Massacre of a Language

dear sir,
our use of MINGLISH is due to our basic slave nature we never got independent we never wanted to really, thats why we get soooooo impressed by any body speaking fluent (BAD AND WRONG THOUGH IT MAY BE)english so we add different words of english to show we are educated If i speak pure urdu people might not know i am educated or not
WE ALL LIKE TO BE BROWN SAHIBS.A language must be spoken,written,and used in the purest possible form .if i know english i must not try to ``SHOW`` every one by ``you know`` see you and bla bla bla
n
isloo

dear sir,
our use of MINGLISH is due to our basic slave nature we never got independent we never wanted to really, thats why we get soooooo impressed by any body speaking fluent (BAD AND WRONG THOUGH IT MAY BE)english so we add different words of english to show we are educated If i speak pure urdu people might not know i am educated or not
WE ALL LIKE TO BE BROWN SAHIBS.A language must be spoken,written,and used in the purest possible form .if i know english i must not try to ``SHOW`` every one by ``you know`` see you and bla bla bla

isloo

Dear Adil,

````Ddal`` is now associated with a doctor, rather than the ``daakia`` (postman) ...``

The very word ``daak``...just wondering which language is this word from originally??? i doubt it being urdu and sounds like it has been ``urdawaya`` as they call it when they transform a word from another language:):)

anyhow, notwithstanding the validity of all points that you have raised, Urdu itself has some genunie problem, specially if it is not constantly re-vamped and overhauled. For the basic everyday language its fine as well as for poetic expressions, but we come across quite funny situations when into professional fields with Urdu......if you have the experience the Public Education in Pakistan specially in urdu medium schools where they try to teach Math, chemistry, Physics and biology in Urdu.....honestly, i was never confused on any other term in my life than i was on ``Zu Izaaf-e-Aqal`` (i hope some of you can pronounce it). Its the Urdu term for LCM (lowest/least common multiple). Had it not been my dad, i would have never understood and would have just kinda ``ratta`` this thingy:):) he explained to me the difference between ``aqal`` with ``ain`` and ``aqal`` with ``alif`` and also gave me the english translation of the phrase which was quite easy to relate to the concept.

Samina....i agree with your view and would add that Urdu is a very dynamic language, probably more dynamic that many of the contemporary languages and thus adaptive, except when ppl. try to force that century old vocabulary. One of the reasons for urdu being so dynamic and adaptive, as i see is that, its bascially a ``borrowed`` language. Its grammer basically being a ``hindi and sansikrat`` grammer, at least to the extent of the basic grammatical infrastructure and the vocabulary being a mixture of ``arabic, persian and hindi`` and very little of the turkish. So now, it sounds like english is making its place in the line which shows the trend of this language being so receptive towards other languages, specially the dominating languages of the time and era.

Before I opened up this thread about linguistic massacres, I naively assumed it was about the state of the Punjabi language in Pakistan....silly me....

Bibi ji, aap urdu ko goli marain. Just continue to dismember English language`s syntax, composition, grammar, paradigms and various other rules.

Wassalam,

Gnostic

Adil,

- am an avid reader of your writings, have been since you were local and hadn`t yet become an NRP. article, as always, is good, but i disagree - am i the only one!?

let me qualify. ofcourse, using ice-cream to symbolise ``alif mad aa`` is asinine, altho` no more so than ``zhuad zaroof`` or ``zhey zhalaabaari`` - heck, I always thought zaroof was munawwar zareef when he wasnt feeling too happy!

so, agreed, qaidas are dangerously bey-qaida today. However, when has language not been a ``lashkar`` of borrowed terms, idioms, even slang? remember ``urdu`` - meaning ``laskhar`` in turkish? urdu is undoubtedly one for the most expressive of languages, and it owes it richness to borrowed terms. ever studied swahili - its urdu except for the accent and the prepositions! ``sabun`` is - sabun, ``kitaab`` is, yep, you guessed it! as for our favorites, ghalib and meer - they were rebels, preferring the street walker`s language as their vehicle for expression instead of the royal persian. it was their conscious choice of urdu that raised its status, altho` beauty of expression it had all along.

look at the japs - when they didnt know what to call a television, they started to call it ``televisionu``, cheese became ``cheesu``. sounds ridiculous, but did this belittle japanese, one of the oldest languages of the world? i seriously doubt it.

my point is this; urdu is in danger not because it is borrowing from english but because we as urdu speaking residents of this earth do not believe in its inherent strength to survive and its status as one of the world`s most widely spoken languages.

having said that - ``yeh yacht?`` you`re kidding me!?

I read the article with interest and fully agree with the sentiment. But if are bought the Qaida in Islamabad should`nt you be teaching your son Punjabi instead of Urdu.

Dear Mr. Najam

It is really refreshing to see some pointing out our follies with the usage of too many english alpabets in our native language. Here I would like to cite a very interesting scenerio. It happened with me about three months ago. I was working with Canadian Consultants in Islamabad. There were three other people from different companies in Pakistan. Each time we used to converse in our language among ourselves, we used many english words. The Canadians finally asked us a million dollar question, ``Does your language have very limited vocab?``. ``We note that each time you people talk, you use many english words and is quite perplexing for us``. I felt very embarrased. I urged my other friends to converse using only urdu words. I was very comfortable but none of the others could do it. Naturally we all started talking in Punjabi.

At least we speak our regional languages without using english words. I believe it is high time we must pay attention to use our own language without any infiltration of foreign words.

Owais

Adil
As the ancient chinese saying goes the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
I empathise.
Our first born was immersed in Urdu
and deliberately kept away from English
till he started kindergarten. We wanted to
raise him as bilingual as could be possible. Now he is in high school and
only reluctantly speaks Urdu. And that
too with a frangi accent.
What happened? Did we err? And where?
I would like to think that the foundations
are there and someday if he desires he can improve upon it.
Keep in touch if you can
Yours
Desi in Pardes

P.S. WILL GLASS_HUSSAIN
I met an academic in Toronto last year
who is teaching Urdu/Hindi through
video tele-conferancing simultaneously
at three North or South carolina
universities. Ihave misplaced his address.
If I find it I will post it here.

Adil
As the ancient chinese saying goes the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
I empathise.
Our first born was immersed in Urdu
and deliberately kept away from English
till he started kindergarten. We wanted to
raise him as bilingual as could be possible. Now he is in high school and
only reluctantly speaks Urdu. And that
too with a frangi accent.
What happened? Did we err? And where?
I would like to think that the foundations
are there and someday if he desires he can improve upon it.
Keep in touch if you can
Yours
Desi in Pardes

A wonderful article. I wish I had time, it would make a wonderfully comic sketch for television.

As a kid of 8-10, I grew up reading urdu adventure/fantasy: `amir hamza`, `tulsum hoshraba`etc. You can say that these are equivalent in wonderment and a good story to Tolkien`s the Hobbit, Wizard of Oz etc. I don`t live in Pakistan anymore, I wonder whether such books are in print any more? Certainly they made up for the lack of kahanis at my nani`s! A sign, back then, of the times to come.

I am glad, I had a chance to read them.

Re Cynic

I think the analogy with English (absorbing Spanish and French words) is inappropriate. English is pretty much a hegemonic language and Urdu in a weak and miserable condition. The use of English words in Urdu is mostly a reflection of that power differential. Of course, there are those English words that say what needs to be said simply and effectively and therefore people prefer the English to the Urdu counterpart. Your point about the selective reaction to impreialist/hegemonic languages -- English versus Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit -- is also well taken.

Re: Sceptic

Hear, Hear.

URDISHNOMICS

The time is nigh:
the urdish drop starts
to develop the nomics ocean;
Fountains of linguistic blood
begin to gush forth
as the pressures of destiny
close in on itself ...
pounded linguistic bones and crushed
linguistic flesh are strewn to welcome
that which is never welcomed.

Lick all that is fresh today
for tomorrow only the
seething oozing
puss of silly remorse shall
remain;
Linguistic marrow will not be
spared ...
but day after the morrow
the time is no more nigh
for then even time is no
more `cuz
linguistic apartheid is left in a
bloody grave.

In that neo-linguistic world:
the linguistic rock trembles softly like a
leaf in
the hands of language murderers;
Now even the tempestuous wind
caresses gently
in that linguistic world where the sun
never sets;
The earth is rent asunder and its
core is bathed in that fragrant
linguistic light.

Yes, linguistic darkness is dissolved once
for all!
Yes, Sesame Street Call of Abracabadra
is heard from the depths of
linguistic silence!
Yes, in that Sesame Street world where
we are born into the linguistic sun!

Umair,

A Qaida website is a good idea. However, I am not at all convinced that it is the solution to the bigger underlying problem. Those priviliged few who have access to the web will, one way or the other, find a decent education for their kids. It is for the rest of Pakistan--the multitudes that WE have condemned to a second rate existence and a third rate education--that will suffer... as they always have. And therein lies the real crux of our educational nightmare... those who need for things to change have been systematically robbed of their rights as citizens to be able to do what is needed and those who have the ability to do the right thing have no incentive to do so. In fact, the incentive is to maintain the criminal neglect and perpetuate the system of educational aparthied that prevails in Pakistan.... i.e. ``Hum (English medium) idhar, tum (Urdy medium) udhar!``

The issue is much bigger than just a qaida (as in, an alphabet book)... it pertains to the qaida (as in, the system), or lack thereof, that defines our education. The book is simply a symptom... the malaise runs much deeper.