Urdu & Hindi, Very Similair ! Options

[Akhtar]

Hi,

Could anyone point out some oustanding differences in between these languages ? (doesnt inlcude writing the languages)

[NATURE]

Yeah u r rite. Urdu was accepted as the major official Language in India, when British came
To India they realised how urdu was spreading, so they chose it as official Language. Urdu is
Known to be very Artistic Language, but it's not very independent like other Langs. It
used the words of Parsian, Arabic and also the words/Grammer of Hindi. That's why Hindi and
Urdu match eachother. Urdu was started developing during the times of Moghal(Babar - Akbar)
Mainly in South India .... So Urdu is the Language of India and not any other Country but Indian
Islamic Culture(mainly) is the 1 who was there behind its creation .....

[visuja]

Nature-ji,

Your post sets off a query. Maybe Sajjad-bhai, Imran-bhai and others could clarify.

I remember watching the news telecast on Pakistan TV (for the few months it was allowed to be aired in Bombay) a few years back and was quite surprised at the language that was being spoken. Even Gen Musharraf's TV addesses that are sometimes aired on foreign channels (when they dont superimpose their translated versions on the audio) is soo different from the 'normal' Urdu which I thought I understood from my knowledge of Hindi. Are these the pure forms of Urdu or are they different dialects / versions of Urdu spoken in Pakistan ?

Its such a pleasure when listening to Dilip Kumar (Yusufsaab) and Naushad-sahab speak. Its a challenge to decipher the many words that they so effortlessly use in their regular conversation. Similarly, its a pleasure to listen to AB Vajpayee speak Hindi -- its so pure and unadulterated that most of the times I'm ashamed to say that I know Hindi !!

There was one more query I had which I had posted elsewhere (probably at an inappropriate forum):

I imagine the written alphabets of Hindi and Urdu are also different from each other:--- Hindi goes like A, Aa, I, Ii, O, Oo, etc.... Does Urdu also follow the same trend ? Or is it more english / greek-like say alpha, beta, gamma, etc .... the latter statement obviously being incorrect as I suppose Urdu would follow the Persian / Arabic system of alphabets. Maybe someone who knows both written Hindi and written Urdu could clarify ?

Vivek

[bibhas]

There was one more query I had which I had posted elsewhere (probably at an inappropriate forum):

I imagine the written alphabets of Hindi and Urdu are also different from each other:---  Hindi goes like A, Aa, I, Ii, O, Oo, etc.... Does Urdu also follow the same trend ?  Or is it more english / greek-like say alpha, beta, gamma, etc .... the latter statement obviously being incorrect as I suppose Urdu would follow the Persian / Arabic system of alphabets.  Maybe someone who knows both written Hindi and written Urdu could clarify ? 

Vivek

Vivek,
the kind of urdu you hear Dilip-saab and Naushad-saab speak is certainly a purer form, the commonspeak in India is a mixture of Hindi and Urdu. I am not sure about Urdu dialects in Pakistan, would like to hear from Imran or Inaam about that.

Now, about your query regarding the urdu alphabet, yes it is different from Hindi and is closer to Persian. The Urdu alphabet is:
Alif
be
pe
te
Te
se
jeem
che
baRi-he
khe
daal
Daal
zaal
re
Re
ze
zhe
seen
sheen
saad
zaad
to-e
zo-e
ain
ghain
fe
qaaf
kaaf
gaaf
laam
meem
noon
vaa-o
chhoTi-he
ye

Bibhas

[visuja]

Vivek,
the kind of urdu you hear Dilip-saab and Naushad-saab speak is certainly a purer form, the commonspeak in India is a mixture of Hindi and Urdu. I am not sure about Urdu dialects in Pakistan, would like to hear from Imran or Inaam about that.
Now, about your query regarding the urdu alphabet, yes it is different from Hindi and is closer to Persian. The Urdu alphabet is:....

Thanks bibhas Didnt know u knew to read / write Urdu too ! The thing I precisely wanted to ask was whether Urdu followed a vowel + consonant system or was it more 'European' where all alphabets are arranged in one list.

An interesting observation :
English : 26 alphabets
Urdu : 35 alphabets (same as in Arabic / Persian ?)
Hindi / Sanskrit --- depending on usage ----- 12 vowels (+ 3-4) + 36 consonants.. about 48 alphabets

Is there any relation between number of alphabets and versatility / flexibility of a language ? Its a matter of permutation and combination that more the number of alphabets, more are the words that can be formed (of course, not all of them meaningful) and more are the rules of grammar associated with using those words in framing sentences. So on one hand, it brings in versatility to have a unique word for every occasion, while on the other hand, the rules of grammar could be quite overwhelming. Do you know languages which have the longest and shortest alphabet list?

I find words in Sanskrit are very precise -- as in there are no two ways of writing or pronouncing a word ---- a given word can be written and pronounced ONLY in that particular manner and both have a "one is to one" direct correspondence. While the English language as we all know "is a very phunny language". Theres no way to be certain of the spelling of a word, simply by hearing its pronouncation, and vice versa. (Some call that flexibility!)

My observation is simply based on my (limited) knowledge of Sanskrit and some knowledge of English (and absolutely no knowledge of Urdu).

Please feel free to correct / criticise my observations. My only purpose is to learn more about the different systems of alphabets arrangement and the features it offers to that particular language.

Vivek