8 advantages of learning Urdu

Shahzaman HAQUE

It is sometimes a hard decision to decide which new foreign language to learn. Why not choose Urdu? For business, pleasure or just to know new perspectives from different corners of our world, learn Urdu. Here are 9 advantages of learning Urdu :

1. With this classical language, which began developing around the 12th century, you can plunge into a rich literature from the 14th century onwards.

2. Urdu developed under the influences of many other languages and imported heavily loanwords from Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Punjabi, Turkish and Sanskrit. Learning it will give you some sort of exposure to these languages. Many basic phrases of Urdu and Hindi are similar. Around 40% of words in Urdu are imported from Persian and Arabic. 43 words borrowed from Sanskrit are used in the current Urdu. There are more than 106 Urdu words in Nepali language.

3. Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic script. If you can read and write Urdu, you will automatically learn to read and write six other languages — Arabic, Baluchi, Kashmiri, Pashto, Persian and Punjabi — and you may also understand many words from them too.

4. Urdu is among the 20th most spoken languages in the world with around 160 million speakers in over 26 countries — Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Canada, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Guyana, India, Malawi, Mauritius, Nepal, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, The Netherland, U.A.E., U.K., USA and Zambia. You have access to around 4000 journals, 70 radio stations and 74 TV channels in this language.

5. Urdu is the most underrated vehicular language of the Indian sub-continent. For more than 45% Punjabi speakers in Pakistan, Urdu is the only vehicular language for people from different linguistic and ethnic background. Urdu is widely used as the registered official language of the complainant in the police station of the North India.

6. It will help to make you more polite and courteous than you are already. Urdu is considered as one of the most polite languages of the world. When children are scolded in Urdu, one may hear the sheer melody of the language. Urdu will make you adopt a ‘zen attitude’ and you will benefit hugely from that in social-relationship building.

7. When you learn Urdu, you will be able to understand dialogues and songs in the films produced by the Bollywood film industry. Most of the lyrics are sung in Urdu.

8. Learning Urdu may boost your career if you want to work in or with the lands of Northern India, Pakistan, Great Britain, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and many other places. A knowledge of this language will indeed help you to find jobs and to expand your social network.