Learn about different Urdu dialects
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hello everyone, and welcome back to Urdupod101.com. This is Pronunciation, Lesson 5 - Urdu Dialects. Eric here. |
| Afrah: Assalam u alaikum. Hello everyone, this is Afrah. |
| Eric: In this lesson, we will be going over some regional variations of pronunciation. |
| Afrah: Up until now, you have learned how to pronounce Urdu consonants and vowels. |
Lesson focus |
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| Eric: Right, but we also want to let you know that, depending on where you go in Pakistan, there are several languages and distinct ethnic groups with their own culture. So people might say things slightly differently. |
| Afrah: Eric, how are we going to cover this topic? |
| Eric: Well, we are going to focus on three regions - Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar and their Urdu language regional variation. |
| Afrah: That’s because these areas are tourist spots. Most of the tourists going to Pakistan visit these areas. |
| Eric: People visit Lahore to see the empire of Mughal emperors. Karachi is famous as a business hub, and Peshawar is known for its traditions of hospitality, mixture of Pakistani and Afghan culture, and delicious meat dishes. So it’s important to know the variations in Urdu that are prevalent in these regions. |
| Afrah: Okay, let’s start with Karachi. The city of Karachi is known for its Urdu speaking population. The people here speak Urdu with a special accent which is very distinct. The pronunciation of the Urdu consonants and vowels is normally done using a lot of the throat. |
| Eric: Secondly, they have their own words that you won’t find in other regions. Afrah, can you give an example? |
| Afrah: People in Karachi use specific words quite often. Some of them include “Aray Mian” meaning “Oh respected person” and “Abay” which means “Oh you”, for example. Some of the words commonly used in certain sentences also differ. For example, “where are you going?” normally gets translated as “کہاں جا رہے ہو؟” (Kahan ja rahay ho?). But if you are in Karachi, you will hear “کہاں جا ریا ہے؟ ” (Kaha ja ria hai?) instead. So don’t worry if you hear these small alterations while you are in Karachi. |
| Eric: I see. What about the Urdu spoken in Lahore? |
| Afrah: Lahore is a typical Punjabi city. People here speaking Urdu often speak it in Punjabi style or sometimes mix some Punjabi phrases with Urdu as well. But people here are lively and helpful, so don’t hesitate to ask them if you don’t understand something. |
| Eric: So Lahori Urdu is a bit different from the Urdu used in Karachi. Can you give one example of a difference found in Lahori Urdu? |
| Afrah: One of the distinct features of spoken Urdu in this city is that people sometimes omit vowels. For example, some people would say “Lahorre” لاهورر rather than “Lahore” لاهور. This is one distinct feature of Lahori Urdu. |
| Eric: That’s interesting. |
| Afrah: Right, Lahori Urdu has a distinct Punjabi accent. |
| Eric: Okay, what about Peshawar? |
| Afrah: The Urdu spoken in this city, and the Urdu of the KPK province in particular, which is where Peshawar is located, is generally very different from other areas of the country. |
| Eric: What are the most noticeable changes? |
| Afrah: One of the most obvious changes is that they often get the gender wrong while speaking Urdu. |
| Eric: How so? |
| Afrah: The people of this city speak Pashto as their native language. In Pashto, the gender differences are not so clear when it comes to nouns or general words. Also, Urdu is only taught in specific grades at school, so there is some confusion around grammatical gender. |
| Eric: I see. Can you explain this confusion with an example? |
| Afrah: Sure thing. The word “weather” is masculine in Urdu. But in Peshawari Urdu, weather is treated as feminine. For example, “How is the weather of Peshawar” gets translated as “Peshawar ki mosam kaisi hai?” پشاور کی موسم کیسی ہے؟. In official Urdu it would be “Peshawar ka mosam kaisa hai?” پشاور کا موسم کیسا ہے؟. |
| Eric: That sounds interesting. |
| Afrah: But don’t worry – once you learn more Urdu, you will be able to understand it all over Pakistan, and that will make your travels more comfortable. |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s it for this lesson, and for this mini series. We hope you’ve enjoyed it and found it useful. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you in another series. Bye! |
| Afrah: Goodbye. [Phr milenge] |
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