listening to the adults talking, and repeating what they say!

5) Practice, practice, practice…

Repetition of the same thing may be boring, but in learning a new language, you’re creating new pathways in your brain. For these to remain and become habitual, you will need to repeat the correct pronunciation often.

6) Make friends with a native Urdu speaker.

Don’t be shy to address them in Urdu! Ask them to correct you when you make a pronunciation mistake - this is a wonderful way to practice and learn the language first-hand, and also to make new friends.

7) Practice your pronunciation with your Urdu teacher!

If you’re a serious student and don’t know where to meet native Urdu speakers, consider investing in UrduPod101’s Premium PLUS plan. This means you will have your own native Urdu teacher available to practice your pronunciation with, and much more! Send recordings of yourself speaking Urdu and get feedback from your Urdu teacher.