So, you've decided to learn Urdu.
Whether it's for travel, to discover new cultures, communicate with family, impress the in-laws, or read beautiful poetry, you gotta start somewhere!
Seems obvious, right? Learning the alphabet. It is really your foundation for learning any new language and Urdu is no different*.
Through the alphabet, you learn the sounds of the language, and open up a whole world of new learning resources. Once you’ve mastered the reading of a new language, every poem, newspaper, book, menu, street sign, you name it, becomes a new opportunity to practice.
* Note: Actually, Urdu is a little different since technically Urdu doesn't have an alphabet it has an abjad: a writing system that only writes the consonant and long sounds of the language.
Even though the alphabet is the most valuable starting point for learning a new language, it can often be the highest barrier to entry. Many classes and methods spend weeks and weeks drilling the letters into you, you’ll write pages full of them until you’d rather never read again than see another alphabet in your life!
This isn’t a good use of your time and, more importantly, it’s not very fun…
The most important step in your early language learning journey is to get the alphabet down as effectively as you can. If you dedicate a little time and effort now to doing it properly, you’ll never have to struggle with it again!
Learning is best achieved by forming deep relationships with ideas, which in our case is with the different letters of the alphabet. The more you internalise these deep associations, the easier it will be to recall the ideas when you need them.
Why not start with a method that’s designed to help you build these deep associations quickly and do it right the first time so you can move onto what you’d much rather be doing: experiencing a new and exciting language for yourself!
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Urdu has 39 letters in its alphabet. It uses a modified version of the Persian script which is itself a modification of Arabic. So, if you don’t know both of those languages, come back once you’ve learned them… just kidding! You don’t need any previous experience with learning any language to start, we’ll be making it very simple for you.
First, we’ll walk you through a series of mnemonics (memory tools) designed specifically to help you build strong associations between the letters of Urdu, what they look like, how they’re pronounced, how to distinguish them from one another, and most importantly, how to remember them!
Then, at the end of each section, there will be exercises to practice recalling these letters. If you take these exercises seriously and follow the instructions, you will automatically absorb the mnemonics and build strong associations.
It will be hard not to!
Don’t give up!
Learning a new language is hard. You might feel discouraged, especially if you really cannot remember a letter! Remember that each time you recall a letter, its like a push-up, strengthening your memory. The harder it is to recall the letter, the more each recall is worth to your memory!
You got this!
P.S. Let us know how you go with AlphaUrdu. We'd love to hear any and all comments, feedback, and suggestions at valencyacademy@gmail.com!
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To start with, we’re going to learn the first 6 letters of the Urdu alphabet to give you a taste of what to expect and to experience the method yourself. After that, feel free to make up your mind about giving the rest of the letters a shot!
Let’s begin!
A as in Alphabet
Alef is the first letter of the Urdu alphabet and A is the first in English. Alef looks like a number 1!
اسپ
▶ Horse
Alef can also make a sound like ‘i’ or ‘u’ like in Urdu اُردُو (more on this later)
A as in Art
Such great art this paintbrush alef can produce. Look at that smooth maddah!
آدمی
▶ Man
آپ
▶ You (formal)
B as in Banana
A boat with a paddle below it. Jump in! It’s a beautiful day by the beach.
بچہ
▶ Child
بازار
▶ Market
P as in Purple
A pack of piranhas are attacking our boat, now might be a good time to panic!
پانی
▶ Water
پاکستان
▶ Pakistan
S as in Sail
Se (ث) looks like a sailboat. Check out at that superb symbol on the sail!
ثمر
▶ Fruit
Urdu has two other 'S' letters (Sin س and Swad ص). They’re all pronounced the same (great!) but you’ll have to watch out for them when writing things yourself later on in your Urdu journey (less great...)
Also, Se (ث) is actually the 6th letter of the Urdu alphabet after Te (ت) and Ṭe (ٹ), it just works better with our collection of boat-themed mnemonics here.
T as in Telephone
I have two sugars in my tea. Not really, that’s too much!
تاج
▶ Crown
تم
▶ You (informal)
Like the three 'S'-sound letters, Urdu has two letters which make a 'T' sound (Te ت and To'e ط).
See More...
Putting the teabag in the tea should be step one!
ٹوپی
▶ Hat
We actually don’t have this sound in English. It’s like a 'T' sound but we position our tongue on the roof of our mouth instead of behind our teeth. Try it out now!
Just remember, Te (ت) and Ṭe (ٹ), are not the same letter, but don’t worry if you can’t get it perfect just yet. It will come with time.
Also, from here on, whenever we have this fancy ط above an Urdu letter, we are pronouncing the sound with our tongue more backwards in the mouth (called a retroflex consonant). You can remember this because the ط tells us to move our tongue back!
Ok! Well done. You’re 6 letters in. If you’ve finished building associations with the pronunciation and shapes of the letters, let’s practice recalling them! Click here to open practice 1.
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How’d you go? Did you find this useful? If so, why not pick up the rest of the alphabet and much more that we're planning too!
To celebrate the launch of AlphaUrdu, we're offering a 30% discount until February 1st 2025! Just use code LAUNCH30 to claim it!
And, if you're not satisfied, just email us at valencyacademy@gmail.com at anytime for a refund. No time-limit! No questions asked!
Get the alphabet cemented in the first time, so you can set your focus on really learning Urdu!
You ready?
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