Nov 13, 2009

For the Love of Language !!!

According to a Bollywood actress Amisha Patel, “I feel French is very close to Urdu. Both languages are beautiful. Sadly, their beauty is lost in translation”.

After receiving a comment from French blog visitor that Urdu belongs to Punjab, I told myself its time some of us should write down more regularly about this language and its initiators.

“Urdu” is an Indo-Aryan language came into being somewhere around 1300's through Mughal Courts of South-Asia then. The literary means of Urdu is Lashkar or "Army" in Turkish. In those times, Mughal Emperors had soldiers fighting in their army from various backgrounds i.e. Persian/Arabic/Turkish, hence a concoction born out of these languages called as URDU. It is an extremely rich language due to its take from the mentioned three languages, which made it an official language later.

It is the 20th widely spoken language of world, mainly spoken in Asia.Urdu is also as considered as 9th most influential language. It is official language of Pakistan and some states of India. Sometimes mistaken with Hindi due to its dialect, where as its inherited by Sanskrit mainly, which is a complete contrast to Urdu grammar and pronunciation.

Urdu is considered as one of the most formal, mannered and sweet languages. Many poets from Mughal era till today, have suggested their experiences of love and life both through Urdu Poetry and Prose.

I am born into a family who not only speak Urdu but also feel proud of it. Personally, I feel Urdu is one of the most expressive, imaginative, and passionate languages.

You gotta read it once in your life !!!



2 comments:

Georg said...

Thank you, Kulsoom. You gave some good explanations here. In case you know, give me a link for YouTube of some good sounding poems in Urdu.

Georg

Kulsoom said...

Of course I would love to...for start read the below.......its my favorite quatrain:

Original Urdu

Raat yunh dil mein teri khoee hui yaad aayee
Jaise veeraaney mein chupkey sey bahaar aa jaye
Jaisey sehra on mein howley se chaley baadey naseem
Jaisey beemaar ko bey wajhey Qaraar aa jaaye

English Translation

Last night, your lost memories crept into my heart
as spring arrives secretly into a barren garden
as a cool morning breeze blows slowly in a desert
as a sick person feels well, for no reason.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51vs6jZMHgU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0GhNujBejo&feature=related

Enjoy!!!


P.S. you can ask for more :)