Urdu, national language of Pakistan. which is at 4th in the world ranking. This language has a hoarded wealth of literature. Many famous persons have unique identification in the world due to their work in Urdu literature, like Mirza Ghalib Meer Taqi Meer, Allama Iqbal etc. but, now, this famous language is facing broblems. you people will decide whether it is going to be a dead language or will remain and maintain its status.
As writing system i .e Nastaliq script, of this language is different from the other languages like English scrip, Roman script and Hindi script etc. In modern ages people are using mobiles and internet as a medium, for their communications. they write urdu words in english scrip because most of the computers and mobiles have no urdu editors.
world famous companies are not interested to build urdu editors. as Google has more than 50 languages translators, but not has Urdu translator, although Urdu is 4th popular language, why they are not having editor or translator . is it Google's biasing towards Urdu?
Pakistani peoples are not interested to send their children to Urdu medium schools. It has become a status symbol, to sen children to English medium school.
some people say that Indian movies are doing great for the promotion of Urdu language. Some say, not only movies but our literature which is written in Urdu is the source of the promotion of Urdu language, they say, we must take interest in Urdu literature. We must write enough literary books.

now I would like to raise some questions.
in future, will Urdu be disappeared from the surface of the earth?
Can we not build Urdu editors at to compete the editors of other languages?
Is it Google's biasing towards Urdu that it doesn't have Urdu translator like translators of other languages?
Are literary persons not interested to do work in Urdu?
Are Indian films really doing any work to make Urdu famous?
what will be the effect of new writing system?
Is our new generation not interested in Urdu?
Will English replace Urdu?
How can we protect our language?

Hi, I m really happy to see the post.. i agree with you javed.

Many people are taking interest in the language. Like CRULP(Center for research in Urdu language Processing) , which is running by Professor Dr, Sarmad Hussian. He belongs to IT field but working for Pakistani Languages. You may visit the site... www.crulp.org. The Center is working for Languages +IT.

CRULP has developed Online Urdu dictionary, Nokia Urdu software, Text to speech system etc. Recently CRULP have completed a project, named Dareecha, which has localized some computer applications in Urdu language. I observe that many famous people from Urdu Literature are not working for their language. People read the Urdu stuff but just for entertainment. Nobody knows the importance of our national language and our heritage of Urdu Literature.

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That would indeed be pessimistic to think like that. Even though the language is not being developed the same way, as it should have been, still there are some people and institutions which are working to keep it alive and growing. Yes, you are right in one way that if we do not act meaningfully now, the language, in a longer period of time might die its own death. The mixing of different languages in it, especially the english words which are considered fashionable these days, is in fact a manifestation of this phenomenon. The language might not die per se, but it will be so corrupted that it would be hard to identify it as such.

A few people have indeed made attempts at creating these editors. But, for such an effort we should not rely on others i.e. foreign multinationals, but it should be an indigenous effort. Software houses within Pakistan should make efforts in this regard. But you should also understand their dilemma that most of these concerns, local or international, are driven by market demand. There isn't any appreciable demand of urdu editors, apart from low level word processing requirements in courts, and public offices. One reason is that at all middle and higher levels, English is used as the medium. One thing more that we should understand is that mapping urdu script and its grammar on digital machines is not as trivial. Microsoft has attempted in its Office Suit. You can explore that.
One solution to this is to initiate an open source movement. This type of movement is led by free lancers, where everyone is allowed to contribute towards the development of any software in their free time. This contribution demands no remuneration and is available free of cost to everyone. This enables wide scale testing, use and development of software.

They are interested and certainly they are doing a lot of work too. But on the contrary not many people are interested in reading their work. How many times have we ourselves read a good urdu novel, or a literary piece. It has been ingrained in our mindset to look for an english reading, be it a book, novel or newspaper.

Yes, it is ironic to say, but yes they are. In fact, the reason the Bollywood movies are produced in increasingly simple (read urdu) language is that they want to capture a wider array of audience and thus more market. Pakistan is one such big market of their productions.

Sadly, that is true. In effect this internet era has destroyed their sense of urdu language, its composition and structure. Weak though it used to be, but at least schools were a good instrument at teaching students with language.

Start reading urdu newspapers, novels. This would create a demand for the literature and more and more people would come up to produce it.

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Muhammad Ali Asghar

@maliasghar

Dear Muhammad Ali Asghar! Your idea of launching open source movement to built high quality Urdu editors and other software to promote Urdu language in the world, is highly appreciable. we must work hard to make urdu a popular and alive language. We must take steps to integrate Urdu script in digital machines. Only one person or organization cannot do this, your idea of open source development of Urdu software can solve this problem, but who will initiate it?

The other thing which irritates me, whenever i think about it is that our new generation is not interested in learning Urdu. They are fond of English literature and English music etc. they know much about William Shakespeare, William Makepeace Thackeray, Thomas Hardy and Leo Tolstoy. They, even, don't know about Meer Taqi Meer, Ibrahim Zauq, Mira Asad ullah Khan Ghalib, shaifta and Momin Khan Momin etc. How can we make our new generation interested in Urdu literature?


Dear! I went through the website which was described by you, but could not find any valuable thing, which would help to promote Urdu Language. It is a just a commercial website which develops software for earning money.the topic of discussion is "how to promote Urdu Language?" We will really appreciate your suggestion on this topic. this forum is not for commercial advertisement.

Dear,urdu is not going to disappear from the surface of the earth...Though Urdu is our Official Language,yet we seldom use it in Official works...but inspite of this,every Pakistani,no matter,where he lives(sindh,Punjab,Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa,Balochistan)understands Urdu,..thats why urdu is our National language..
yes,Google should have urdu translator like other languages of the world.
Indain movies have played a major role in the Popualrization of urdu language..but now our generation are used to mix hindi with Urdu language..i was amazed to listen a coversation b/w two children during my travel..they were like"mere Pitta Shirawati ne kha hai k first aao ge to video game le k dun ga"etc.....the other child also used Hindi,he said during his gossip"muje is mamle ki jankari nhi"....ironically their mothers were calm and didnot say anything to them..
our new generation is not interested in Urdu,simply because they considered it a waste of time to read Urdu Novels and fiction..
our literary persons are interested to do work in urdu..but their work is not highlighted by electronic media..
English will replace urdu in Educational&Business institutions...You can see any job Advertisement,in which it would be clearly mentioned by the company'owners"Proficieny in English Language is must"..
Take the example of CSS exam,where only good English is required to get through the exam..why??

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Fight for your dreams & your dreams will fight for you.

Dear MAha! I appreciate your feelings about Urdu Language.
Indian movies are mixture of Urdu and Hindi, these movies are getting influence on our children as you have described. how can we make aware of our Urdu language to our children.
why, our new generation considers that it is a wastage of time to read Urdu novels and fiction. is there not a good stuff of novels and fiction to read in Urdu . why, our new generation is interested in English literature. is English literature better than that of Urdu.
Germany, France, China, Russia and many other counties are providing education in their native languages then why Pakistan is having double stander in this field.

Any language which is losing out to other languages must have inherent flaws or must be facing adverse circumstances. Urdu is no exception. Before becoming so melancholic about Urdu losing popularity, we must look at the following facts: -

Urdu, our national language, is the mother tongue of only 8% of Pakistanis. Therefore, its status as national language is debatable and questionable.

Second, Urdu has never been the language of muslims. Through out the history, Muslims have used Arabic and in South Asia, the Mughal kings used Persian. urdu is a very recent language and came into being in a particular localities of Delhi and Lucknow. Therefore, Urdu is not a symbol of Islamic brotherhood.

Third, we cannot compete in this world by sticking to Urdu at cost of English. The advanced nations such as France, China etc., who had been using national languages since near past, are also fast learning English now. In China, English professors are amongst the highest paid.

Fourth, Urdu as a national language has been unable to unite Pakistanis. People use their mopther tongues in common parlance.

Therefore, we need not worry about promoting Urdu. We should instead be learning English and create a niche for ourselves. The world has moved on from Gham-e-Jaanaan and Mehboob ki bay rukhi etc.

And lastly, Urdu is not going to die. Though it will become less and less popular with time. And we should just not be concerned about that.

Honestly,we are a Complexed Nation..there is a general Perception in Pak"Gareeb ki Urdu aur Ameer ki English achi hoti hai"...thatswhy our generation dont wana to waste their time by reading Ghalib,Faiz,Meer,Quratulain Haider etc...no doubt there is a very good stuff in Urdu novels,fiction and poetry..e.g Ghalib said"Aisi JAnnat ka kia kre koi,jis mein Lakhoon Baars ki Hoorain Hoon"see his modernity..but still many of us only know about his name and not about his poetic work...YOU have given the examples of china,Russia,France and Germany..but we cannot follow their example,You know why?Urdu vocbulary is not so much rich to decribe scientific terms,ask any doctor,he will tell you that "we cannot read in Urdu,because there are so many diseases whose name we dont find in Urdu dictionary"


no doubt sir,You are right,but every Pakistani Uderstands urdu,thatswhy its our national language,a Person living in khyber Pakhtoonkha,or Balochistan may be feel some difficulty to understand Punjabi,but he will know urdu

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Fight for your dreams & your dreams will fight for you.

Well Urdu is developing as an International Language. Few more years, Urdu will no more be unintelligible to the world community.

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Respected Sir! I disagree to your arguments. You have said that only 8% people's mother language is Urdu. Therefore, its status as national language is debatable and questionable.
More than 450 million people can speak Urdu, it is on the 4th position of the world ranking. According to Wikipedia its position is after English. near about everyone in Pakistan can speaks and understands Urdu. Then, why is Urdu as our national language questionable?

Yes, Urdu has never been the language of Muslims, before mughul era. Mughal King, Bahadur Shah Zafar was a great Urdu poet. Urdu was originated from the centers of Muslim traditions, which were Dehly, Agra and Lakhnow etc. Urdu came into existence due to Muslim poets and scholars. We can say Urdu is language of the Muslims of India and Pakistan.

Sir! Chinese President Hu Jintao cannot speak English, even their Foreign Minister also cannot speak English. Many people from china can speak Urdu fluently , but they are not able to speak English. if they are surviving in the world then why cannot we survive in the world without speaking English.
Urdu is our hoarded wealth we have to protect it.
INSHA ALLAH we will protect it


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Dear Maha!
Urdu vocabulary is rich enough and also Urdu has the ability of absorption of other words. we can assign words from Urdu to those specific terms or we can utter those terms as those are.