Sunday, August 26, 2012 | DailyTimes
Sir: The other day I received an interesting note from a friend-researcher who was awed at the loss of originality in our regional languages, especially Urdu. According to her recent research experience in north Sindh and southern Punjab, “Rich languages (Sindhi, Punjabi, Siraiki and Urdu in particular) of Pakistan are quickly replacing their vocabulary with English.” She also cited a glaring example of how English is grossly being inducted in Urdu giving Urdu a look that she does not hesitate to call “funny”. After reading the following model strip of ‘cocktail’ Urdu, the readers will also agree with her and surely deplore the degradation of our national language:
“Hamain legal issues mein support nahi hai, need-based training honi chahiye, kya hamain technical person ki need nahi? Project level par technical person nahi the, ek shelter officer har jaga ki monitoring kar raha tha is liye achay way mein community ko guide nahin kar raha tha. First to male or female staff hamaaray paas tha, abhi nahi. Hamaray exposure visits karain, quarterly meeting to hoti hai lekin ground par training baat hi kuch aur hai. Hamain bohot saari training chahiye, project-designing par hamain train kiya jae, knowledge diya jai, ke ham is problem ko kaise handle karain.”
Use of English words is not restricted to Urdu, but almost all regional languages have fallen prey to this trend. If we look at Japanese, we note that they try to Nipponise foreign words to make them appear Japanese. This may be so with some other languages but in the case of Urdu, it has ceased to develop and grow into a complete language since long. About three decades ago, some work was done by the Urdu Board to assemble technical terms in Urdu (istalahaat) but even then most of the substituted Urdu words were taken as they were either from Arabic or Persian. Since then and especially after the advent of computers, no work has been done to upgrade the Urdu language.
Another reason for the fall and decline of the Urdu language is the cultural callousness, indifference and lack of interest in adopting Urdu for research. This is also true for other regional languages. Thus, teaching in these languages and their use as a medium of education are prevalent in the lower classes but as we climb to higher studies, these languages disappear and are replaced by English or perhaps other languages.
Needless to say, without cultural changes and revival of interest in Urdu as a language, Urdu and no regional language would survive.
MAZHAR BUTT
Karachi
Sir: The other day I received an interesting note from a friend-researcher who was awed at the loss of originality in our regional languages, especially Urdu. According to her recent research experience in north Sindh and southern Punjab, “Rich languages (Sindhi, Punjabi, Siraiki and Urdu in particular) of Pakistan are quickly replacing their vocabulary with English.” She also cited a glaring example of how English is grossly being inducted in Urdu giving Urdu a look that she does not hesitate to call “funny”. After reading the following model strip of ‘cocktail’ Urdu, the readers will also agree with her and surely deplore the degradation of our national language:
“Hamain legal issues mein support nahi hai, need-based training honi chahiye, kya hamain technical person ki need nahi? Project level par technical person nahi the, ek shelter officer har jaga ki monitoring kar raha tha is liye achay way mein community ko guide nahin kar raha tha. First to male or female staff hamaaray paas tha, abhi nahi. Hamaray exposure visits karain, quarterly meeting to hoti hai lekin ground par training baat hi kuch aur hai. Hamain bohot saari training chahiye, project-designing par hamain train kiya jae, knowledge diya jai, ke ham is problem ko kaise handle karain.”
Use of English words is not restricted to Urdu, but almost all regional languages have fallen prey to this trend. If we look at Japanese, we note that they try to Nipponise foreign words to make them appear Japanese. This may be so with some other languages but in the case of Urdu, it has ceased to develop and grow into a complete language since long. About three decades ago, some work was done by the Urdu Board to assemble technical terms in Urdu (istalahaat) but even then most of the substituted Urdu words were taken as they were either from Arabic or Persian. Since then and especially after the advent of computers, no work has been done to upgrade the Urdu language.
Another reason for the fall and decline of the Urdu language is the cultural callousness, indifference and lack of interest in adopting Urdu for research. This is also true for other regional languages. Thus, teaching in these languages and their use as a medium of education are prevalent in the lower classes but as we climb to higher studies, these languages disappear and are replaced by English or perhaps other languages.
Needless to say, without cultural changes and revival of interest in Urdu as a language, Urdu and no regional language would survive.
MAZHAR BUTT
Karachi
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