Urdu (اردو)

Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language with about 104 million speakers, including those who speak it as a second language. It is the national language of Pakistan and is closely related to Hindi, though a lot of Urdu vocabulary comes from Persian and Arabic, which is not the case for Hindi.

Urdu is also spoken in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Fiji, Germany, Guyana, India, Malawi, Mauritius, Nepal, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, the UAE, the UK and Zambia.

Urdu has been written with a version of the Perso-Arabic script since the 12th century and is normally written in Nastaliq style. The word Urdu is Turkish for 'foreign' or 'horde'.

Urdu abjad

The letter nūn-e ğunnah appears only at the ends of words.

Urdu numerals

Urdu Numerals

Sample text in Urdu

Transliteration

Tamām insān āzād ôr ḥuqūq-o ʿizzat ke ėʿtibār se barābar peidā hū'e heiṅ. Inheṅ żamīr ôr ʿaql vadīʿat hū'ī he. Isli'e inheṅ ek dūsre ke sāth bhā'ī čāre kā sulūk karnā čāhi'e.

Hear a recording of this text by Ganesh Deshmukh

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Longer sample text (Tower of Babel)

Useful phrases in Urdu

Urdu language courses, dictionaries, etc.

Links

A Guide to Urdu
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/guide/urdu/

Learn to Read Urdu
http://www.ukindia.com/zurdu1.htm

Online English-Urdu Dictionaries
http://www.urduword.com
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/platts/
http://www.urduseek.com

National Language Authority of Pakistan
http://www.nla.gov.pk

Free Urdu fonts
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/mlk/470/download.htm

Online Urdu radio
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/

Online Urdu news
http://www.urdutimes.com
http://www.sahilonline.org
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/

UrduPoint - information in Urdu about a wide variety of topics
http://www.urdupoint.com

Online Urdu literature
http://www.urdustan.com/

Urdu Poetry
http://www.urdupoetry.com
http://www.hallagulla.com
http://www.urdupoet.net

Urdu Music
http://www.allghazals.com

Ibtada - an Urdu portal (in Urdu)
http://www.ibtada.com

Other languages written with the Arabic script