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Urdu and Hindi are one language, says scholar

Urdu and Hindi are one language, says scholar

She added that the British believed in a divide and rule policy, so they divided one language into two — Urdu and Hindi
02 Mar, 2017

The 17th Hamza Wahid Memorial Lecture organised by Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences at PMA House on Wednesday had scholar and award-winning author Dr Fahmida Hussain Memon looking at the ‘Globalisation of cultures and importance of mother tongues’.

“After Partition the people of Sindh started speaking Urdu just to help the migrants coming here feel welcome. But the favour was never returned by the Urdu-speaking migrants. And today, even if there are 10 Sindhi people in a room conversing in their language and there is only one Urdu-speaking individual among them, he would ask them to speak in Urdu as he can’t understand them otherwise,” said Dr Memon.

She added that the British believed in a ‘divide and rule’ policy. Thus they divided one language into two — Urdu and Hindi. “But it is basically the same language as proven by Bollywood films, which both the Urdu-speaking and Hindi-speaking people can understand very well,” she said.

Coming back to the Partition of India, she said that Urdu was seen as the language of Muslims while Hindi became the language of the Hindu community. The issue of language became highly politicised with it becoming a religious issue as well with slogans such as ‘Ik Allah, Ik Quran, Ik Nasl, Ik Zubaan ...’

“But associating oneself with Urdu to be known as Muslims,” she said, “was a kind of false pride. That is also one of the issues on the basis of which later East Pakistan separated from West Pakistan to become Bangladesh. Then the Urdu-speaking West Pakistan looked at Bangla as a regional language just as it sees other regional languages such as Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi, Pashto, Hindko, etc. Now promoting the Sindhi language by the Sindhi people is viewed as a kind of rebellious thing,” she said.

Read more: A Delhi artist is trying to popularise Urdu by putting Faiz and Chughtai on T-shirts

“But tyranny of the Urdu language is not good even for the Urdu language,” Dr Memon said. “And now the same is going on with the English language here. There is linguistic genocide, where one language is killing another. There is linguistic suicide, too, as people have themselves stopped speaking their own language. And there is transformation where the language is changing itself,” she said.

Explaining this further she said that just as the Muslims of India thought Urdu was a richer language than Hindi by adding many Arabic words to it, now English was seen as a prestigious language, a great medium of education, while Urdu was seen as the language of the illiterate folk. “English is the language you speak to get ahead. But where do the regional languages such as Sindhi stand in all this?” she said.

“India has 22 of their regional languages, which have been given the status of national languages in which they also impart education in their schools with English being the second language,” she said.

“But,” she added, “in Pakistan, we have Urdu as our national language, as the regional languages are ignored,” she said.

“Since the world is changing into a global village, the communication mediums have put in danger linguistic and cultural diversity, which is being done away with to bring in a monoculture, and kill cultural identities, too,” said Dr Memon.

She asked if globalisation should be fought against or should it be befriended? The answer, she said, then was in an integrated national cultural strategy. “We should research our cultures and embrace them in order to save our identity or sooner or later we are going to lose our true identities. Own your languages and be proud of them,” she concluded.


Originally published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2017

Comments

Amra Mar 02, 2017 09:42am
For news paper, the Urdu word is "Akhbaar" and in Hindi it is "Khabar", slight different words are used, but the sentences are mostly the same.
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AYZA Mar 02, 2017 09:48am
Sorry, just can't agree with Dr. Memon that Urdu and Hindi are one language. Neither would my great-grandmother whose Urdu and Farsi poetry has no link whatsoever with Hindi. She would think it a serious insult to even compare Urdu with Hindi! Those who can speak, read and write Urdu can't understand written Hindi since Urdu is from a Persian/Turkish/Arabic script where as Hindi is from Sanskrit. Also when some Indians speak Hindi, I as an Urdu speaker can't understand any of it! It seems very foreign to me - not anything like spoken Urdu.
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KT Mar 02, 2017 10:02am
Almost in all Sindhi families across the world people force their daughter in law to speak Sindhi at home and also insist children to be taught Sindhi. For any language to survive their related books and dictionaries must be available. For example some people in Karachi who are millionaire Sindhi family dictionary should exist in Sindhi script to illustrate Urdu words which is not available, so their children prefer to speak Hindi or English cause for many words meaning is not available as Sindhi Script - Urdu Script. Many Punjabi also read in Gurumukhi script.
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dk pamnani Mar 02, 2017 10:08am
Correct. The person who speaks Hindi can understand Urdu, and vice versa.
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UTPAL BANERJEE Mar 02, 2017 10:20am
Very interesting article! I also think same as the author. However, what is the view of Linguist? A debate can be arranged. I believe if both the languages are proved to be one then many problems will be solved automatically.
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Abdul Mar 02, 2017 10:28am
Urdu is not the language of muslims, Arabic is. Urdu originated in state of Uttar Pradesh in India and is their mother tongue that is still spoken there. Urdu is mixture of 80% Hindi and Sankrit + 20% Persian. Urdu still uses Sankrit grammar. Where as Hindi is in its pure sankritized form without foriegn curruption. Pakistans native language is Sindhi, Punjabi, Pashto, Hindko etc not adopted language from Indian Uttar Pradesh - Urdu. Local language should be promoted and made national language of Pakistan.
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Saleem Mar 02, 2017 10:28am
There is very little I agree with Dr. Memon.
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Fazal Karim Mar 02, 2017 10:28am
Pakistan psychology permits out side languages because of share perception of domination of one province over others. Urdu played important role in Pakistan movement and is a great source of communication between people in different parts of country beside its great literature and adaptability in offices and courts. In India too Hindi speaking people do not learn and speak regional languages in spite of living in these areas.
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Rahul Mar 02, 2017 10:35am
As a matter of fact Urdu is an amalgamation of Hindi and Persian. Around 99% of Urdu verbs have their roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit.
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Sindhi Mar 02, 2017 10:40am
Apt speech Sindhi language should be saved
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NN Ojha Mar 02, 2017 10:45am
Urdu diction and grammatical structure is the same as Hindi language but the two scripts are totally different from each other. It is the religious zealots among both Hindu and Muslim communities that Hindi script died in Pakistan and Urdu script vanished from India. Blaming the British colonial rulers for any conspiracy of divide and rule in this context may not be fair.
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Bhola Bhala Mar 02, 2017 10:52am
You don't need any expert to confirm that the Urdu and Hindi are one language.
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Arun-KS Mar 02, 2017 11:07am
Nice observations.
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Brahmdagh Mar 02, 2017 11:13am
Urdu or Urdu_i_mu'ala, is an amalgam of Sanskrit, native language around Delhi, Arabic, Farsi and some Turkish etc. The Urdu they speak in India is way too Sanskrit used to be considered Urdu anymore. Hindi is Punjabi, the actual historic hind is Punjab. Gangvi is not hindi
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Virendra Singh Mar 02, 2017 11:15am
Very nice article. Thanks for enlightening us.
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NURUL HUDA Mar 02, 2017 11:25am
India is a big country not only in size but also culture- diversity, resources, heart, forgiveness, blessings etc..
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GhOSH Mar 02, 2017 11:32am
Every bit of what she says is correct ! I will write in detail later when I find time.
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anshul Mar 02, 2017 11:33am
Rarely we find some one who has the correct knowledge of history and is unbiased in her approach. Nice
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BRR Mar 02, 2017 11:40am
Believe me, the urdu i listen to on pakistani TV channels (from youtube) is impossible for me to comprhend, despite my 10 years of hindi in schools, and years of watching hindi movies - it seems alien with a few words i can understand. It is almost 80% infused with arabic and persian - as a matter of pride i guess, so that i can bearly understand 10% of what is being said. It is false to claim urdu is same as hindi, at least from one long time hindi speaker's perspective. I have spoken hindi with people in at least 10 states in India, and have had no communication issues.
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SRINI Mar 02, 2017 12:11pm
Hmm.... Very confusing the statements... Also one more thing about India.. We have Hindi as a third language.. Where almost every person understands because of bolywood movies.
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John Mar 02, 2017 12:12pm
Well done DR
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Ramana Adivishnu Mar 02, 2017 12:20pm
@GhOSH Waiting for your detailed views
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Rajdeep Mar 02, 2017 12:40pm
In fact the word "Hindi" itself is an Arabic word for language of Hindustani's as observed by invading Arabs, same goes for the word "Hindu".
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Umar Mar 02, 2017 12:57pm
@Abdul , if Urdu should not be considered as National language the how Sindhi will communicate with Pathan and Balochi with Punjabi and Pathan with Punjabi. The only way that every body can communicate with each other is to accept one language 'Urdu' as a national language. Be "Urdu' 50% or 90 % Hindi or local or foreign or 50% or 90% Hindi and or Arabic.
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Abdulla Hussain Mar 02, 2017 01:00pm
Dr. Fehmida Hussain Memon is a celebrated writer, she should not take such a narrow angle that may install some heaviness in the hearts of Sindhi & Urdu speaking communities. Urdu is a national language not belonging to any individual community alone. More over Urdu is international language while most of the other languages are regional. If Urdu & Hindi are one language then why all the great poets of the past never wrote a poem in Hindi.
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Qadir ali Mar 02, 2017 01:04pm
Quaide Azam made it clear that Urdu is the national language...consequently ,no more argument.
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hem pant Mar 02, 2017 01:05pm
Good article.Agree with author
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sGh Mar 02, 2017 01:16pm
@BRR . I agree with you. Today's Urdu in Pakistan has a lot of words from Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. In my opinion, the Urdu language in India and in Pakistan have taken different development during the last 70 years. If I read a Urdu newspaper from India, I find words, which are of Hindi origin, and not used in the Urdu of Pakistan. As for example the word "chounow" for election: it is used in Urdu of India, in Pakistan they write " intekhab".
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M. Emad Mar 02, 2017 01:25pm
Hindi and Urdu are two dialects of a same language. Bangla is a different language and most developed among South Asian languages.
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yawar abdul rehman Mar 02, 2017 01:27pm
ohh ... i thought hindi's vocabulary and font was derived from sanscrit and urdu mostly from from persian and arabic!
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Idrees Mar 02, 2017 01:32pm
@KT Get your facts correct before you speak ill of any other language!
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gary Mar 02, 2017 01:35pm
@SRINI Hindi is the third language in non-Hindi states.
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VINEETH G Mar 02, 2017 01:37pm
Urdu in its purest form with prominent Sanskrit derived words replaced by Arabic and Persian would be hard to understand for any Indian. Same goes for the 'Shuddh Hindi' with its extensive use of Sanskrit words in lieu of Persian/Arabic words. But the common folk on either side of the border use neither and therefore their spoken tongues remain mutually intelligible. And that is the reason for the popularity of Bollywood on both sides. It speaks the language of the common man on the ground rather than the elites.
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S Sundar Kumar Iyer Mar 02, 2017 01:44pm
Hindi and Urdu are the same language and is often called Hindustani. Hindi and Urdu are the formal forms of the language, Hindi tends to use Sanskrit root words for framing new words and phrases and Urdu uses Persian or Arabic. The spoken language is everyday conversation fully mutually intelligible. While writing, Urdu is written in modified Persian-Arabic script and Hindi has adopted Devanagari script. To really appreciate Hindustani to the fullest, a familiarity of Sanskarit and Persian (and through it Arabic) helps. The whole division is totally artificial and fanned by the division politics of the sub-continent, which continues to assuage vested interests in the independent countries that were created . Hindustani is being pushed down the throats of different regions of the sub-continent (as in the case Sindh highlighted here) - more so over Bhojpuri, Maithili, Chhattisgarhi, ... regions. East and South India fare a little better, but I see little hope in the future.
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MJK Mar 02, 2017 02:02pm
Urdu and Hindi , one language ? You must be kidding. Ever heard All India Radio news, it is beyond understanding for non Hindi speaking listeners
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PR Mar 02, 2017 02:12pm
@BRR A speaker of Urdu from Pakistan will have similar problems with heavily sanskritized Hindi. I'm from India, and friends of mine did not seem to have any problem understanding Pakistani serials in Urdu on the Zindagi channel. The problem you speak of might be more prominent in formal contexts like news broadcasts, specific discussions of a political or literary nature etc. I don't think common people from either side will have much problem understanding each other.
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sanjay Mar 02, 2017 03:02pm
India opted for federal system with States carved our on the basis of Language and ethnicity. Each state has powers to teach their respective languages to their children and 22 such languages have been recognized in the schedule. In addition Hindi and English has be identified as national languages which are taught as a second second languages. Urdu is primarily spoken in the North and is respected.
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Iqbal Mar 02, 2017 03:09pm
As most of the Pakistanis are Hindoo coverts so we converted Hindi language also to our Muslim faith - Arabic/Persian script and writing from right to left. Wherever the Muslim went Malaya, Indonesia etc , the script was changed to Arabic/Persian but the basic seems to be same .The Court language in Punjab upto Sikh era was Persian. Hindoo/Hind itself is from Sindhoo/Sindh, the name of the area. The Greeks turned Sindh into Hind. The Arabs and the Persians followed and made it Hindoostan - the people living on the other side of river Sind/Ind. VEDAS, the books Hindoos follow were composed on the banks of river Sindh/Sindhi.
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Muhammad Mar 02, 2017 04:18pm
@BRR i dont know what u were listening to but ur point is abs wrong. Urdu spoken on pak tv is 80-90 similar to hindi with exceptions being to a few fords like yaqeen insted of wishwas etc. I have watched both indo pak content and its no way different the way u said it.
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our wish. Mar 02, 2017 04:35pm
Agreed. We the people of Pakistan and India have to know that we are one people. Politicians, clerics, and those with self interest have divided us. This is the real challenge, to challenge those who try to divide us, I think the vast majority realize this and know we Pakistani's and Indian's have so much in common besides, Urdu, Hindi, Cricket, Hockey, Dal Chawal, and so many many things stretching back many hundreds of years, how we wish to be united again.
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Reader Mar 02, 2017 04:45pm
@Qadir ali . Both Jinnah's and Gandhi's mother tongue was Gujarati.
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NKhan Mar 02, 2017 04:59pm
@BRR I almost agree with you. When I listen to Pakistani news you can hear the Arabic and Persian influence. When I listen to Indian news channels you can hear the influence of Sanskrit. During the last 25 years Hindi has been moving towards more Sanskrit and Urdu more Persian and Arabic. However at the moment there are enough words in common for the average Indian and Pakistani to communicate. Bollywood uses the language Hindustani which is mixture of Hindi and Urdu. By the way we are not the only ones, a Spanish and Italian have enough words in common that that two people from these countries can talk to each other.
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JAMIL SOOMRO, NEW YORK CITY Mar 02, 2017 05:07pm
Thank you Dr.Fahmida Hussain Memon for upholding the dignity of the Sindhi Language.
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Dil Dil Pakistan Mar 02, 2017 05:39pm
@Abdulla Hussain : Good comment, I totally agree with you. Thank you.
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Yemeen Zuberi Mar 02, 2017 07:08pm
I fully endorse Ms. Fahmida's thoughts. I demand the government to make arrangements to translate as many books as possible in regional languages and Urdu. I think that the best would be to start translation programs in the local libraries. The local writers will be patronized, and we will get books translated in local languages. This is my proposal, how it can be accomplished is a concern of the legislative and the executive.
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VidushaK Mar 02, 2017 08:35pm
@M. Emad Speak for yourself, All south Indian languages are more developed than Bangla :)
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Tiny think tank Mar 02, 2017 08:56pm
Yes Urdu & Hindi are similiar languages,just the written dialect is different, but Urdu-Hindi are spoken in all continents,that's great.
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advani Mar 02, 2017 11:01pm
Urdu is the language of Muslims. Hindi belongs to the Hindus. Urdu is written from right to left. Hindi is left to right. I am proud of Urdu so just forget about calling my language Hindi. I am not a Hindu or from H(india).
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advani Mar 02, 2017 11:03pm
@dk pamnani There are a lot of words in Urdu that an Hindi person would not understand, just like an Urdu person would not know what viman is.
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advani Mar 02, 2017 11:10pm
@MJK you are correct 100%.
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INDIAN Mar 03, 2017 12:57am
@AYZA 80% of urdu is Sanskrit based. ..
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RAWAYNIDDU Mar 03, 2017 08:30am
Based on Dr. Fahmida Memon's philosophy, Iqbal, Faiz, and Faraz were Hindi poets.
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JAMIL SOOMRO, NEW YORK CITY Mar 03, 2017 08:53am
@M. Emad Bangla is a different language most developed coming from Calcutta.
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Payalfromindia Mar 04, 2017 05:49pm
Urdu is اردو Hindi is हिन्दी Got my point?
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Satish.S Mar 06, 2017 12:17pm
@AYZA Urdu has Sanskrit as well...please check your facts! :)
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R S Chakravarti Mar 06, 2017 04:03pm
@BRR There are also two Telugus!
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