r/Urdu • • Sep 08 '26

💡 Learning Resources After a year we FINALLY finished Karak: Learn & Read Urdu

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62 Upvotes

Karak: Read and Learn Urdu is LIVE!

Assalamo alaikum!

Last year, some of you tried our beta with five stories and gave us a lot of helpful feedback. We're back with a much bigger library, a rebuilt reading experience, and apps for Android and the web. iOS is coming soon, Inshallah.

Karak is built to help you read, listen to, and speak more Urdu through stories and conversations. You can listen to native-speaker audio, follow along with the text, see sentence-by-sentence translations, tap words you don't know, save flashcards, and practice your pronunciation and speaking.

If you’ve already been on the revamped website, web app or the Android app, you may have seen the new version already. But here it is with some commentary

  • Stories: Our jam. There is some really fun stuff, ranging from the super short (a 77-word story about a thief who meows) to the medium (a 1,100-word story about a long day in the life of a single mother sparrow) to the longest so far (our 5,500-word translation of a classic Chinese horror story).
  • Scenarios: Short conversations, from quick hellos to a 750-word narrative following a bus ride through Karachi.
  • Conversations: Native-speaker chats at native-speaker speed. A fun one: a mamoo tells his trembling nieces the story of the rooftop room haunted by a djinn). More to come and help you decode native speed (or those pesky TV trackers on GEO / ARY / Other that move too fast...).

We also have some new stuff to help:

  • FLASHCARDS. Save the words you want to remember and review them whenever.
  • New grammar dialogues in the ‘Learn’ tab to help you understand and practice specific tenses. These are real conversations that naturally use more of one tense than another. For example, two friends talking about their bad habits that may or may not still be in the past...
  • New reading and speaking tools
    • You want to take it sentence by sentence, and pause so you can absorb what you just heard? Use Pause to stop at each line or a paragraph, and restart whenever.
    • You want to listen and repeat it at native speed? Use Listen & Repeat.
    • You want to just nail your pronunciation of the perfect putdown in Bad habits or any other line? Use Loop and repeat it till you have it down pat.
  • Upgraded website with a bunch of cool articles like an updated how to learn Urdu guide and how heritage speaker.

Overall

Everything in Karak is written, translated, illustrated, and recorded by native speakers.

We have content free to read, under ‘Try Karak Free’. All the longer stories have free chapters too, so you can get a taste of them.

If you’d like the full library and unlimited flashcards, we have monthly and annual plans, with founder pricing. See our plans and launch pricing.

Notes

We decided to include a beta dictionary in launch. Our dictionary is still growing, so not every word is covered yet. The entries we do have are human-reviewed, so they take some time to finish. Also, readers in Devanagari will find no dictionary at all (for now). Of course, you have Urdu stories with audio and translations for each sentence to tide you over and make sure you never, ever, get stuck.

Thank you & Try Karak

Thank you to everyone who tested the beta, sent feedback, or encouraged us while we built this. And thank you to the professors who gave us feedback and are planning to use Karak in their classes this semester, and the authors who trusted us with their work.

We hope you have fun with it!

Try it on web: Karak Web Or on Android

iOS coming soon Inshallah.

Honestly, there's a lot more to it all. Have fun reading! And let us know what you think or if you have any questions!


r/Urdu • • 3h ago

💬 General Discussion Many youngsters who speak Standard Urdu or Dakhani as their native language does not know to read and write Perso-Arabic script (in Nastliq or Naskh style) especially observed this in Maharashtra

11 Upvotes

I observed many youngsters who speaks Standard Urdu or Dakhani especially in Maharashtra doesn't know to read and write Perso-Arabic script in Naskh or Nastliq style

Tho we can agree that Urdu literature might not be exposed to them untill they had Urdu as their language subject in their school or college

But in most of Mosques they do teach to read write Arabi script but can't be used for writing Urdu or Dakhani as those languages have sounds which are not present in Arabi language

And also average Standard Urdu or Dakhani native who have been to Mosques can read and write Arabi script but may not able to read or guess letters like گ پ ٹ ڈ etc which are in Perso-Arabic script used for writing Urdu, Dakhani, Pashto, Panjabi, Saraiki, Koshur, Hindko etc


r/Urdu • • 1h ago

📜 Lafz of the Day Sometimes silence is better....

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• Upvotes

r/Urdu • • 7h ago

📜 Shayari / Poetry مجھے اس نے کہا آؤ نئی دنیا بساتے ہیں ۔۔

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9 Upvotes

r/Urdu • • 11h ago

📜 Shayari / Poetry Griftar - arrest

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12 Upvotes

āzādiyoñ kā haq na adā ham se ho sakā

anjām ye huā ki giraftār ho ga.e


r/Urdu • • 16h ago

📜 Shayari / Poetry A Sher A Day

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18 Upvotes

sooner or later they will hear it too

tell everyone, everywhere, what your heart is going through


r/Urdu • • 4h ago

📜 Shayari / Poetry Khwahishein ❤️

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1 Upvotes

r/Urdu • • 1d ago

📜 Shayari / Poetry Piyari Ammi…

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39 Upvotes

Written for my mother who is in a septic shock (septic associated encephalopathy). I’m waiting for her to open her eyes and as my mind goes dark with pain, I just wrote this in a language I love 🙏🤲🦋


r/Urdu • • 10h ago

📜 Shayari / Poetry Hijr Ki Raakh Aur Wisaal Ke Phool (Ek Baar Aur) | ہجر کی راکھ اور وصال کے پھول (اِیک بار اور)

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1 Upvotes

A tender offering of memories shaped by both separation and togetherness. The poem brings the pain of absence and the beauty of shared moments into a single emotional landscape, where even the ashes of longing become part of an enduring tribute to love.

ہجر کی کسک اور وصال کی خوشبو سے بنی یادوں کی ایک سحر انگیز نظم جس میں جدائی کا دکھ اور قربت کے حسین لمحات ایک ساتھ سمٹ آتے ہیں، جیسے محبت کی دہلیز پر یادوں کے پھول اور محرومی کی راکھ کا نذرانہ خاموشی سے رکھ دیا گیا ہو۔

ہجر کی راکھ اور وصال کے پھول (فیض احمد فیض)

آج پھر درد و غم کے دھاگے میں

ہم پرو کر ترے خیال کے پھول

ترک الفت کے دشت سے چن کر

آشنائی کے ماہ و سال کے پھول

تیری دہلیز پر سجا آئے

پھر تری یاد پر چڑھا آئے

باندھ کر آرزو کے پلے میں

ہجر کی راکھ اور وصال کے پھول


r/Urdu • • 1d ago

📜 Shayari / Poetry About Life is Temporary

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39 Upvotes

r/Urdu • • 21h ago

📜 Shayari / Poetry Hello ji, Shayar(Poet) Here.

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5 Upvotes

I am a Poet(Shayar) who has written more than 200 ghazals, shers and nazms.


r/Urdu • • 1d ago

📜 Shayari / Poetry Tufan - storm

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18 Upvotes

zindagī hai yā koī tūfān hai!

ham to is jiine ke hāthoñ mar chale


r/Urdu • • 1d ago

📜 Literature / History Looking for specific theme in fiction from Urdu literature

3 Upvotes

I am looking for BDSM in literature from the subcontinent and would appreciate any leads...

Strictly looking for literary fiction but I also understand this was sometimes reserved for pulp publications, so please share those as well.

Much appreciated TIA!


r/Urdu • • 1d ago

📜 Lafz of the Day Total life hustle.....

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3 Upvotes

Why do we always think of what people will say?


r/Urdu • • 19h ago

💬 General Discussion This is utterly disrespectful lyrical plagiarism 😭

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0 Upvotes

Almost every Bollywood song has Urdu lyrics in it, and, as expected, they turn the lyrics into Hindi script.

I wasn't complaining enough.

But what is this?

You turned Mirza Ghalib's entire Urdu-written ghazal into Hindi lyrics.

Have some shame, Musixmatch, or whoever you are.

You have to respect at least the greatest poet

or any writer. Keep it original.


r/Urdu • • 2d ago

🙋‍♂️ Question How does my Urdu sounds?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

33 Upvotes

Because where I live, Urdu is barely spoken or used, I haven't spoken much urdu or used it in conversations in my entire life.

Thank you very much for listening!


r/Urdu • • 1d ago

📜 Shayari / Poetry If Not You, It Would Have Been Someone Else

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1 Upvotes

‏آشنا دَرد سے ھونا تھا ، کِسی طَور ھمیں

تُو نہ ملتا تو ، کِسی اور سے ٫ بِچھڑے ھوتے۔

— ناصِر کاظمی

Aashna dard se hona tha, kisi taur humein

Tu na milta toh, kisi aur se bichhde hote.

— Nasir Kazmi


r/Urdu • • 1d ago

🙋‍♂️ Question How to improve my Urdu?

3 Upvotes

Urdu is actually my first language, I can understand it, speak in it and can read i, and also write. but my Urdu isn’t really as good as it should be. I can’t understand poetry (I don’t understand most words), my vocabulary is terrible, and my pronunciation is bad as well. I wanna speak in pure urdu properly, read poetry and also improve my writing skills, I’m a writer, I write and publish essays and poems (in English) but when it comes to Urdu I just can’t.

how do I improve my Urdu and what exactly to do?


r/Urdu • • 1d ago

📜 Shayari / Poetry A Sher A Day

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5 Upvotes

in the sky, neither the moon nor the stars are in sight

these days only dancing sparks fill the folds of the night


r/Urdu • • 1d ago

🙋‍♂️ Question How to get better in Urdu?

2 Upvotes

Urdu is my first language. I can understand it, speak in it, read and also write it. But my Urdu isn’t as good as it should be. I can’t understand poetry, my vocabulary sucks (my vocabulary is that of a 10 year old), my pronunciation is bad as well. So I just wanna get better

Please guide me and tell me how to improve my Urdu


r/Urdu • • 1d ago

🙋‍♂️ Question movies or shows for a beginner

8 Upvotes

Hello,

I am relatively new to learning Urdu, my wife and I like to watch shows and movies together and I am looking for some in Urdu to help me practice listening to the language. Any suggestions would be great.


r/Urdu • • 2d ago

🙋‍♂️ Question Rate my handwriting

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10 Upvotes

r/Urdu • • 1d ago

📜 Shayari / Poetry Roshani Ki Talaash 💫

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1 Upvotes

Please Follow


r/Urdu • • 2d ago

💬 General Discussion I can't help but feel our language holds us back.......

48 Upvotes

It seems like we take the worst of both worlds............. not speaking Urdu properly, nor English properly.

I say it cuz I see so many dialogues in movies or videos, which would be hard to say in Urdu. And so many details would be lost if u try to speak in a similar expression, also you'll look weird.

It seems like u can't say anything much deep on most topics without switching to English, all the while ur facing friction of not sounding like a burger by using too much English words.

It's so strange 😭


r/Urdu • • 2d ago

🎨 Nasta'liq / Script اُردو ادب کے شائقین متوجہ ہو۔

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35 Upvotes

براہِ کرم ہماری لکھائی کے بارے میں اپنی قیمتی رائے کا اظہار کیجئے۔

اگر کوئی کیلیگرافر بھائی جان دیکھ رہے ہیں تو مزید بہتر کرنے کا مشورہ دیں کہ کونسے لفظ کو بہتری کی ضرورت ہے۔۔

بہت شکریہ!!!!!