[MENTION=22846]Nostalgic[/MENTION]
Bro can you tell me how you learned your version of Urdu, I am from the West and never had the chance to speak proper urdu, reason I ask is because it's mixed with Farsi, which I also want to pick up aswell, aesthetically its very nice
Thanks! There were a few contributing factors:
First and foremost, a love for reading from a very early age. I've dwelt on it at length in my Interview.
Next, I was blessed with fine teachers. I've mentioned my college Urdu professor, a published poet, in my Introduction thread, and he was instrumental in developing the love for the language that was always there.
The fact that I grew up in a time when being proficient in a language still meant something, had a big role to play.
Finally, learning Farsi. I learnt it online: there is a series of lessons by a linguist called Iraj Bashiri that really helped. From an etymological point of view, it drastically improves your Urdu, because so many words and phrases are Persian origin or Arabic origin via Persian. The proverbial lightbulbs turn on over your head.
I understand your predicament. I live in the U.S. and I have been unable to teach my kids the language. I will need to seriously work on it, and I've tried, but it's very difficult, given how they are inundated with English all around them. My wife and I made the cardinal error on speaking English to them, and we wonder sometimes if insisting on Urdu at home would've been a better approach.
