What are your views on British Pakistanis who can't speak Urdu?

[Thivagar]

When I see British Pakistanis who don't even know a single word of Urdu, and just talk english 24 h with their strange accent, it angers me and disappoints me a lot. They look perfectly Pakistani from the outside (that's why at first sight I am happy to see that many people of my community are living here), but when they open their mouth, I literally want to slap them. I mean, most of them don't even have anything in common with Pakistanis (except the looks of course).

Because they have assimilated duh. Why would you expect them to live and behave like those living in Pakistan ?

 

[mz123]

born in uk, still live here, parents both are punjabis, i can speak punjabi very good- but ofcourse not fluidly like a proper punjabi back home, parents can talk urdu, however i cannot talk it at all - i can understand it.... dont make me a bad person in any way

no man, you can speak punjabi, this is good enough. You come from punjab.....

 

[JaDed]

What about 100 million Pakistani punjabis? All most all Punjabis speak Punjabi when talking with each other. Don't open your mouth about something you don't know.

The Pakistani Punjabis take no pride in being Punjabi,have seen so many of them consider it paindoo so yeah please.

 

[Saeed]

The Pakistani Punjabis take no pride in being Punjabi,have seen so many of them consider it paindoo so yeah please.

We don't need to shove it down other people's throat. Punjabis are majority in Pakistan and that alone is enough. Only minorities talk and look good when talking about pride non sense. So no please. You don't need to tell me anything. I am a Punjabi myself.

 

[Bewal Express]

I want my kids to be fluent in Pothwari but because they live in the UK and they see and speak English all day, it's become more more difficult to get them to even utter a few phrases in Pothwari but I never understand why the Indians are obsessed with English. I understand English is a major international language but every Indian Actor, politician or sportsman bursts into English every sentence even when the questions are asked in Hindi. I have never known a people have such an inferiority complex, why is that?

 

[JaDed]

I want my kids to be fluent in Pothwari but because they live in the UK and they see and speak English all day, it's become more more difficult to get them to even utter a few phrases in Pothwari but I never understand why the Indians are obsessed with English. I understand English is a major international language but every Indian Actor, politician or sportsman bursts into English every sentence even when the questions are asked in Hindi. I have never known a people have such an inferiority complex, why is that?

When the question is in English they reply in English ,when its in Hindi they reply in Hindi not sure what you talking about,most of our politicians including Modi(who recently picked up on English) have done so because whole of India doesn't speak one language so English is the lingua franca,a person from Manipur or Tamil Nadu would understand more if they speak English.

Politicians speak English in the parliament because of similar reason,they speak regional language if they can't speak English.So its not inferiority complex its rather something like not imposing "Urdu on Bengali population".

The ones who don't speak Hindi while working in something Hindi/Urdu oriented(Bollywood) are dumb bolly star kids.

 

[javiersuka]

I want my kids to be fluent in Pothwari but because they live in the UK and they see and speak English all day, it's become more more difficult to get them to even utter a few phrases in Pothwari but I never understand why the Indians are obsessed with English. I understand English is a major international language but every Indian Actor, politician or sportsman bursts into English every sentence even when the questions are asked in Hindi. I have never known a people have such an inferiority complex, why is that?

Anything to replicate the White Man.

 

[Bewal Express]

When the question is in English they reply in English ,when its in Hindi they reply in Hindi not sure what you talking about,most of our politicians including Modi(who recently picked up on English) have done so because whole of India doesn't speak one language so English is the lingua franca,a person from Manipur or Tamil Nadu would understand more if they speak English.

Politicians speak English in the parliament because of similar reason,they speak regional language if they can't speak English.So its not inferiority complex its rather something like not imposing "Urdu on Bengali population".

The ones who don't speak Hindi while working in something Hindi/Urdu oriented(Bollywood) are dumb bolly star kids.

Obviously you don't watch the interviews that I watch, just watch any Indian show or interview and watch out for what I am saying. I have never seen any people except Indians and on a smaller scale PK's do this.

 

[Saeed]

Obviously you don't watch the interviews that I watch, just watch any Indian show or interview and watch out for what I am saying. I have never seen any people except Indians and on a smaller scale PK's do this.

Like this one?

 

[nazia08]

So majorityy of our Pakistani Peoples speaks English so that they don't worry about it..

 

[street cricketer]

Obviously you don't watch the interviews that I watch, just watch any Indian show or interview and watch out for what I am saying. I have never seen any people except Indians and on a smaller scale PK's do this.

India is different from Pakistan in that India has a population who speak a lot of languages. Pakistan does as well but Urdu is the national language of the country which is not the same case with India. Hence when a cricketer knows English, it makes sense that he replies in English because he caters to the entire 1.2 billion multilingual population of India.

Of course, when two normal people know hindi (or any other regional language) and still converse in English, then it maybe a case of inferiority complex.

Also Bollywood actors doing that is strange too because they cater to the hindi speaking population.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

I want my kids to be fluent in Pothwari but because they live in the UK and they see and speak English all day, it's become more more difficult to get them to even utter a few phrases in Pothwari but I never understand why the Indians are obsessed with English. I understand English is a major international language but every Indian Actor, politician or sportsman bursts into English every sentence even when the questions are asked in Hindi. I have never known a people have such an inferiority complex, why is that?

Its not inferiority complex though it may appear that way.

Its about what people are comfortable in.

I know loads of fellas who prefer English cos they just are extremely comfortable with it.

 

[santos11]

Its not inferiority complex though it may appear that way.

Its about what people are comfortable in.

I know loads of fellas who prefer English cos they just are extremely comfortable with it.

Yes born in India among a non-English atmosphere but somehow got more comfortable in English than even their Mother Tongue.

Only Indians in the whole world are capable of such feat.

 

[Bewal Express]

Its not inferiority complex though it may appear that way.

Its about what people are comfortable in.

I know loads of fellas who prefer English cos they just are extremely comfortable with it.

Which is fine, but if the questions are asked in Hindi and I take it that these people can speak fluent Hindi, why not answer in Hindi and when the questions are asked in English, answer in English. Even better. Why not ask for the whole interview to be in English. I personally feel that for all the talk about Hindu nationalism and the cosmetic changes like place names, our Indian friends have deep inferiority complex of white people.

 

[santos11]

India is different from Pakistan in that India has a population who speak a lot of languages. Pakistan does as well but Urdu is the national language of the country which is not the same case with India. Hence when a cricketer knows English, it makes sense that he replies in English because he caters to the entire 1.2 billion multilingual population of India.

Of course, when two normal people know hindi (or any other regional language) and still converse in English, then it maybe a case of inferiority complex.

Also Bollywood actors doing that is strange too because they cater to the hindi speaking population.

A Cricketer can connect to more people in India by speaking in Hindi than in English.

Every state is not culturally isolated like Tamil Nadu Macha, step out of it someday and experience how widespread Hindi is.

 

[Saeed]

Its not inferiority complex though it may appear that way.

Its about what people are comfortable in.

I know loads of fellas who prefer English cos they just are extremely comfortable with it.

In perumanadu we always speak English because it's much easier to get our points across. Now my head is paining from headache.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Yes born in India among a non-English atmosphere but somehow got more comfortable in English than even their Mother Tongue.

Only Indians in the whole world are capable of such feat.

Ouch!

This is why I was laughing at the lectures from some of the earlier posters from Parosis that some Pakistanis hadn't protected their local languages. It just sounds absurd coming from those whose blockbuster films are littered with English cool-speak and trendy western clothing.

 

[street cricketer]

Its not inferiority complex though it may appear that way.

Its about what people are comfortable in.

I know loads of fellas who prefer English cos they just are extremely comfortable with it.

I don't agree with it.

When you are more comfortable in a foreign language than your mother tongue (be it hindi or urdu or bengali), then it's indeed a crying shame imo if that person is not living in the west.

 

[Dman]

Which is fine, but if the questions are asked in Hindi and I take it that these people can speak fluent Hindi, why not answer in Hindi and when the questions are asked in English, answer in English. Even better. Why not ask for the whole interview to be in English. I personally feel that for all the talk about Hindu nationalism and the cosmetic changes like place names, our Indian friends have deep inferiority complex of white people.

Hindu Nationalists are proud Hindi speakers and cultural traditionalists but they are very low compared to the largely vocal Secular, Liberal brigade that takes pride in talking, dressing and aping everything a White man does.

We were formerly slaves of the British who taught basic civilization to the primitive Indians. To be able to talk in language of our colonial masters is an uplift in social standing.

Also it has helped India emerge as a Global Powerhouse in Call Center business ( 2nd only to Philippines - country with the lowest IQ in East Asia). So win-win in the longer run.

 

[street cricketer]

A Cricketer can connect to more people in India by speaking in Hindi than in English.

Every state is not culturally isolated like Tamil Nadu Macha, step out of it someday and experience how widespread Hindi is.

I don't know what you mean by cultural isolation mate (we aren't eskimos lol) and neither does everyone in TN are ignorant of hindi (I can understand it mostly, except the complex words). It's a myth that everyone hates hindi in TN. Similarly not everyone outside of TN knows hindi as well. I don't want to derail the thread any further.

 

[Rafa]

More Indians than Pakistanis posting in a thread over the topic of British Pakistanis. Only on PP.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

That's exactly where some of you are wrong.

English in some households are very commonly used along with mother tongue. Add to that, if the kids have a friend circle (especially those with different mother tongues), they all start bonding each other in English mixed in with other languages.

This is not common but happens.

If you see some movies of say Gautham Menon movies, you will see VERY VERY common usage of English along with Tamil.

Some households are like that.

When kids grow up in that as well as interact a lot with friends that way, they become proficient and tend to switch to English a lot.

Whether its inferiority complex or not...I will leave it to you to judge but when you can sense whether someone is naturally like that and someone is being a bit of a wannabee.

I know friends (some) who are naturally like that. I have another friend who is equally good at Tamil and English but likes to switch to English during arguments or when making a point in public. He is an alpha dude and never once has someone accused him of having an inferiority complex.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

That's exactly where some of you are wrong.

English in some households are very commonly used along with mother tongue. Add to that, if the kids have a friend circle (especially those with different mother tongues), they all start bonding each other in English mixed in with other languages.

This is not common but happens.

If you see some movies of say Gautham Menon movies, you will see VERY VERY common usage of English along with Tamil.

Some households are like that.

When kids grow up in that as well as interact a lot with friends that way, they become proficient and tend to switch to English a lot.

Whether its inferiority complex or not...I will leave it to you to judge but when you can sense whether someone is naturally like that and someone is being a bit of a wannabee.

I know friends (some) who are naturally like that. I have another friend who is equally good at Tamil and English but likes to switch to English during arguments or when making a point in public. He is an alpha dude and never once has someone accused him of having an inferiority complex.

This isn't that far from why Urdu is spoken in some parts of Pakistan where they have their own local language like Punjabi. Fact is, Urdu translates from as far as Bangladesh to Afghanistan. It's a common tongue as they would say in GoT, but some people like to make it a stick to bash other regions with.

But at least Urdu has some connection to the region, I'm not sure what connection English has to India, other than colonial slavery.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Which is fine, but if the questions are asked in Hindi and I take it that these people can speak fluent Hindi, why not answer in Hindi and when the questions are asked in English, answer in English. Even better. Why not ask for the whole interview to be in English. I personally feel that for all the talk about Hindu nationalism and the cosmetic changes like place names, our Indian friends have deep inferiority complex of white people.

Yeah they could do that.

Yes, there is some inferiority complex reg white people (in a lot of things) and there is some inferiority complex reg our language...its a desi trait and something which I don't contest. Maybe Pakistanis are more proud of their language which could also be true.

But I was making a small point that some just naturally and instinctively switch to English in public cos its how they have been doing things. For some, it is complex. For some, it is not.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

This isn't that far from why Urdu is spoken in some parts of Pakistan where they have their own local language like Punjabi. Fact is, Urdu translates from as far as Bangladesh to Afghanistan. It's a common tongue as they would say in GoT, but some people like to make it a stick to bash other regions with.

But at least Urdu has some connection to the region, I'm not sure what connection English has to India, other than colonial slavery.

huh?

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

I'm referring to the common accusation that some regions adopted Urdu and neglected their local dialect. It's been a recurring theme and mentioned a few times in this thread if you want to read back.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

English has a connection cos its the global language and everyone aspires to learn it.

Not saying there is no inferiority complex in anybody who uses English a lot....we make fun of burger kids too (peter) haha....but everyone who switches to English in certain situations doesn't have to be one with an inferiority complex.

There are households where kids are just exposed to a lot of English words mixed in with mothertongue and they just grow up that way. I am not talking about households where people INTENTIONALLY plan to talk in English leaving aside mother tongue (that's just weird and sad). I am talking about households where the words get mixed in more commonly and that leads to this attitude.

 

[troodon]

What is the purpose of Urdu or Hindi or any language in England?

With in 1 or 2 generations, their mother tongue will change to English anyway.

 

[CricketCartoons]

What is the purpose of Urdu or Hindi or any language in England?

With in 1 or 2 generations, their mother tongue will change to English anyway.

Each language should be preserved, as it is more than a collection of words, but is a whole culture in itself. Always found Urdu pleasant to hear, and Hindi more elegant and sophisticated, in fact arguably the best sounding language is Hindi. English sounds too much business like.

 

[street cricketer]

Each language should be preserved, as it is more than a collection of words, but is a whole culture in itself. Always found Urdu pleasant to hear, and Hindi more elegant and sophisticated, in fact arguably the best sounding language is Hindi. English sounds too much business like.

Bengali?

 

[dhump]

People who cannot speak their mother tongue lack in confidence in most cases....it is absolutely important to be able to speak your own language.

Here in Germany it is nearly forced by Kindergarten teachers to speak your mother tongue at home as it makes the child more confident.

 

[Anis10]

I'm a Canadian Pakistani and I can't speak Urdu, I can understand most of it but I have hard time speaking it

I can however speak pretty good Punjabi

 

[hadi123]

At the time of this thread, my Urdu itself was bad, obviously I've always understood it but speaking wise it was bad. However, since I started Uni in September 2017 I became very motivated to start speaking Urdu as there were a lot of international students and my Urdu has come leaps and bounds from then, and I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it now. I also would like to learn how to read and write in Urdu, but for now I just want to become as good as possible at speaking in it, it's unlikely I'll ever become fluent to the level of a native speaker though, so I regret not speaking urdu at home from a younger age.

But yeah, I don't rate these British Pakistani coconuts who can't speak a word of Urdu. Obviously being fluent is different, but if you can barely speak it that's pathetic, this mainly applies to the 'cool' teenagers

 

[JaDed]

At the time of this thread, my Urdu itself was bad, obviously I've always understood it but speaking wise it was bad. However, since I started Uni in September 2017 I became very motivated to start speaking Urdu as there were a lot of international students and my Urdu has come leaps and bounds from then, and I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it now. I also would like to learn how to read and write in Urdu, but for now I just want to become as good as possible at speaking in it, it's unlikely I'll ever become fluent to the level of a native speaker though, so I regret not speaking urdu at home from a younger age.

But yeah, I don't rate these British Pakistani coconuts who can't speak a word of Urdu. Obviously being fluent is different, but if you can barely speak it that's pathetic, this mainly applies to the 'cool' teenagers

My Hindi wasnt great till I joined college (partly coz I grew up in South) but it improved a lot and am glad about that literature /friends/songs help a lot as well,you are right about the cool teenagers ,very shallow but tbf they are young..

 

[Sirris]

I feel sad for them but won't fault them. After all it should have been their parents responsibility.

 

[TM Riddle]

I can never feel sad for British Pakistanis for some reason.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

I don't mind British Pakistanis who can't speak Urdu. But i despise the ones who would ramble on and on in Punjabi without noticing that some of the people sitting around them may not have a clue of what they are saying.

 

[a_tahir]

Who are u kidding?
Most if not all Pakistani kids can speak decent amount of Urdu even if it is in their English accent.
Also imo British Pakistanis are better followers of Islam than some of the Pakistanis. They give more respect to their religion.

 

[Slog]

A Cricketer can connect to more people in India by speaking in Hindi than in English.

Every state is not culturally isolated like Tamil Nadu Macha, step out of it someday and experience how widespread Hindi is.

In India, are there more people who can speak hindi or English?

 

[JaDed]

In India, are there more people who can speak hindi or English?

Hindi ..why would there be more with English..

 

[Slog]

Hindi ..why would there be more with English..

so why this ridiculous logic that hindi cannot be the language to communicate in whole india and it should be english since more people can understand it across the country?

 

[Syed1]

Hindi ..why would there be more with English..

Then why all your tv ads in English. I always thought its because a big chunk of Indians don't speak any Hindi.

 

[srh]

Urdu is true national language of Pakistan. I realized its importance when communicating with different ethnic groups of Pakistan. They all can communicate to each other in Urdu only.

All non-resident Pakistanis should teach their kids to speak in Urdu. Its definitely a link to Pakistan.

 

[hadi123]

Who are u kidding?
Most if not all Pakistani kids can speak decent amount of Urdu even if it is in their English accent.
Also imo British Pakistanis are better followers of Islam than some of the Pakistanis. They give more respect to their religion.

It depends really. You get the white/black wannabes who don't associate with Pakistan at all and those are the type of people I don't like tbh.

Regarding your second point about them being better followers of Islam than some Pakistanis, I do agree with you a bit. At University, I haven't met many British Pakistani's who drink alcohol, eat haram food etc but I've met LOADS of international students who do these type of things.

 

[JaDed]

so why this ridiculous logic that hindi cannot be the language to communicate in whole india and it should be english since more people can understand it across the country?

Then why all your tv ads in English. I always thought its because a big chunk of Indians don't speak any Hindi.

It's because every region has it's own language and Hindi is spoken but not necessarily read across the country..It would be unfair to declare a national language to other states except MP/UP those two states don't even try to learn other languages of the country.

For ads it's probably coz it's hip I guess..but as said that coz they target youth and I feel we have it in both languages..I see ads being dubbed in Punjabi/Tamil ..

 

[Bewal Express]

My mother language is pothwari but my spoken Urdu is pretty ropey but I understand it perfectly well.

 

[TM Riddle]

so why this ridiculous logic that hindi cannot be the language to communicate in whole india and it should be english since more people can understand it across the country?

Hindi is spoken by around 40% of the population and thanks to bollywood is understood throughout the breadth of the country. Now coming to your question, it's because of Central Govt's policies to spread Hindi in the south which peeved them off big time since they considered it as an forceful imposition of the language from Delhi.
Classic case of incompetence from authorities who didn't do anything to allay such apprehensions and situation worsened to the point that there were riots in TN during 60s against this 'perceived' threat to their culture. Anyway even though the situation is cool now a days, the fear lingered on and I think this might be the reason why many of them choose to give priority to English for communication.

 

[PakLFC]

I blame the parents for their kids not being able to speak Urdu. Had they themselves spoken it their kids would naturally have had learnt it when growing up. Imagine a native English speaker not being able to engage in the language.

 

[KingKhanWC]

It depends if they visit Pakistan or have a lot of family which speaks Urdu, it's very poor if they dont know. If they dont ever go to Pakistan, have no relatives which speak Urdu to them, then no issue. Why learn something which you would never need to use.

Personally, I can understand most of it and speak enough to get by but can't write it, apart from my name.

It's a shame as I would love to speak it fluently, it's such a beautiful language to hear. I sometimes watch Pakistani news channels just to hear some Urdu but only headline news not debates. lol

 

[Slog]

Hindi is spoken by around 40% of the population and thanks to bollywood is understood throughout the breadth of the country. Now coming to your question, it's because of Central Govt's policies to spread Hindi in the south which peeved them off big time since they considered it as an forceful imposition of the language from Delhi.
Classic case of incompetence from authorities who didn't do anything to allay such apprehensions and situation worsened to the point that there were riots in TN during 60s against this 'perceived' threat to their culture. Anyway even though the situation is cool now a days, the fear lingered on and I think this might be the reason why many of them choose to give priority to English for communication.

interesting. i mean it doesnt make sense to me but i guess it is what it is.

 

[srh]

It depends if they visit Pakistan or have a lot of family which speaks Urdu, it's very poor if they dont know. If they dont ever go to Pakistan, have no relatives which speak Urdu to them, then no issue. Why learn something which you would never need to use.

Personally, I can understand most of it and speak enough to get by but can't write it, apart from my name.

It's a shame as I would love to speak it fluently, it's such a beautiful language to hear. I sometimes watch Pakistani news channels just to hear some Urdu but only headline news not debates. lol

thread is about speaking Urdu not writing Urdu; writing Urdu is hard but speaking is easy

 

[Greenstorm]

No big deal.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

I blame the parents for their kids not being able to speak Urdu. Had they themselves spoken it their kids would naturally have had learnt it when growing up. Imagine a native English speaker not being able to engage in the language.

It's perfectly natural if you think about it. The first generation of parents spoke their own language because they were brought up in Pakistan, these days you are getting kids who are the product of British born parents who themselves can barely speak Urdu. You can't really blame parents for not teaching a language they don't know themselves. If it was taught at school that would be the best alternative, but I doubt it is available on a British school curriculum.

 

[Kroll]

It depends if they visit Pakistan or have a lot of family which speaks Urdu, it's very poor if they dont know. If they dont ever go to Pakistan, have no relatives which speak Urdu to them, then no issue. Why learn something which you would never need to use.

Personally, I can understand most of it and speak enough to get by but can't write it, apart from my name.

It's a shame as I would love to speak it fluently, it's such a beautiful language to hear. I sometimes watch Pakistani news channels just to hear some Urdu but only headline news not debates. lol

No doubt, Urdu is such a beautiful language - it has such a grace about it that some of the regional Pakistani dialects can't match. Think of the great Urdu poets, some of whom had a part to play in the formation of Pakistan.

Like you say, a lot will probably depend on the connection back to Pakistan, how much you visit and also what language you speak with your parents and family members etc. Nevertheless, it would definitely be useful to be able to communicate fluently in Urdu.

 

[BreadPakoda]

Glad to see Urdu in Pakistan is facing the same fate which Hindi in India is going through. Hindi is promoted by the state, and is claimed as the de facto national language by the hindi imperialists, but is now reduced to a language used to communicate with the labour class. We elites have moved to English as our signature language.

Is this the same CricketCartoons?

 

[hadi123]

It's just cool to be able to speak a different language, something to impress your mates with etc and can make communication easier with people who are not fluent in another English, also can be good as you can have secret conversations openly in front of others if they don't speak that language

 

[PakLFC]

It's perfectly natural if you think about it. The first generation of parents spoke their own language because they were brought up in Pakistan, these days you are getting kids who are the product of British born parents who themselves can barely speak Urdu. You can't really blame parents for not teaching a language they don't know themselves. If it was taught at school that would be the best alternative, but I doubt it is available on a British school curriculum.

The mother language should be taught down the generations. If parents can't speak it then the grand parents have to be partly blamed and so forth. This is the only way to preserve any indigenous culture.

 

[DeadBall]

If you want them to listen to Urdu so badly then go back to Pakistan. They don't need Urdu unless they are socializing within their own relatives/community or travelling back home. They will not be ordering a pizza in Punjabi or answering questions for a job interview in Pashto in the UK.

My daughter speaks some Urdu/Arabic and Romanian apart from the obvious German and French but we taught her those languages while young and thus more susceptible to learn them easily, mostly because it was to expand the mind and of course because you can communicate with family in their native thing but that wasn't the primary reason.

 

[Salma_T]

But Urdu is not the mother tongue of most of the Pakistani/Kashmiris in the UK.

 

[Pakistanian]

But Urdu is not the mother tongue of most of the Pakistani/Kashmiris in the UK.

You mean paharis/mirpuris.

 

[Something]

Why does it even matter if they can't speak Urdu? Why would they need to speak Urdu in the first place? What a silly thread.

 

[boomboomcheema]

Why does it even matter if they can't speak Urdu? Why would they need to speak Urdu in the first place? What a silly thread.

Because according to Urdu Supremacists, Pakistan = Islam = Urdu so every Pakistani should be able to speak in Urdu and teach it to their future generations even if they dont live in Pakistan.

What's more ironic is Punjabi's, Mirpuris and Potwaris worrying over the future generations being unable to converse in their Mother Tongue Urdu ( LOL) . Now since when onwards has Urdu become the Mother tongue of Punjabi's, Kashmiris and Potwaris?