The Billingual Thread

when i was a kid speaking to dad in english he'd say "urdu mein baat karo" (speak urdu)

I'd be like-forget it, it wasnt important anyway :roll:

many times our trips to pakiland were to learn Urdu-but we learnt jack :twisted:

my parents have given up on trying to teach their kids Urdu-

none of us see the need to know urdu

we have grandparents over from pakiland atm and its hilarious trying to communicate with them

anyhoo discuss the need to know ur mother tongue in this day and age

and the issue that urdu/punjabi/gujari/bengali etc etc are langauges that are dying in the UK :shock:

and teach me Urdu :twisted:

batameez! Blum 3

agar apni zabaan nahin athi, toh rishta kaisay milaiga? :shock:

Lol

The Lover is ever drunk with love;
He is free, he is mad,
He dances with ecstasy and delight.

Caught by our own thoughts,
We worry about every little thing,
But once we get drunk on that love,
Whatever will be, will be.

ɐɥɐɥ

"Fresh Prince" wrote:
batameez! Blum 3

agar apni zabaan nahin athi, toh rishta kaisay milaiga? :shock:

Lol

No way! I just understood that. Lol

"apni zabaan" thats a phrase that normaly gets me mad, okay so I'm probably an idiot for getting so defensive, but I take issue with elders who come to England, and don't like English.

I mean they say "I don't like this language" as opposed they find it hard to learn which is legitimate.

Reminds me of a stunt the bnp were planning, They were going to make bumber stickers in Urdu/Gujrati/Bengali etc saying, "If you can read this, you're in the wrong country."

I'm currantly thinking of making a few for a joke, who's with me? Lol Blum 3

Gentleness and kindness were never a part of anything except that it made it beautiful, and harshness was never a part of anything except that it made it ugly.

Through cheating, stealing, and lying, one may get required results but finally one becomes

"Dawud" wrote:

Reminds me of a stunt the bnp were planning, They were going to make bumber stickers in Urdu/Gujrati/Bengali etc saying, "If you can read this, you're in the wrong country."

I'm currantly thinking of making a few for a joke, who's with me? Lol Blum 3

time.LOL, that wud b funny, yet offensive at the same

Regardin urdu, i thinks its important to kno the language of your parents, kno the culture, cuz if u completely revert to the culture of britain, well, ur left with nothing but fags n booze n the other typa fags an all

_____________- -SupeRazor- -_______________

Some ppl make their goals the stars.
They may live n die n never reach the stars,
but in the darkness of the night, those stars will guide them to their destination.
Becuz they made them in their eyesight

"razor" wrote:
Regardin urdu, i thinks its important to kno the language of your parents, kno the culture, cuz if u completely revert to the culture of britain, well, ur left with nothing but fags n booze n the other typa fags an all

:? dont u mean convert? and anyway thats not true because as Muslims we adapt to cultures, we take the good and leave the bad in line with Islamic principles. every culture, including our parents', has some wrong things in it. there are a lot of good things in both cultures as well.
i dont think its such a big deal, but kids might as well learn urdu, they have nothing to lose and being bilingual is a good skill. it shouldnt be imposed on them though, or connected to religion.

[size=9]I NEVER WORE IT BECAUSE OF THE TALIBAN, MOTHER. I LIKE THE [b]MODESTY[/b] AND [b]PROTECTION[/b] IT AFFORDS ME FROM THE EYES OF MEN.[/size] [url=, X-Men[/url]

It should not be connected to religion, but it has to be imposed.

Otherwise kids have a simple choice. free time, or study.

I myself have always chosen free time.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

Goethe, the German philosopher, once said: The person who knows only one language does not truly know that language.

it is always good to know your mother tongue in my opinion it is a good foundation to learn other languages

knowing your parents culture and language is certainly advantageous and beneficial to our wellbeing and appreciation of other cultures.

respect for onesself and ones parent's culture breeds respect for other cultures.

culture and language are not the enemies of Islam but are complimantary to it and give us a sense of belonging. i really dont see how we can understand and appreciate other cultures if we deny our own

well said

The Lover is ever drunk with love;
He is free, he is mad,
He dances with ecstasy and delight.

Caught by our own thoughts,
We worry about every little thing,
But once we get drunk on that love,
Whatever will be, will be.

ɐɥɐɥ

Salam

Indeed well said.

Laila has a remarkable insight. That was a beautiful piece of deep understanding. Very few people have a heart to comprehend these connections. She must have a noble heart. Such recognition of language and culture is very rare.

Omrow

"*DUST*" wrote:

i dont think its such a big deal, .

i agree

to some knowing ur mother tongue is the be all and end all

and according to the freshie u wont get any marraige proposals if ur ignorant in ur language :roll:

[color=indigo]lolz sometime i find it so bad to speak bengali wiv my parnts most of the time i mix english into it, my bengali isnt sooooooo terrible but i decided to take french for my GCSEs and not bengali so wot does that say????? i do fink it is quite important to learn bengali/your mother tongue but these days every1 mixes bengali wiv english its so easy to switch from one language to the other[/color]

[b][color=DeepPink]O you who believe, If you help (in the cause of) Allah, He will help you, and make your foothold firm[/color][color=DeepSkyBlue] {Surah Muhammad7}[/color][/b]

Personally, language is a non issue to me.

I can understand Urdu but can only speak broken Urdu.

My mum’s family were all born and brought up here so their first language is English…. mum has always spoken in English with us…dad tried to get us to learn Urdu when we were kids but now even he only speaks English with us.

Two of my uncles married women from back home, but they’ve learnt English so they can understand the language…

My far distant cousins/uncles/aunties who live further up north do not know/understand one word of Urdu and they all got married to people who were also very weak in their mother tongue…

This is only an issue with my grandparents from Pakistan come over or phone but we usually use our parents as translators for us or try to get by on broken Urdu…

However, I do consider myself fairly cultural…I eat Asian food on a daily basis and wear Asian clothes 80-90% of the time….but I’ve never felt the need to brush up on Urdu.

I don't think that my kids will know one word of Urdu...and for some reason this doesnt bother me.

And now I think, if I should learn a language I may as well learn Arabic or Farsi/Persian in order to understand Sufi poems better…

"MuslimSister" wrote:
And now I think, if I should learn a language I may as well learn Arabic or Farsi/Persian in order to understand Sufi poems better…

lol exactly - i'd be more interested in getting my kids fluent in Arabic. it's the language of the Quran and yet everyone places their mothertongue above it... Sad

[size=9]I NEVER WORE IT BECAUSE OF THE TALIBAN, MOTHER. I LIKE THE [b]MODESTY[/b] AND [b]PROTECTION[/b] IT AFFORDS ME FROM THE EYES OF MEN.[/size] [url=, X-Men[/url]

[color=indigo]sis your deffo right arabic shud be the main priority people do get too bogged down on the emphasis of the mother tongue, [/color]

[b][color=DeepPink]O you who believe, If you help (in the cause of) Allah, He will help you, and make your foothold firm[/color][color=DeepSkyBlue] {Surah Muhammad7}[/color][/b]

Salam

Come on. What is with you.

You just like to make things difficult for yourself dont you.

One does not NEED to learn a language to appreciate myctical poetry.

One only needs a heart.

And you got one already pious lady.

Omrow

I have to agree with Laila, u gotta know where u come from to know where ur going in life. Your roots are a important part of who you are...its to ur own benefit even if ur born in England. Knowledge is power. I dont know about getting rishtey...lolz, thats a whole different story.

it would be a great sadness for our mother tongues to be lost in the West.

they give us such colour and vitality and enrich our lives.

to me english is a rather dull language compared to say Punjabi

i know so many good jokes in Punjabi there really is no comparison in english for that kind of joke telling

poetry in Urdu and persian - beautiful

my first language is english but i love hearing Punjabi and Urdu

I'm not really any good at speaking them myself but this does not detract from my appreciation of them and their value in enriching my life

so i conclude not only would it be sad to lose them but dare i say also highly foolish

"laila" wrote:

to me english is a rather dull language compared to say Punjabi

poetry in Urdu and persian - beautiful

my first language is english but i love hearing (jus urdu!)

I'm not really any good at speaking them myself but this does not detract from my appreciation of them and their value in enriching my life

so i conclude not only would it be sad to lose them but dare i say also highly foolish

i agree with them points wholeheartedly..............and im dubbed a coconut from tym 2 tym

The Lover is ever drunk with love;
He is free, he is mad,
He dances with ecstasy and delight.

Caught by our own thoughts,
We worry about every little thing,
But once we get drunk on that love,
Whatever will be, will be.

ɐɥɐɥ

"laila" wrote:
it would be a great sadness for our mother tongues to be lost in the West.

they give us such colour and vitality and enrich our lives.

to me english is a rather dull language compared to say Punjabi

i know so many good jokes in Punjabi there really is no comparison in english for that kind of joke telling

poetry in Urdu and persian - beautiful

my first language is english but i love hearing Punjabi and Urdu

I'm not really any good at speaking them myself but this does not detract from my appreciation of them and their value in enriching my life


funnily enuf i agree with all of those points. Smile but its up to both parents to speak to their kids in the language they want them to learn, otherwise we cant expect them to pick it up out of nowhere. as i said in a previous post, knowing more than one language is a useful skill, and i agree urdu is a very elegant language. my urdu is ok, but i'd prefer to speak to my kids in Arabic inshaAllah.

[size=9]I NEVER WORE IT BECAUSE OF THE TALIBAN, MOTHER. I LIKE THE [b]MODESTY[/b] AND [b]PROTECTION[/b] IT AFFORDS ME FROM THE EYES OF MEN.[/size] [url=, X-Men[/url]

Being bilingual is cool.... and Carlito spits in the face of people who dont wanna be cool.

Which is a good thing since Carlito is not here. So u non bilingual folk can chill. Being bilingual means you are able to communicate to a wider range of people, which is a good thing especially when you start working.
At work you'll come into contact with people from all walks of life and not all of them can speak english... and its not good enough to say they should learn english bcoz they can say the same thng about you learning your own language.

Your intelligent people, and intelligence should be used for the good of mankind

Back in BLACK

What happens if either a brother or sister marries a person who is non-native to them , I mean doesn’t speak the language of his partner parents?

One can conclude that their children will grow up not speaking the language of his grandparents- unless you marry within your own race.

My father can speak a few languages fluently, spoken and written including Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu and his native language Bengali.

Me personally, want to learn Arabic the language of Jannah.

"(*_Khamzat" wrote:
What happens if either a brother or sister marries a person who is non-native to them , I mean doesn’t speak the language of his partner parents?

One can conclude that their children will grow up not speaking the language of his grandparents- unless you marry within your own race.

My mum could only speak English before marraige whilst dad was fluent in Urdu...he taught her Urdu and she brushed up his English.

And, since English was spoken the most at home...none of the kids are fluent in Urdu and can't properly communicate with our grandparents.

But if one wants to learn a langauge badly enough, it can easily be picked up.

My situation is different, I doubt when I'm married my children or wife would be learning to speak Bengali

I don't think it's the end of the world if you don't know your mother tongue, but there are some benefits in it as Laila and some others have already mentioned. It is a part of our identity as much as English.

I also agree with Dust that Arabic is often made insignificant by our parents, just to emphasise the importance of our native language.

Shouldn't there be a balance? When children are young their memories are amazing. They have the ability to learn 2, 3 or even more languages fluently if given the chance. It's all about providing that chance for your kid isn't it? There's no reason why your child can't learn their mother tongue, English, and Arabic before secondary school. Once in secondary they will have the opp to learn european languages if they wish, or expand on those they already know.

I often feel inadequate amongst certain cousins and guests that visit because I can't express how I feel in my language. With my parents i will happily resort to English to fill in the gaps, but with guests this would be looked upon as complete ignorance. So i tend not to speak much apart from greetings and asking about their general well being. I don't want my kids to feel like this.

Some ppl stigmatise their own language as if they are ashamed of it, and deem English as more superior. You'll often hear them say well i'm not a freshie why should i learn to speak like one. They need bringing down a peg or two from that imaginary throne they're sitting on. Coz at the end of the day what is a freshy, but a native of your own homeland? In essence your parents are freshies, and had they not travelled to the west you too would be a so called freshy, whatever that means :roll

Finally someone said that if you marry out of your own culture kids will lose their native tongue. Well that's not true really. From all the examples i've seen the kids tend to know 3 or 4 languages as a result of these marriages.

some ppl glorify their mother tongue and look down at those who are incompetent in it :roll: :roll:

being weak in ur mother tongue is an inevitable effect of living in the west

and in the eyes of God knowing ur mother tongue doesnt win u any brownie points

Although it doesnt necessarily win you 'brownie points' by simply knowing it. You can however earn 'brownie points' by using it to help others.

You need to take a step back and look at the larger picture here.

Back in BLACK

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
some ppl glorify their mother tongue and look down at those who are incompetent in it :roll: :roll:

being weak in ur mother tongue is an inevitable effect of living in the west

and in the eyes of God knowing ur mother tongue doesnt win u any brownie points

Sister all the Bengali that can speak Urdu (my friends) is mainly because of their time spent in Jamaat with Tablighi, her and in Pakistan – this is how my father learnt (Punjabi Urdu and Gujarati) but his Arabic was taught to him by Yemenies brother who all shared a house when he first arrived in the uk. I agree with laila point about the importance of learning your mother tongue but agree with you and Seraphim also- knowledge [b]has no language [/b]( my maths teacher couldn’t speak English good and kept on using this quote)

Imagine if you had to learn a language that involved tongue clapping? Lol

I wish I could learn many differnet languages as possible, I can only achieve this if I travel like my father.

"Seraphim" wrote:
You can however earn 'brownie points' by using it to help others.

You need to take a step back and look at the larger picture here

.

:roll:

i'm sure there are more ways to help others

and whats the larger picture garfield?

The larger picture is the world around you; inorder to help yourself you must help others. Im not saying thats the only way to help others... but it makes it easier and your skilled to help more ppl than you can without it.

Unfortunately no one can really be told what the larger picture is... you have to see it for yourself.

Back in BLACK

:roll:

Who is the cat of the Forum? MEZ!
Your damn right!

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