Hello guys ,

I studied urdu as my 3rd language until 5th class , I'm 12 passout now ! So I have forgotten the complete urdu , I'm no longer able to read the Urdu script !

Help me suggestions some free resources or courses / youtube playlists or books

Farsi not having a noon ghunna is a surprise to me

I recently read some shers of Faiz and I was really impressed. I want to to learn Urdu so I can appreciate Urdu Literature without the assistance of English and understand it in its pure form.

Can you suggest me any material that would help me achieve my goal? It'll be very helpful if the content is available in public domain.

Thanks in advance. Khuda Hafiz.

PS: If I'd made any mistakes, please forgive. Fairly new to the sub.

السلام عليكم

I am an American born Pakistani, and my wife is an American born Indian. I want to teach my daughter Urdu but am struggling; we both grew up in houses speaking Urdu but we actually spoke English. I’ve relearned Urdu and have been taking classes to improve; I speak to my daughter only in Urdu but she doesn’t seem to be picking it up. Are there Urdu story books, children’s tv shows, or anything else I can expose her to so she can pick it up?

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong lol...... I feel like I'm not joining enough letters and joining them improperly, because on Google translate it's different

Urdu is my second language which I learned up to age 8 and then didn't really study it properly after that. I didn't care for it. Now as an adult I really appreciate the language and want to improve it.

Those that have heard me speak say my Urdu is good. But I feel like I have a bit of an accent and I have to learn more.

I want to learn the proper, refined Urdu. I already use vocabulary that is good so learning extra refined vocabulary will be fun for me. I am not interested in learning the modern urdu which is mixed with English. Jo kaam karo, ache tareeke se karo - that's my mindset.

What resources would you recommend? Thank you 😊

Aslamolaikum

I’m an Arab who’s been seriously trying to master Urdu.

Fluent in Arabic, learned Farsi many years ago and then noticed that I am starting to make a bit of sense when watching bollywood movies. Picked up some phrases.

Attempted a tutor back in 2021 but she only taught phrases and it was evident after a few classes that it wasn’t her profession just a hobby and i stopped.

Now I am about to marry a Pakistani and his mother does not speak english. I want to talk to her and also make sure our children can speak the language. I have picked it up seriously in March 2025 and i can read and understand almost 70% but i still have a huge issue when it comes to speaking and grammar and I keep making mistakes which is very frustrating for me.

My main source was italki teachers but i also felt something lacking with them trying to explain grammatical concepts and sentence structure properly.

Trued countless youtube videos but they’re mostly beginner level.

Found some old books but when i ran them by one of the teachers she said they had many mistakes in them.

Please help me find rich resources for my future babies and my mother in law 😅

Hi! I’ve seen this question asked many times in this sub, but I’m overwhelmed by the number of resources and want to know where to start. I’m trying to learn Urdu as an English speaker, as my partner’s family primarily speaks Urdu and it means a lot to them that I’m even trying.

I’ve started using the Ling app, but it only teaches phrases. I’m realizing that I don’t understand the grammar structure, the differences in wording depending on gender/formality/seniority, or even the basic alphabet. I need a beginner-friendly resource. Is there a certain website, book, YouTube channel, etc that people largely agree upon as a go-to resource? Thank you in advance!!

Hey y'all, so for context, I'm Pakistani and my first language was Urdu. However I moved abroad and have sort of kept that level of Urdu proficiency from that age (I moved when I was 4 so I still speak like a 4 year old). I was wondering what to do because I constantly get made fun of by family members because of it. I feel really embarrassed and want to learn and reclaim my language and culture, but it's hard when it feels like no one is taking you seriously.

So, any good tips? What should I do? I can hold very basic conversations and understand more than I speak.

While going through a June 1980 issue of Nawa-i-Waqt, I came across an interesting cartoon that feels surprisingly modern.

In the cartoon, a worried doctor examines a mentally distressed and scattered patient. Someone asks about the cause of his condition, and the doctor replies:

"Don't worry. This is simply a reaction to his habit of reading newspaper reports about crimes and accidents."

More than four decades ago, the cartoonist was already poking fun at a phenomenon that still feels familiar today: the tendency of Urdu newspapers to emphasize shocking crimes, accidents, and sensational stories because they attract readers' attention.

It's a reminder that debates about media sensationalism, public anxiety, and the effects of constant exposure to bad news are not new. People were noticing and criticizing these trends in Pakistan's Urdu press decades ago.

One of the most fascinating things about exploring old newspapers is discovering how many "modern" concerns were being discussed long before social media and 24-hour news cycles existed.

I've been digitizing and studying historical Pakistani newspapers from different decades, and small finds like this often reveal unexpected insights into everyday life, media culture, and public opinion.

— UPDATE (March) —

Since this post blew up, we've been building more. The Urdu Writing tool is still live at UrduWriting.com — still free, still no ads.

We also just launched a companion Android Urdu app for people who want to actually learn Urdu from scratch: Learn Urdu اردو قاعدہ — free Urdu learning app

It covers all 38 letters with native pronunciation, a digital takhti for handwriting practice, جوڑ توڑ (word builder showing how letters join), and quiz games. 100% offline, zero ads.

For anyone who was frustrated with the state of Urdu learning tools — this is our answer to that too.
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🚨 UPDATE: Thanks to an awesome suggestion in the comments, I just added a brand new feature: Urdu Typing Practice! It’s a clean, ad-free, Minimal-style platform to practice your typing speed and accuracy using Urdu poetry, and literature. Check it out here:https://urduwriting.com/urdu-typing-practice

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Assalamu Alaikum everyone,

I want to share something I've been building over the past few months. This started with a simple frustration and turned into something much bigger than I expected.

How it started:

I used to use some already existed Urdu typing websites whenever I needed to type Urdu online. But every time I went there, I'd deal with ads everywhere, a confusing layout, and a generally painful experience. I thought — this shouldn't be this hard. People just want to type Urdu. So I decided to build my own tool: clean, modern, no ads, no nonsense.

That became UrduWriting.com

The writing tool (homepage):

This is the core of the site — where it all began. It's a full Urdu text editor with:

• Rich text editing in proper Nastaliq font (not the broken Naskh rendering most sites use)
• A virtual keyboard — you can click letters or use phonetic typing from your physical keyboard
• Bold, italic, underline, font size, text color
• Word/character/line counter
• Copy, download as TXT/HTML, or print
• Common phrases section (Bismillah, Salam, etc.) — one click to insert
• Dark mode
• Voice typing (Urdu speech-to-text using your browser's built-in recognition)
• Auto-save (saves up to 10 articles locally so you don't lose your work)

Unicode to InPage Converter:

This was the second thing I built because so many people in Pakistan still use InPage for newspapers, magazines, books, and printing. You paste Unicode Urdu text, hit convert, and get InPage-encoded text you can paste directly into InPage. The existing tools for this conversion are either server-side with captchas and word limits, or full of ads. Mine runs entirely in your browser — no server, no limits, no captcha, instant conversion.

InPage to Unicode Converter:

The reverse — paste InPage text and get clean Unicode Urdu that works everywhere: WhatsApp, Facebook, Word, websites, anywhere. Really useful for people trying to bring old InPage documents into the modern world.

Urdu OCR:

Upload a photo or screenshot of Urdu text and it extracts the text using Tesseract.js. Not perfect (OCR for Nastaliq is genuinely hard), but useful for quick extraction from images, scanned pages, or screenshots.

Urdu Word Counter:

A dedicated tool for counting words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in Urdu text. Useful for writers, students, and anyone with word limits.

The Learning Section (Learn Urdu Online):

After building the writing tools, I realized something: there are tools for typing Urdu, but almost nothing good for learning to read and write the Urdu script online. So I built an interactive learning page:

All 38 letters — interactive cards with full form, half form, English name, Roman transliteration, example word, emoji, and 🔊 audio pronunciation. Covers the 10 extra letters that don't exist in Arabic (ٹ ڈ ڑ ں ے etc.) which most resources skip.

Jor Tor (جوڑ توڑ) — Word Builder — This is the thing I couldn't find anywhere else online. It teaches how Urdu letters change shape and join to form words. Color-coded visual breakdowns: ب + ا + ت = بات. 2-letter, 3-letter, and 4-letter words. This is THE biggest gap in Urdu education online — everyone teaches the alphabet but nobody teaches how letters actually connect.

Writing Practice Worksheets — A two-page spread for each letter: picture cards on the left, dotted tracing lines and blank ruled lines on the right. 38 pages total. Free to print. Like a real Urdu qaida/notebook.

Drawing Board — A digital canvas for practicing letters with your finger (tablet) or mouse. Has a word challenge system with fireworks when you complete it. My kids love this part.

Guides section:

I also wrote comprehensive guides (these help the site get found on Google, but they're genuinely useful too):

Important things about the site:

1. 100% free. No accounts, no payment, no ads, nothing. Just open and use.
2. No data collection. I don't track you, don't store your data on any server.
3. Works on phones, tablets, desktops.
4. Bilingual throughout — every heading is in Urdu AND English, everything has Roman transliteration.
5. Dark mode everywhere.

Who it's for:

• Anyone who needs to type Urdu online without installing software
• People working with InPage who need Unicode conversion (publishers, newspaper designers)
• Kids (3-10) learning their Alif Bay Pay
• Adults who want to learn the Urdu script from scratch
• Heritage speakers who can speak but never learned to read/write
• Diaspora families teaching kids Urdu abroad (UK, US, Canada, UAE, Germany, Australia)
• Teachers looking for free printable worksheets

The backstory:

I built this because I wanted it to exist in the world, and because Urdu deserves better online tools than what's currently available.

I'd love to hear your feedback — what works, what's broken, what's missing, what you'd want to see next. Teachers, parents, learners, writers, InPage users — all perspectives welcome.

JazakAllah Khair for reading this far. 🤲

I want to learn conversational Urdu, and came across Preply in another Reddit.

My starting point is almost a complete beginner and I'm thinking of starting with 3 lessons per week.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Hi , I would love to know if you know any kinds of specific sources for Urdu ? Course book I mean. I would be glad if you tell me .

Hey guys, I can believe music can be a strong motivator to learn / continue to learn a language. So I think it would be beneficial to share some quality music for this reason. I encourage you to share some picks of your own in the comments.

For a more objective view: Here is a collection of 45 Urdu movie soundtracks from the years 1950-1966. These were not randomly chosen, these were all movies which were superhit performers. In theory then, they should be some of the best from this period. Also in theory, you may hear some more uncommon Urdu words due to their age (although probably not that much).

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRm1ER5ascFs

For a more subjective view: 1970s Pakistani pop was very unique! Very few people have exposure to it so they don't know how good it was! Here are a few videos to get started:

Song 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

This is only scratching the surface though, so if you want a more in-depth view:

1975-1981 compilation (4 hours)

1975 extended | 1976 extended | 1977 extended

Still, there are a lot more which can be discovered and aren't in any of these videos.

Anyway, please share some songs of your own that you like. Thanks

Hi everyone. I've been teaching myself how to read and write Urdu completely from scratch. I feel like I can read decently but I still struggle to write, especially with how letters join with each other.

Some of this issue is because there textbook I used to learn taught nastaliq but I consume most of my Urdu digitally which uses naskh. So when I sit down to actually write something, it's a weird, confused script. I'm also a little tired of structured learning and want something immersive now. Does anyone have recs for easy/beginner level reading material in nastaliq? Like maybe children's books? Or even better, if someone has pdfs in nastaliq, I'd be very grateful if you could share! Because I'm a broke grad student and these 200 (Indian) rupee books add up very quickly!

Shukriya in advance!

hairān haiñ lab-basta haiñ dil-gīr haiñ ġhunche

ḳhushbū kī zabānī tirā paiġhām hī aa.e

حیران ہیں، لب بستہ ہیں، دل گیر ہیں غنچے

خوشبو کی زبانی تیرا پیغام ہی آئے - Ada Jafery

Hain in urdu is used for 'being' or 'are' or something similar.

It is a sophisticated word to express a state.

Like 'Hairan hain' literally means 'I am amazed' but the essence of this, changes when said in urdu. I mean you can't get the essence of it unless you know urdu.

Going forward the couplet literally translates into:

Hairan means amazed

Lab basta means lips sealed or unable to speak, in awe. ( Since Buds (a stage before blooming into flower) are sealed unlike flowers, which are wide open)

Dil gir means sad, bitter sweet sadness.

Gunchay means Buds.

Khusbhu means fragrance

Zabani means through. Or in English it'd be like through the voice of.

Paigham means message.

So it goes like this.

Buds are in amazement, in awe, in a bittersweet sadness

Through fragrance after all, let your message arrive.

I’m American born and raised by my parents are from Pakistan and I grew up speaking Urdu as a second language. Nowadays my spoken Urdu is passable at best (probably around a 1st grade level). I can understand it mostly fine, but I want to raise my Urdu to the level of fluency (so I can teach it to my kids).

I’ve been doing a lot of speaking practice and slowly improving, but I also want to be able to read because I know that’s a huge component of it. I read the Quran when I was a kid, but it’s been over a decade since then and my ability to read Naskh or Nastaliq has mostly faded completely.

This past week I’ve started going through this book as an attempt to learn Nastaliq. I’m slowly making progress but even as Perso-Arabic script comes back to me, it’s sooo hard. Especially learning to write Nastaliq, which has so many nuances from each letter from changing Kaf/Gaf followed by Alif/Lam to the difficulty of vowels

So I have the following questions:
1. Should I just learn Naskh first and come to Nastaliq second? Or just keep going with Nastaliq out the gate?
2. How long would you say it will take to learn to read Nastaliq somewhat fluently?
3. Should I focus more on speaking and leave reading/writing practice for later, or keep doing both together?
4. Are there any other good resources I should look into as a heritage speaker?

Beginner here, I keep finding multiple ways of writing each letter. Can somebody confirm if this is the right way to write them? If not can you provide some accurate hand written letters?

I want to learn Urdu since it seems interesting, I'm ethnically Sylheti-Bengali and my great grandmother knew Farsi which is from my understanding is abit similar , can someone give any guides or links to books by any chance?