{"id":4188,"date":"2021-01-05T02:14:51","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T22:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cudoo.com\/?p=4188"},"modified":"2021-02-02T02:50:22","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T22:50:22","slug":"a-guide-to-the-urdu-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cudoo.com\/blog\/a-guide-to-the-urdu-language\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to the Urdu Language"},"content":{"rendered":"

Urdu has been called one of the most beautiful and sophisticated languages spoken around the world. It is why Urdu speakers are such a delight to listen to and just by listening to Urdu poetry or music, it makes you want to learn Urdu. Perhaps you\u2019ve already heard it in a movie or a song, maybe you have Pakistani or Indian neighbors? It sounds very much like Hindi because it was born in the Indian subcontinent. Also known as the <\/span>\u2018Kohinoor\u2019 of India, this Indo-European language developed in and around Delhi during the Delhi Sultanate and became the preferred language of the Mughals during the Mughal Empire. The Urdu language formed from Khariboli which was spoken in North India at the time, picking up regional dialects and including Persian and Arabic contributions and influences along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is the official language of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and one of the 23 national languages of India<\/a>. Today, <\/span>there are over 170 million native speakers of Urdu in India and Pakistan alone and taken by itself, Urdu is the 20<\/span>th<\/span> most populous native language spoken around the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So if you were to learn Urdu, you would definitely find someone to practice it with, as Urdu is no more confined to the Indian subcontinent and Urdu speakers are all around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Urdu Language History & Origin<\/h2>\n

At the time when Persian was the official language of the courts of the rulers of the Indian subcontinent, the local Hindi\/Sanskrit languages spoken in the region started intermingling. Today, what we call the modern standardized form of Urdu can trace 75% of its etymological roots to Sanskrit and at least 25% of its vocabulary was included from Arabic (the language of the Quran)<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the word Urdu is derived from the Turkish <\/span>Ordu <\/span><\/i>meaning Army, the language Urdu is not genetically related to Turkish. However, it did borrow from the central Asian language <\/span>Chagatai. The similarities found in the pronunciation of many Turkish and Urdu words is mainly because both the Urdu and the Turkish languages were influenced by Persian and Arabic.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where is Urdu Spoken?<\/h2>\n

Urdu is predominately spoken in Pakistan and India. There are hundreds of thousands of Urdu speakers in Northern India such as\u00a0New Delhi, Lucknow, and Hyderabad. The language is also commonly spoken in Bangladesh, the Middle East especially in Saudi Arabic and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other parts of the world where Pakistani communities have settled.<\/p>\n

Interesting Facts about the Urdu Language<\/h2>\n