language enthusiast

Hey y’all! I know this is a langblr blog but I really wanna share a link to the Riordanverse server my friend made! It’s a shiny new server where we can discuss stuff related to Percy Jackson, Kane Chronicles, Magnus Chase and all the other series by Rick Riordan. I have over 500 followers now (wow! thank you all) so some of you are bound to like PJO so here’s the link.

As most South Asian people know, the divide between Hindi and Urdu is a very hotly debated and political thing. But I'm only here to talk about how you can learn Urdu if you already know Hindi. Urdu is, after all, a beautiful langauge. But first, I'd like to get a few things out of the way.

I've had quite a few people who want to learn Hindi ask if they can learn both Hindi and Urdu at the same time and I usually give them a long answer justifying my reasonings about how it can be confusing when you're trying to learn both of them at the same time and the words mean the same thing but there are just subtle pronunciation and spelling differences. But you can get over this hurdle pretty fast if you have a good grasp over either of the langauges.

The biggest hurdle is the writing system. Hindi is written in the Devanagari Script, which is an Abugida, that is it is written in a weird vowel-consonant hybrid where each consonant (generally) has a vowel (one of the reasons I recommend learning that first, as it is read exactly the way it is written). On the other hand, Urdu is written in the Nastaliq Script, which is an Abjad- that is it does not write vowels usually, or short vowels at least, which can be pretty confusing. Plus, the (some) letters have an initial, a middle and a final form depending on their place in the word, in addition to the free form.

Enough scaring now though, onto the self-study tips. I'd recommend going over the alphabet once but then I'd recommend learning them slowly while trying to form words.

Resources:

This YouTube Series to learn the script

A blogpost by a native Urdu speaker about learning Urdu through Hindi

Ukindia Learn to read Urdu

@urdulanguageclub for vocab words

@urdupod101 is helpful as well

r/Urdu on Reddit is a good place to learn as well after you've mastered the script!

P.S.: I'm not an expert at Urdu, I've barely been learning it for a few months. So if you all have a few suggestions then let me know!

P.P.S.:

مجھے ہاتھ کے لکھاوٹ پڑھنے مے پریشانی ہوتی ہے۔***

It’s amazing to hear that you’re learning Hindi to try and connect with your family more! I know that you have some baseline knowledge of Hindi and I’m assuming that you don’t live in an environment where a lot of people speak in Hindi. I don’t know if you know the Devanagari Script so let’s just assume you don’t.

If you want to learn conversational Hindi, you are in luck! Most people in India (in big cities, usually) know and use English words in day-to-day conversation. And then learning a new script is not as important either, you can just work with romanisation (writing hindi in the Latin alphabet, which most of us do).

Romanisation has one problem though, there are a lot of sounds in hindi that can't be differentiated between unless you ready know the word like the soft and the had 't's and 'd's. The script isn't exactly easy, though it will greatly benefit you as Hindi is read exactly as it is written. So, I would suggest you learn it via YouTube. I found a good teacher on YouTube- Shachi Chotia. I also found this resource for learners, which might help you and help with grammar.

Now, the most important part- immersion. A lot of people find it hard to distinguish between the subtle sounds and pronouncing certain consonants (like ड़ and ण). I know a lot of language learners suggest music, but I'd advise against it as most Bollywood music incorporates other Indian langauges (especially Urdu and Punjabi) and uses a lot of literary words that are not used in everyday conversation. So, I find it a little pointless. And a little confession here- I know both Hindi and Urdu but even I can't fully understand a lot of the songs lol. I'd say that movies and Netflix shows. Remember, immersion is everything! That's the best way (imo) to acquire a language. YouTube too. Slayy Point is my personal favourite.

I would kind of recommend Duolingo as well, purely to learn the script at the start though. Duolingo doesn't do much for conversation, which is your end goal.

Also- a lot of things that they make you learn in langauge class aren't as important, like the days of the week, writing numbers in hindi (just use the numbers we use in English) and numbers past twenty (honestly, you'd just be wasting you time- there's no discernable pattern to them and you'd waste your time).

Man, I have a really hard time picking favourites! I have a lot of German words that I love (even though I don’t have a particularly extensive vocabulary) most of which are compound words. One of my favs at the moment is Handschuche (gloves). It’s just so cute, you know? Also names of animals like Schildkröte (turtle, literally translating to shield toad) and Stachelschwein (porcupine, literally translating to sting pig), and many more.

lustig funny

langweilig boring

stark strong

freundlich kind, friendly

ruhig calm

ernst serious

besorgt anxious

fleißig diligent

humorvoll humorous 

dynamisch energetic

höflich polite

intelligent intelligent

aktiv active

ehrgeizig ambitious

ehrlich honest 

schüchtern shy

geduldig patient, meek

gut aussehend good-looking

mutig brave

introvertiert introvert

zuverlässig reliable

extrovertiert extrovert

kreativ creative

faul lazy

begeistert enthusiastic

großzügig generous 

ungezogen naughty

mitfühlend sympathetic

rücksichtsvoll thoughtfull

dumm stupid

agressiv agressive

künstlerisch artistic

schlecht gelaunt bad-tempered

vorsichtig careful

gelassen easygoing

emotional emotional

unentschlossen indecisive

naiv naive

launisch moody

sozial social

verständnisvoll understanding