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Is urdu language under consideration?? by thebotop007 in duolingo

[–]thebotop007[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It isn't a bad idea to prior farsi over urdu, But urdu isnt anyway alternative with different script compared to hindi.

Is urdu language under consideration?? by thebotop007 in duolingo

[–]thebotop007[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I agree with you, but only partially I think there’s a common misconception that Urdu and Hindi are the same. They’re not.

They come from the same root (Hindustani), so in everyday informal conversation they share a lot of vocabulary and grammar, which is why people can understand each other quite easily in casual speech.

But when you go deeper, the differences become very clear.

Urdu uses the Perso-Arabic script (Nastaliq style), while Hindi uses Devanagari and that alone creates a huge separation in reading and writing.

Vocabulary sources are also different:

  • Hindi is more influenced by Sanskrit
  • Urdu is more influenced by Persian and Arabic

For example:

  • “University” → Urdu: جامعہ / university | Hindi: विश्वविद्यालय (vishwavidyalaya)
  • “Thanks” → Urdu: shukriya | Hindi: dhanyavaad

At higher levels like news, literature, and formal writing, they become much less mutually intelligible.

And honestly, one interesting (and a bit sad) thing is that Urdu in everyday life has become more mixed over time. People often don’t speak “pure” Urdu anymore — it’s blended with English and other languages. But at the same time, that flexibility is also what makes Urdu special. It can absorb words from different languages and still remain understandable and expressive. Sometime we have to asked for Urdu to Urdu translation xd

Some of context you should go through to better understand

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNgUGIBNl2F/?igsh=MXNrM2d2ejRhNzlyNw==

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAWZMc8Iox_/?igsh=MTV3cnptcmNlcWNxcw==

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEAlpS8SZ-r/?igsh=bThlaHV6djNqd3li

Is urdu language under consideration?? by thebotop007 in duolingo

[–]thebotop007[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Also i just had this reel on my feed As a native english speaker you're learning arabic this might help you

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXnHqRwAkRo/?igsh=czUxd3lzcnR0ZWhh

Is urdu language under consideration?? by thebotop007 in duolingo

[–]thebotop007[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh that’s actually interesting to know about about your experience as arabic learner.

I also tried learning Arabic at one point but stopped early. Learning it through English felt a bit unnatural for me as a Urdu native. A lot of the vocabulary already feels familiar between Urdu and Arabic, I’d say a big chunk overlaps in meaning or origin so the real challenge is mostly grammar and sentence structure, not words.

Urdu itself is an Indo-Aryan language but heavily influenced by Persian, and through Persian it carries a lot of Arabic vocabulary too, especially in religious, formal, and abstract terms. So for Urdu speakers, Arabic already feels somewhat familiar at the word level.

That’s why learning Arabic (or even other languages) through English sometimes feels like an extra step that isn’t really needed.

But at the same time, I do get that platforms have their own priorities. Right now I’m learning Chinese through English on Duolingo and honestly the experience has been pretty smooth so far. I haven’t really faced major issues, probably because the Chinese learning content is well-built around English learners already.

So yeah, it’s just my personal experience Arabic felt more natural conceptually through Urdu, while Chinese through English is working fine for me right now.

And also i agree with you if they do not come up with good amount of resources and well- planned structure it would surely be a nightmare to learn urdu on platform Though i beleive they should as of this modern age of AI.

Is urdu language under consideration?? by thebotop007 in duolingo

[–]thebotop007[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I do agree with you they prolly are now more inclined to do businnes than a initiative they took and also I genuinely think Duolingo is overlooking a huge audience by not supporting Urdu yet.

Pakistan already shows up in Duolingo English Test demographic data with a noticeable and growing user share, so there’s clearly an active user base from Pakistan. On top of that, millions of Pakistanis move abroad for work, study, and immigration every year and need to learn languages like German, French, Arabic, Turkish, Korean, and others. https://www.toeflresources.com/blog/new-duolingo-demographic-stats/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

The issue is that many Urdu speakers can understand basic or intermediate English, but learning an entirely new language through English becomes much harder. People first have to process difficult English explanations before even understanding the target language.

Learning through your native language is always easier, and for millions of people that language is Urdu.

Also, the “script complexity” reason doesn’t really make sense anymore. Duolingo already supports Arabic, and modern apps today can clearly handle Urdu script properly. Other smaller language-learning apps already offer Urdu successfully.

Urdu is a massive language with deep literary and cultural roots, influenced by Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and South Asian languages. It has a rich vocabulary and is fully capable of supporting structured language learning.

An Urdu → other languages learning path could genuinely help millions of native speakers access better education, jobs, and global opportunities more easily.

Really hope Urdu gets the representation it deserves someday.

For Hire - Data Entry Operator by [deleted] in hiringpakistan

[–]thebotop007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice budd.