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.

Some Urdu resources and information online:

1. http://www.urdustan.com

2. Voice of America Urdu service: http://www.voa.gov/urdu/

Date/Time Last Modified: 6/3/2004 8:22:40 AM

Readers' Comment

Gohar Khan: 11/19/2005 2:17:52 AM
Many have wondered why Urdu is a dying language in Pakistan. Urdu as a language fails to unify and culturally solidify Pakistanis into a strong identity. It does not provide the upward mobility or access to higher education which one would expect of a national(qaumi) language. In fact there is a resurgence of pride in regional languages(eg. Pushto/Pukhto, Hindko, Panjabi, Seraiki, Sindhi, Shinha etc..) in recent years and these regional languages label an Individual as being Pakistani in origin moreso than just an Urdu speaker. Pure Urdu speaker(who dont speak any other language besides Urdu and English) are type-casted as being non-native Pakistanis. Also, in the 80's and 90's, many of the children of non-native urdu speakers who had gone to Karachi and have to some extent lost their mother tongue; upon return to their ancestral villages are wrongfully labelled as Mohajir or Hindoostani and have infact limited their linguistic ability rather than furthered it by acquiring this new and foreign language. This language has alienated them from there ancestral lands! As Urdu is a non-indigenous language of Pakistan the new generation of Urdu speakers have more in common with Indians (vis a vis there idioms, proverbs and metaphors) then they do with other Pakitanis. For a language like Urdu to survive and have any future in Pakistan, it needs to be changed and modified. While it was the national language chosen by Jinnah, the fact that India chose Hindi(over other indigenous languages) has proven to be disastrous for Urdu in Pakistan. The addition of more Pakistani based words found in the regional languages of Pushto, Sindhi/Baloch and Dardistani eg.Shinha/Khowar (a process which is already taking place on the common level) needs to be officially promulgated in text books and official programs. I dont think that this is a problem since more than 95% Pakistani have to learn this language in the first place, so it wouldnt be too difficult to promote a modified version of it. The language needs more of a Pakistani identity so that it becomes a common language which will benefit and act as a cohesive force for Pakistani's rather than polarising the nation into sub-segments. Especially when going abroad; at current if a pure Urdu speaker is met abroad, one's intially suspects the individual may be Indian; this needs to be changed. I would even recommend a name change as many renowned Urdu scholars have suggested. Perhaps 'PAK URDU' or just simply 'PAKI' Zaban would suffice to initiate this process. I also find it quite interesting that the national poet Allama Iqbal himself considered one of the greatest Urdu poets, in his later life rejected Urdu as being a limited language and a hindrance to progression as it limits our scope to the South Asian Continent while ignoring the vast pool of Persian and Turkish vocabulary/literature which are the foundations of Pakistani art and culture; in fact these languages are what allowed Urdu to be what it is today. If we want this language to stay as the national language and expand in the future, changes are going to be necessary to modify and familiarize it with the many Pakistani languages(that are almost entirely Indo-European in origin like Urdu) and idioms for it to have a prosperous future here in our country, otherwise this cycle of decline will continue and, I'm a affraid this once great language of the 'army camps' will die out. Gohar

youeffo: 5/5/2006 7:42:57 AM
Where Urdu stands now? There was a time when Urdu was considered to be a sacred language. The language of the Muslims in India, and was given the status of national language of Pakistan after independence. But it paved the way for a separation movement in East Pakistan when it was imposed across the board in Pakistan. Ironically, Punjabis were the main supporters of this language and still it is the language of middle class throughout Punjab. Most of the famous poets and writers in Punjab chose this language as their medium of writing, but all of a sudden a revelation came to the minds of Punjabis. “They are Punjabis and have nothing to do with Urdu” and it was MQM in Karachi blaming Punjab and Punjabis for all their woes. Punjabis were cursed, maligned and rejected even though most of them living Karachi were also mohajirs. Most of the Punjabis even didn’t know the difference between Urdu speaking and Punjabi speaking communities. They considered Urdu speaking from their own community. But all of a sudden everything changed. Urdu is a beautiful language, and there is no harm to speak it. But problem is confrontation breeds confrontation. Pakistan is facing tremendous challenges from the first day. There are enemies of Pakistan inside and outside and we all should fight against them. All Pakistanis are equal and all Pakistanis should learn to behave and live and let others live in peace. Take the instance of India, where hundreds of languages are spoken, dozens of religions are practiced and a number of races live side by side. But in Pakistan the Muslims have common faith, they should learn from others. In my view the national language of Pakistan should have been Arabic. In Israel, Jews revived their language, but Arabic is a living language, but we fail to enforce it in Pakistan. Now the so-called national language of Pakistan is Urdu, but practically English dominates government offices. The time has come to decide if English is so important, then what is the need of Urdu to impose on our children. If indigenous languages are important, what is the need of Urdu or English. If Urdu is so important, why English? You have to develop your own language if you want to develop as a nation and have to learn another language if you want to develop yourself (at individual level).

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