Urdu is known to be the main language spoken in Pakistan. With its relevance in the previously-known subcontinent, it has strong ties with Hindi that is spoken in India. The language has proven to be a widely spoken one as almost 100 million people use this to communicate regularly.
10 interesting facts about the Urdu language
Urdu holds a lot of rare qualities and is known for the beautiful literature it possesses. Here are some more fun facts about the language.
The official language of Pakistan: While there are plenty of languages spoken in Pakistan, Urdu is known as the official language of the country. The language became official in 1973 and can be seen widely used by the citizens of Pakistan every day.
Developed in the 12th century: The Urdu language started evolving from as early as the 12th century. Arabic and Persian are two of the most important languages that have influenced the development of this language.
Known as the language of beauty and grace: Urdu is known to be a beautiful language that flourishes in literature. It is known to touch a person’s heart with the various meanings that are hidden in its words. The poetry and phrases used in Urdu are in-depth and leave an ever-lasting impression on those that indulge in them.
English words driven from Urdu: There are various words of Urdu that have been used in the English language. They aren’t the exact terms but the essence of them has been derived from Urdu. These include “khaki” which means dusty or grey, “pajamas” which means trousers and “cummerbund” which means waist binding.
Spoken in India: Urdu is one of the 22 languages that are spoken in India and dominates in various cities of the country.
Reads from right to left: While most languages go from left to right pattern, Urdu seems to be on different stead. It goes from right to left that might confuse a lot of people initially.
A variation of Hindustani: Before the partition of India, Hindustani was the language used in the subcontinent. Now, there are two variations of it, including Urdu and Hindi.
Symbol of Muslims: During the 19th century, there were a lot of tensions because of the British Empire’s colonization. Urdu became the symbol for uniting Muslims during these times.
Moderately difficult to learn: Given the pattern that it uses (right to left), it can be slightly difficult for people to get a hold of easily. It has 40 letters driven from Arabic and Persian languages but the pronunciation of these differ from the original languages.
Small communities in various countries speak Urdu: While Pakistan holds the record for the largest group of people speaking Urdu, there are also many small communities all across the world that speak the language. These include small communities in the Middle East, the United Kingdom, and much more.
While it may seem like learning this language is a tad bit difficult, you can learn it easily if you put in the right effort. Once you get the hang of it, there’s no stopping you from mastering Urdu!
