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Controversial Punjabi Language On The Decline?

Chaan Pardesi

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It may come as a surprise, but a recent UNO sponsored report released
has clearly stated that Punjabi [currently the 10/12 most widely spoken]
language is likely to die out within the next fifty years.Many reasons have
been given for this.

There are many causes, some social inferiority on part of thecurrent speakers , lack of command or understanding of the language,or political venom from some other quarters.


But,it becomes quickly noticeble in the Punjab that when one starts a journey from any corner in the state and reaches another corner, the number of shop boards in Punjabi with Gurmukhi letteriing are very few and easily countable.

They are not as numerous as English or Hindi sign boards.The Punjab government after lobbying for years for Punjabi state , does not in spirit seems to be committed to ensuring all the work is carried out in Punjabi.The recent Punjab Government act to increas the taxes and fees for only Punjabi books and lessen the taxes for Hindi/English books reflects the current non chalent mentality of the state to support the mother tongue-Punjabi. Current statics from the state show there are more children/people attending English and Hindi schools than Punjabi schoolseven at primary levels.

The increase of taxes for Punjabi books, becomes harder to understand esspecially in the light of past continous struggle by the Akali Dal, when out of government to get recognition for the Punjabi language in the state from 1950.The number of people that were shot and injured and the thousands that went to jails and suffered.All for the cause eof teh Punjbai language.

Far more shocking was the speed with which one Tota Singh, Education Minister of Punjab introduced English into primary schools upon the return of the Akali Dal government.In my personal interaction with him, he could not explain the rationale of the actions in choosing English over Punjabi.


It is assumed to be fashionable to speak in English or in Hindi than in the mother tongue,Punjabi.This is a very noticeble trend among those in the urban areas,as they wrongly assume and feel that the alledgedly rustic Punjabi language is pendu [village]based therefore is not as diplomatic or sweet as the more "sweet sounding and fashionable Hindi"; or English for that matter.

No doubt the bollywood cinema has played a major part in bringing about this unkind thinking.Bollywood has also effected Punjabi communities living abroad.I have seen in Malaysia/Singapore among the younger Punjabis, who try to emmulate the language into some form of Hindi, but they sounded so silly as they have neither the correct pronounciation in Punjabi or Hindi.I wondered what is the point they are trying to prove, while casting aside their mother tongue.


It is a matter of grave concern that the Punjabis settled in other parts of India have totally taken to Hindi,so much so, I have seen and heard Sikh children in Sri Ganganager, Jaipur,Mumbai, Darjeeling and Kolkatta and Bangalore/ Chennai speak only Hindi and almost no Punjabi.Even though many of them understand Punjabi.

This is also true in areas that are heavily populated by Punjabis, like the Traai region of UP/Utrakhand, Jamshedpur, Warangal,Hydrabad, Secundrabad,Rajasthan Hariana,Jammu, Ahmedabad or Mumbai.It becomes very noticable, Punjabi is only confined to the first generation,
as the second generation are abandoning it for Hindi or any language local
language or English.In Chennai, recently I met Sikh children speaking
Tamil fluently , with many also unable to speak Punjabi or understand it fully.

From every angle, if one observes, the Punjabi language is fighting an
uphill battle.In Delhi 70 % of the population is Punjabi originally.Yet one hardly sees posters in Punjabi.

In Hariana everyone understands and speaks Punjabi , yet they try to
project themslves as Hindi speakers, and perhaps many have just become new hindi speakers, after years of neglect and discriminative policies against Punjabi.

In Pakistan 60-65 % of the population is essentially Punjabi speaking
but apart from recent few attempts to promote Punjabi, it is absolutely
almost a dead language there.It cannot be spoken in the Pakistan Punjab
Assembly, where they speak Urdu.Urdu is official language of
Pakistan [ironically that holds 75% of the Punjabi speakers].

Again only recently they have come to recognise the Gurmukhi script and some groups are trying to impress the need to teach in Gurmukhi script in
Pakistan;they use Shahmukhi script widely.

The Hindus of the Indian Punjab , although at last have accepted the Punjabi language as their mother tongue within Punjab; are
more happy in using the Devnagri script.This is one of the reasons the
Punjab government has not religiously impresssed upon all work to be done in Punjabi Gurmukhi, perhaps trying appease this section of the "Punjabis"

For the diaspora Punjabis, new lands and challenges has caused to sometimes neglect their own mother.Although many efforts are in place or being started to ensure the younger genertaions remain connected to their mother tongue, but the efforts are not at the sacle the need is to ensure continuance of the language both in study,and practice in the homes.

Simply teaching the langauge within he four walls of a class room is no gurantee for its continual survival.Farsi and Urdu were the state languages in the pre 1947 East Punjab, but today they are non existent in that part Punjab.This is because they only remained within the walls of the class room and were never adopted as the everyday language of the people of the Punjab.Somehow, I get the niggly feeling the same is about to happne to the current Punjbai language if we do not make more effort to ensure we speak it every day, in the home, in the school, among the community, where ever they are and in the formative years of the child.
Otherwise, a fifty year period is not too far away, when Punjabi language may also go on the decline.

For Sikhs alone, this could be a great problem and an issue of unpredented dificulties as without our Punjabi mother tongue, we may never remain connected to The Universal Truth -The Gurbani of Nanak -Guru Gobind Singh, which has been originally written in simple language of the day, by the Gurus themsleves.

Gurcharan Singh, Kulim,
Kamuning Hills//London
 
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Gyani Jarnail Singh

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The SIKHS have been CHEATED by the Akali Dal..just as they were cheated by the nehrus/gandhis in 1947. The Proof of the pudding lies in the eating...situation in PUNJAB is result of Badal dal policies. The Sikhs gave power to sold out gadaars.
 

Ishna

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There is a Punjabi school attached to the biggest Gurdwara in my city. The population attending this Gurdwara are mainly Malaysian (Punjabi) Sikhs, highly educated.

The Punjabi school receives funding from the local government.

This year it had *drum roll* 0 registrations. Badal's hand of power surely doesn't reach that far into a Western country, into a mainly Malaysian sangat with otherwise sound management philosophy! I'm not convinced.

Why don't parents want their children to learn Punjabi in the West? Is it because they don't see any practical value/application of Punjabi in their child's life? Could this be a similar factor for Punjabis? Seeing the world in languages other than their own?
 

itsmaneet

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First of all there's no language called 'Punjabi'.... it's "Gurmukhi"

Secondly, its really a big concern these days that people in Punjab are preferring Hindi even at their homes, with their kids. ... It's the responsibility of both parents & state govt. to preserve this most beautiful language but unfortunately i don't see any steps coming on it ..... :(
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

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There is a Punjabi school attached to the biggest Gurdwara in my city. The population attending this Gurdwara are mainly Malaysian (Punjabi) Sikhs, highly educated.

The Punjabi school receives funding from the local government.

This year it had *drum roll* 0 registrations. Badal's hand of power surely doesn't reach that far into a Western country, into a mainly Malaysian sangat with otherwise sound management philosophy! I'm not convinced.

Why don't parents want their children to learn Punjabi in the West? Is it because they don't see any practical value/application of Punjabi in their child's life? Could this be a similar factor for Punjabis? Seeing the world in languages other than their own?

Ishna Ji..

IN MALAYSIA ( from where those highly educated people you mention came from)...there were 14 Govt funded Punjabi Schools with the Largest in Kuala Lumpur having an enrollment of about 1000. ALL these 14 are SHUT DOWN NOW...the Last one to CLOSE was the Biggest one in Kuala Lumpur attached t the BIGGEST and LARGEST Gurdawara Sahib here. During its "Closing Down Sale" a few years back..its last 12 students were children of Indonesian immigrants living nearby. Later a PRIVATELY OWNED "international School" used the Building as a SPRING BOARD (almost free facilities etc) to Launch itself as a SIKH School and soon moved to its own building....

Few years back some sikhs felt the Govt should back Privately funded Punjabi Education...and for past 4 years due in large to the OPPOSITION winning a large chunk of the Electorate..the Govt did wake up and begin showering the Sikhs with MONEY in the MILLIONS...but as you said in your post..MONEY doesnt produce Punjabi Education. Since we Malaysians neglected Punjabi education for so long..when we started Private education we had NO TEACHERS (who would work for a pittance..peanuts actually)..BUT then we struck GOLD...here we have many Malaysians married to GIRLS from PUNJAB...and as the proverb says..One EYED is KING in the land of the Blind..these women being form PUNJAB knew how to speak Punjabi at the very least even though their "education" status even by Punjab Standards was nothing to crow about..compared to the locals..these were PHD standard !! in addition they knew some FOLK DANCING and Punjabi Folk songs !! SGGS..Paath..Gurbani..Kirtan...SORRY..that is NOT TAUGHT in PUNJAB....so our imported teachers lack in that department...but anyway..now the govt "realizing need for sikh votes".. is happily showering money..and money talks..but still STUDENTS are severely LACKING !!..and we have DANCE FESTIVALS as achievement in PUNJABI EDUCATION...while previously Punjabi Schools produced Kirtaniyas, Granthis, Gurbani Paathis, akhand pathis writers or poets etc..still its a start of sorts...
So its no wonder that the situation in Australia is the Exact same replica of Malaysia...but theres hope yet..becasue Malaysians didnt migrate to Canada in such great numbers...

http://www.sify.com/news/punjabi-se...h-top-language-news-national-jegmBqfaegb.html

Also in the UK..Punjabi is an Examination language up to PRE-U level and taught in many public schools as a second language...in Singapore also its taught to well enrolled schools..

Also NOTE that MOST Punjabi NEWSPAPERS given away for FREE at Gurdwaras are in PUNJABI....their NET editions are also solely in PUNJABI...so the Punjabi Educated segment is large...we lose some..gain some..its NOT a ZERO SUM game everywhere...
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

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First of all there's no language called 'Punjabi'.... it's "Gurmukhi"

Secondly, its really a big concern these days that people in Punjab are preferring Hindi even at their homes, with their kids. ... It's the responsibility of both parents & state govt. to preserve this most beautiful language but unfortunately i don't see any steps coming on it ..... :(

ABC..is "ROMAN".........NOT ENGLISH. Your POST is in "ENGLISH".

OORA Airra EErree is GURMUKHI....and Haan Ji..Jee Aiyan Nu..is PUNJABI.
Haan Ji Jee Aiyan Nu can be written in ROMAN...SHAH-MUKHI...URDU..F{censored}E...GREEK...MANDARIN...ARABIC...as well as GURMUKHI. It will SOUND the exact same in all....BUT ONLY a PUNJABI SPEAKER will UNDERSTAND and know what the phrase means....to a GREEK it will be...well just GREEK !! pun intended ( now dont be like my eldest son who is a graduate engineer from the best ENGLISH University..but who asked ME..dad whats a "pun"...and we laughed so hard for a couple of days at least....because he also pronounced Pun as POON and was wondering what a PUNJABI word pun-daan doing in an ENGLISH sentence !!)

The Total PUNJABI SPEAKING population of the World is in the range of nearly 200 MILLION...mostly in MUSLIM PAKISTANI PUNJAB....whereas Sikhs hardly number 20 million worldwide..and most cant speak Punjabi or read Gurmukhi !! GURMUKHI SURVIVED ONLY due to it being the script of the SGGS....and THAT is also the SOLE REASON why Muslims and Hindus DONT ACCEPT GURMUKHI as the RIGHT SCRIPT for PUNJABI. Something like IF people REJECTED ENGLISH IN ROMAN SCRIPT because the Bible is in Roman Scripted English !! Logical ?? who cares...its the SIKHS who "Jaffa Maar" Gurmukhi and are squeezing its breath out in a BEAR HUG...we GOT to LEARN TO LET GO....PUNJABI in GURMUKHI..is for ALL PUNJABIS...!!! Lets keep the GURU out of LINGUISTICS....then maybe theres hope..in Pakistan there are mnay Punjabis who are working very hard in that enviornment to promote Gurmukhi script insated of shahmukhi (urdu)...while just about EVERYONE in Indian PUNJAB is working to KILL IT and replace it with Hindi in DEVNAGREE !!
 

Auzer

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Well forgive my ignorance but simple google search about Punjabi shows couple of things...

- Punjabi has over 100 million native speakers..So atleast 120-150 million people can speak Punjabi...so that part is good...

- The main holder of Punjabi language is Pakistan and not India..so if Punjabi is going down in India..it won't effect overall health of the language...right?

800px-Countries_where_Punjabi_is_spoken.png


Country : Number of Punjab speakers

Pakistan : 76,335,300
India :
29,109,672


Now , in Pakistan , most people speak Urdu..right? and people can't even write Punjabi...though they can speak it...mmm well in this case , Punjabi language's future does look bleak.

Couple of thing I must add from my little experience :

In our highschool/college days , INDIAN SIKHS with 'Punjabi background' used to look down upon new-comers who would speak 'Punjabi' instead of English...So this is one major issue..Youth does not take pride in Punjabi language...Those who do , they are put down by their OWN Punjabi compatriots...

Secondly , as Gyani ji said , Punjabi is losing its social relevance...People would rather read sign boards in Urdu/Hindi or English rather than Punjabi...As older generations die out...so will the Punjabi language...

Sad but true.

I think the BEST way forward is to "upgrade" Punjabi language..make it easier to learn..increase its vocabulary...improve its structure..introduce it in schools in Punjab etc..only then youth will become familiar with this language.

Peacegingerteakaur

 
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itsmaneet

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I have couple of **** friends & they speak damn good Punjabi/Gurmukhi ..... so Pakis may be preserved this language more than the Indians...

Don't know why Punjabis (India) feel embarrassed communicating in Punjabi .... But i still feel the present Govts. are making all possible efforts to vanish this sweet language. For instance, kids hardly get admissions in schools if they can't speak Hindi .... it can be understood in other states but the same in PUNJAB as well....

The little knowledge i have on this is that the 2nd Guru Angad Dev Ji worked hard improving this language & later the language was know more as "Gurmukhi"
 

Chaan Pardesi

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First of all there's no language called 'Punjabi'.... it's "Gurmukhi"

Secondly, its really a big concern these days that people in Punjab are preferring Hindi even at their homes, with their kids. ... It's the responsibility of both parents & state govt. to preserve this most beautiful language but unfortunately i don't see any steps coming on it ..... :(


Talk of misinformation again!There is NO language called Gurmukhi!However there is a certain amount of vocabularyt that can be termed as Gurmukhi!

There are three and now Four scripts in which Punjabi has been recognised to be written.Shahmukhji [though that term itself is a very recent invention[prior to that it was the Urdu alphabets].Then there is Devnagri and Gurmukhi lettering.Now a days, Romanised English is catching on!

Shamukhi has come from Arabic.Devnagri is from Old Indian languages like prakrit abhrambhasha.

ONLY Gurmukhi originated from the PUNJAB and is truly Punjabi.However, sectarianism has divided the opinion upon it and left the Sikhs to pick up the tabs, as the Guru Granth sahib was written in the reformed Gurmukhi script.

The reasons and explanation given by Giani ji mirrors my own.

There is a larger propotion of Punjabi speakers in the Pakistan Punjab[ Lehnda Punjab] than in the Chardha Punjab[East Punjab]

However, the numbers of Punjabi speakers in the Chardha Punjab and India is more like 35,000,000, rather than the measly 29,000,000.

But this figure in Pakistan goes up to 85,000,000.

Teaching Punjabi is simply not enough for its survival,it has be to be turned into an everyday spoken language in the homes of the Punjabis.

The question is why other languages over our own mother tongue has many different responses.The resposnes do not matter, what matters is owning up this lnaguages as our own and speaking it as an everyday language is what is important and will ensure the succes of the language and its survival.
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

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Auzer Ji,

Punjabi is the only langauge in the world that fell victim to "communal/religious" colouring...
You see when India was divided in 1947..Pakistans Mulsim Rulers felt it necessary to have a "Muslim" Language..and they chose URDU even though its the language of the Lucknow Belt Muslims. Even when the PUNJABI MUSLIMS, who really do speak PUNJABI in their homes...Sheikh farid Jis Sloks of 13th century are in PURE PANJABI..so are the Epics Heer Ranjha, Heer Vris Shah, Sohni Mahinvaal, Mirza Sahibah etc etc..in Fact the PUNJABI LITERATURE of pre Sikh Guur nanak jis time is all by MUSLIM WRITERS....after Pakistan was created and URDU adopted as its National language..efforts wer eput underway to make URDU more acceptable...even today IF one watches Pakistani SHOWS on Pakistani TV, the audience and the MCs presenters unconsciously "break out" in PUNJABI every now and then and then drag themselves back into URDU...many even Jokingly explain away such Lapses...PUNJABI was give a name.Rural lokaan dee boli,,village language..rural language..farmers language..while URDU is the Educated Middle class language..high class etc...Pakistanis out of sheer habit speak PUNJABI in their HOMES..but switch to URDU when they feel they have to make an "impression". Still Many websites..one of the best is www.apna.org which is devoted to PUNJABI in Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi Scripts run by Pakistanis...and more important..due to SIKHS being the MAJORITY in countries like Canada UK USA etc..its the Pakistani PUNJABI poets writers comedians singers etc that get INVITED and the audience is also largely Sikh. Hardly any such Poetry festival, even Qwalli festivals etc are very organized by Pakistanis..all are by Sikhs and Indian Punjabis and Punjabis from lahore are always well loved guests. So much Punjabi poetry is sung at festivals musherrahs in Pakistan and most comedy shows are in pure panjabi. Still PUNJABI is still relegated to Background in favour of Urdu.
IN the Indian Punjab the situation is much worse. Here it was politically incorrect to declare Punjabi as ones Mother Tongue...Punjabi HINDUS were actively encouraged to declare their Mother Tongue as HINDI in the Census held in 1960 becasue the issue of a Punjabi Sate was boiling hot...in 1947 when India gained Independence..it was REORGANISED based on LANGUAGE...mixed states like Hyderabd were broken down into marathi speaking maharahstra dn NON marathi areas were separated..Gujrat was reorganised based on Gujratee language speakers..BUT PUNJABI in spite of being recognised as one fo the 15 OFFICIAL LANGUAGES on INDIA...the demand for a PUNJABI HOME STATE was IGNORED on flimsy excuses such as Border state..pakistan too near..etc etc...The SIKHS launched Morchas, agitated..filled Jails as much as 50,000 Sikhs went to PRISON for just shouting PUNJABI SUBA ZINDABAD..which was a BANNED SLOGAN. 12000 Sikhs marching in DELHI were brutally lathicharged by nehrus police...the frst time Indian police brutalised its own citizens asking for a basic right to MOTHER TONGUE RECOGNITION. Finally when due to the Sikhs contribution in defeating Pakistan in the 1965 War, the New Indian PM lala bahadur Shastree agreed to have a PUNJABI SUBA....However as its said in a proverb..Bakree neh dudh ditta par meengnnah paa keh ( The She Goat finally gave some milk..but kicked the milker and filled the milk bucket with her poo ) The New Punjabi Suba was DENIED its Capital city chandigarh, its WATERS, Its DAMS, its Electricla projects etc all under Central Govt. Punjab was CUT into 3 parts...Haryana and Himachal prdesh...were taken away...a Langgrra Punjab.. a weakling was created. Still the Punjabi SIKHS managed to take the Green Revolution to such heights that Indias graniries are today ROTTING FULL of grains..all cheap wheat and rice bought form Punjab farmers majority fo whom are Sikh. Its waters flow free to rajasthan (which doenst even share any river border while the BEAS waters are DENIEd to pakistan even though it shares aborder with Beas...) etc etc...
The Sikh Leaders who came into power in Amrtisar were SOLD OUT Gadaars..they ahve so decimated Punjabi that today at nay PUBLIC or GOVT signboard in Punajb first palce is to HINDI..second to English..and IF theres place..a tiny Punjabi lettering is squeezed in....GO to TAMIL NADU..there is NOT a Single sign in HINDI..Tamil comes FIRST..and English second..PERIOD. The HINDI LOVERS dare NOT go to SOUTH to force the National langauge because they know the treatment they will get..unlike the Punjabi HINDU who DISOWNED their MOTHER for a language thats NOT their Mother tongue...just politically correct.
So unfortunately Punjabi became the SIKH "language"...neither the Muslims nor the Hindus want anything to do with it..except SPEAK it in their Homes !!

PART TWO FOLLOWS
 

Ishna

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Still Many websites..one of the best is www.apna.org which is devoted to PUNJABI in Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi Scripts run by Pakistanis..

Apparently it's run by the American Psychiatric Nurses Association if you follow your link, Gyaniji! lol

I was looking forward to seeing Punjabi in Shahmukhi - I've never seen Shahmukhi characters before! Off to research! cheerleader
 

Ishna

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Gyaniji, I'm sure Harryji is interested, but possibly not as interested as I am! :D

That site is very interesting, thank you for providing it. I will definitely investigate the Shahmukhi course.
 

Auzer

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I have couple of **** friends & they speak damn good Punjabi/Gurmukhi ..... so Pakis may be preserved this language more than the Indians...

Don't know why Punjabis (India) feel embarrassed communicating in Punjabi .... But i still feel the present Govts. are making all possible efforts to vanish this sweet language. For instance, kids hardly get admissions in schools if they can't speak Hindi .... it can be understood in other states but the same in PUNJAB as well....

The little knowledge i have on this is that the 2nd Guru Angad Dev Ji worked hard improving this language & later the language was know more as "Gurmukhi"

Yes , as I said , the "key" of Punjabi language's progress is held by PAKISTANIS , as they are they largest and most diverse Punjabi speaker community on the face of the Earth.

And I can relate to what you are saying....

I remember that P@ki kids in my highschool were always more PROUD of themselves as compared with Indians. They would talk and we'd ask "What language are you speaking?" ..and someone will tell "Its Urdu" ..and we'd be like.. "WHAT?!" ( Highschool kids couldn't even pronounce the word 'Urdu' correctly lol) ... and when someone would say "You mean Punjabi or Hindi"...Pakistani kids would categorically say.. "NO! its URDU! Its same like Hindi but its different. We speak URDU in Pakistan , not Hindi" ... and we'd be like "Dude , same thing..duhh" ..and Pakistanis kids would say "Whatever..you won't understand" ....hahaha..fun days..but I did find Pakistanis to be MORE proud on their culture and identity...Indians would wear all the local Indian clothes on cultural days and look all dandy "INDIANS" etc..but unlike Pakistanis , they weren't really 'proud' on themselves...They tried harder to "assimilate" , I guess....

@ Gyani Ji

Damn .. a long but very enlightening post. Thanks!

And thanks for sharing the website... I guess Shahmukhi script is the one that looks similar to 'Arabic Script' too...When you go to the APNA website..the script on the right-hand is used in Pakistan..right? Arabic gives similar looks , so I can see why Pakistanis would chose Shahmukhi script...

It is sad that Punjabi went the way of "Islamic Language" , "Sikh Language" etc etc...Languages are SECULAR! Whole world speaks English , not "Christianity's language" ... Who would have spoken English if it was marketed as "Christianity's language" ..smh ...

Is there any Pakistani on this forum? What is the situation in Pakistani Punjab? I mean , how frequently do people speak Punjabi there? Are youth "embarrassed" to speak Punjabi over there? I think that Pakistanis speak Punjabi without feeling any embarrassment but they 'prefer' speaking Urdu..as they are taught in Urdu at their schools...

Any Pakistani can help further.

Peace!

Plus : I have danced on Punjabi Music too :D ... There is a special dance Indian/Pakistanis do...with hands up in the air...I forgot the name :/ ...
 
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Luckysingh

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Auzerji, I didn't think that urdu is a separate spoken language.
I thought that hindi and urdu as 'spoken' are both derived from the similar 'hindustani' language. However when written they both use different alphabets, and this is where they differ mostly.
Although, in practice people from pakistan do not like to call their langauage anything but urdu.
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

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KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA
URDU...is a Rich language - it has lots of Islamic influence via F{censored}e Arabic Pushto baluch words etc. Hindi is basically the same except it is Sanskrit based and has Hindu religion related vocabulary and NONE from other languages. What the GENUINE NATIONALISTS like the General Shubash Chander Bose wanted for India was to keep it UNITED by giving more space for HINDUSTANI...a Common language spoken by most Indians - Hindustani is a mixture of Hindi and Urdu. In FACT MOST of the Films that come out of BOLLYWOOD are ALL in HINDOSTANI due to necessity - if everyone understands the dialogues it makes sense...BUT IF a Film is Based on an Islamic theme..period..mughal historical based, has muslim family in it..then the language, clothes etc will be islamic and to Bollywood that means actors speaking urdu, having qwallis, scenes of mosques and namaaz sounds etc etc...THAT is what the URDU Channels of Door darshan carry...the stories etc are all for a MUSLIM AUDIENCE..India's way of "satisfying" the Muslim minority. Even the spelling of HINDO -stani.. is being changed to HINDU-stani
PUNJABI is also a very rich language more so because of the F{censored}e, Arabic, Baloch, Pushto words etc as wellas English, and western vocabulary added. The Guru further enriched it by using so many langauges in SGGS. Post 1947 - there has been a VERY CONCERTED EFFORT by the Vested interests to HINDISE-SANSKRITISE Punjabi by REMOVING all f{censored}e, Arabic based words and replacing by hindi words. THAT is why the spoken Punjabi of Indians sounds like Hindi..and the HINDI LOBBY working on HINDI is bending over backwards to make HINDI more and more SANSKRIT. A similar effort would be like FORCING the Common English vocabulary OUT and be replaced by LATIN equivalents...Its a Fact that the HINDI spoken/utilised by Govt Agencies in India is unknown even to Hindi speakers becasue most of the words are NOT COMMONLY used at all. India is USING the HINDU-HINDI-HINDOSTAN concept to WHITEWASH each Indian as ONE. The RELIGIOUS aspect is the most diffcult part - people dont change religion esp the Muslims..so they concentrate on language and Culture DOMINATION esp of the SIKHS and PUNJABIS to obliterate language and culture of Punjab. Today in Punjab Schools Punjabi students score LOWER MARKS in Punjabi than in HINDI..people are Brainwashed in such a way that HINDI is high class..Punjabi speakers are rural jatt simple simons type..in Hindi majority areas like Delhi etc practically ALL sikhs/punjabis dont KNOW to write or speak Punjabi...they all speak Hindi and have accepted assimilation !! by becoming KESHADHAREE HINDUS.Brainwashing them into accepting holis diwalis and raksh bandhans karva chauths is part of this strategy to further STRANGLE the MINORITY SIKHS/PUNJABIS.. Punjabi newspapers form PUNJAB look like they are Punjabi becasue the script is GURMUKHI..in actual fact the vocabulary is so sanskritised hindi that it makes no sense..long ancient words and WRONG GRAMMAR is being used more and more esp by the ACADEMICS already bought over by giving them positions in Universities etc.
So fortunately or unfortunately the Sikh identity is tied to PUNJABI in GURMUKHI script because the SGGS is written in that script. Just as the Muslims who number 1 Billion and live across 42 countries all over the Globe WILL NEVER accept the KORAN's Language/script be CHANGED from its ARABIC..sikhs cannot accept SGGS script be chnaged. Translations etc are fine but the ORIGINAL has to remain and more Sikhs have to learn Punjabi as its written in ITS OWN SCRIPT. The Punjabi langauge and its Script has to grow....
 

pervez

SPNer
Aug 11, 2012
18
7
54
many languages do not have their own script. Like Turkish, Bhasa Malaysia, French, etc. Turkish used to be written in Arabic script and now a days in roman script same with Bhasa Malaysia. I dont see any reason which punjabi will be dead. I dont speak punjabi but Im told that many arabs in UAE understand punjabi because of pakistani punjabi immigrants.
The script may be a problem as it is been more popular in Urdu/arabic script. In fact the synthesis with urdu gives punjabi a wider reach and acceptability. My knowledge of Pakistanis is that most are not even aware of the word gurumukhi so I dont know who is working for the script in Pakistan as is being claimed.
 
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