Product Description

The Urdu language is written in a modified form of the Persian script which is in turn a modified form of the Arabic script. In addition to Urdu, Persian and Arabic, the same script is used to write several other languages in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, including Kashmiri, Punjabi and Pashto.



If you are planning to visit or work in an Urdu-speaking country or are learning Urdu, then 'Teach Yourself Beginner's Urdu Script' will help you get to grips with reading and writing simple Urdu. This book is a step-by-step introduction to the script that will enable you to read Urdu signs, notices, advertisements and headlines. If you feel that learning the script is a daunting prospect, then this book will make it simple. The alphabet is introduced in stages and there's lots of practice of each new character before the next is introduced. There are plenty of example words and phrases that are seen everywhere in any Urdu-speaking environment so that you will begin to familiarise yourself with the most common signs and directions.



By the end of the book you will be reading and writing simple Urdu with confidence and be prepared for your next trip to an Urdu-speaking country or further study of the language.



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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #307352 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

About the Author
Richard Delacy was Lecturer in Hindi and Urdu at La Trobe University, Melbourne, and has taught at tertiary institutions in the USA.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing addition to the TY range
I'm sorry to disagree with other users, but whilst this book is adequate as a means of learning to read Urdu, it is not at all helpful in learning how to write. The handwritten examples are sloppy and make it difficult to distinguish between letters such as vau, dal and re. The pen used is too thick and letter forms that should be hollow are filled in and appear as black blobs. Also, little explanation is given about how the letter forms should be arranged in relation to each other in the slanting nasta'liq style chosen for use in the book. When one of the chief aims of the book is to teach people how to write, there should be far more fastidiousness in the presentation of the written examples.

Another good one in the TY Script series
A nice, easily-paced course which teaches you a few letters at a time in each chapter. Very clear, although a bit more detail on a couple of characters (such as chothi he's initial forms) would have been useful - hence four and not five stars. Not quite as fun as Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese Script, which was a stroke of fun-loving genius, but nonetheless very effective.