| URDU
LANGUAGE-LEARNING RESOURCES |
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=A script-learning site maintained by Hugo Coolens: [site] =Another script-learning site, ukindia.com: [site] =A Hindi/Urdu language school in Delhi, "Zabaan": [site]; and the Landour Language School in Mussoorie: [site] =A script-teaching video put together by our own Tyler Williams for his students at Columbia: [site] =Sean Pue's Hindi/Urdu learning site that can conveniently be viewed on cellphones: [site] =A script-teaching
book, "Lessons in Urdu Script" by Mohammed Zakir,
1973: [on this site] ="The Arabic Alphabet:
A Guided Tour," by Michael Beard (based on naskh, but
nice): [site] =Before you complain about the Urdu script, compare the one you'd have to learn for *Sindhi*, or the complexities of *Pushto* =And if you're vexed by Urdu spelling-- be glad you're not learning English. Then you'd have spelling and pronunciation problems like THROUGH -- THOUGH -- BOUGH -- THOUGHT -- TOUGH. =And if you find our current textbooks unsatisfactory-- take a look at this one and see how much progress we've made since this *grammar book from 1771* =C. M. Naim: ==>*Naim's most important GRAMMAR and SCRIPT topics*<== from Introductory Urdu, Volume 1 (Chicago: South Asia Language and Area Center University of Chicago, 1999), online through DSAL and linked through this site =FWP: ==>*my own informal Urdu script notes and Urdu/Hindi teaching notes*<== =Rupert Snell's very helpful presentation on *the Hindi-Urdu verb* =Akbar Illahabadi: some of his satiric verses, translated and annotated for students by Miriam Murtuza: [on this site] =Barker's wordlist: Never out of print, and never should be: M. A. R. Barker, et al., Urdu-English Vocabulary (Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, 1991 [1980]): [site]. The best part of it is the frequency count that lets you know at once how widely used a word is. =A special website
devoted to intermediate-level Urdu readings, housed at
Washington University: [site] =AIIS-Columbia Urdu
Modules Project: 28 thematic modules on Urdu language
and culture: [site] =AIIS and Columbia University video modules, 2016: [28 thematic modules] =M. A. R. Barker's helpful overviews, from vol. 2 of A Course in Urdu (1967), of the Persian elements [on this site] and Arabic elements [on this site] used in Urdu. =the Bible in Urdu: beautiful script, interesting to see how they translate things: [site] =S. R. Faruqi, Urdu ki na'i kitab (1986), a literary anthology for students, with introductory material in simple, clear Urdu: [on this site] =A manual on letter-writing, full of useful examples, highly recommended by Amy Bard: Asan khutut-navisi (1979) [on this site] ="Fran's Favorites," a set of study materials (Urdu texts, translations, commentary, background material) for some important literary and historical works: [on this site] ="The Great Glossary Fair," through which we all help each other: [on this site] =Ahmad, Rizwan, "Urdu in Devanagari: Shifting orthographic practices and Muslim identity in Delhi," Language in Society 40,3: [site] =Prof. Peter Hook offers us 'Some experiments in the English ghazal'. Unpublished; made available by the author here only, for classroom use and discussion: [on this site] =Iqbaliana: "'Allamah Iqbal: ek mahbubah, tin biviyan, char shadiyan," by Dr. Khalid Sohail, an analysis of Iqbal as a "creative personality," in beautifully readable large nasta'liq, easy for script-learners: [site] =Iqbaliana: An elaborate visual and musical treatment of Iqbal's famous nazm "Khizr-e rah," suitable for advanced students: [site] =Library of Congress
readings of their own work by six writers: [site] =C. M. Naim, Introductory Urdu, Volume 2 (Chicago: South Asia Language and Area Center University of Chicago, 1999), online through DSAL: [site]; and in a *large-format PDF version* =C. M. Naim, Readings in Urdu: prose and poetry (Honolulu: East-West Center Press, [1965]), online through DSAL: [site] =Munshi Thakardass
Pahwa, The Modern Hindustani Scholar, or, The
Pucca Munshi (Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press,
1919): [site] =the Narang reader: Back in
print and highly recommended as a basic reader: the
famous "Narang reader" that my generation learned
from: Gopi Chand Narang, Urdu: Readings in
Literary Urdu Prose (New Delhi: National
Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language, 2001
[Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1968]). You can probably
find it on Amazon. It has graded stories, beautiful
nasta'liq, and facing-page serial glossaries. Despite
the title, it's introductory and simplified rather
than seriously "literary" in its scope. Here's an analysis of its
good and bad features by C. M. Naim, c.1967: [on this site]. As an illustration of its
structure, here's a little story from it, "Marrying a
Mouse": [on this site];
with a version for Urdu script learners.
=The Oxford Living
Dictionary, Urdu-English: [site] =For advanced students: a small book of the Persian verb forms, from an Urduized perspective: [on this site] =For ADVANCED students
only: a *brief handbook on
shikastah* and other more difficult script
styles; and an *elaborate, detailed handbook on
shikastah* =NEWS SOURCES IN URDU: =The BBC (listenable news, presented in sound files): [site] =Pakistani national anthem: It's surprisingly hard to find the text of the Pakistani national anthem, so here it is: [on this site]. It could almost be in Persian, but notice the decisive ka that tips the balance. Compare the popularly sung Iqbal ghazal "Indian Song": [on this site]. And here is the Indian national anthem too, followed by the notoriously controversial "Vande Mataram": [on this site]. =Sean Pue: "Mir in Cyberspace," a great script and reading tool: [site]; and the *ONLINE GHAZAL READER* created by Sean Pue and FWP =Christopher Shackle and Rupert Snell, Hindi-Urdu Since 1800: A Common Reader (London: SOAS, 1990): [on this site] =John Shakespear, 1834, an early Urdu textbook: Muntakhabat-e Hindi vol. 2: [site] ==URDU DICTIONARIES: ==Platts, John T. (1830-1904). A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1930's impression, online through DSAL: [site]. Still peerless. |
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