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- Why has Urdu still not been r…
Why has Urdu still not been released on Duolingo?
Why has the Urdu language still not been released on duolingo, at least even on incubation, despite having so much interest? On one of the post, I read that the option for contributing was there but apparently removed, is that so? I have also sent a request (again) and would be willing to contribute along side other people. It shouldn’t that difficult either as Hindi is also available and Hindi and Urdu are really similar as many will know so it’s mostly a matter of converting from the Hindi script to the Urdu script.
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I wonder if Duolingo considers Hindi and Urdu the same language since technically Hindustani (Hindi+Urdu) is a single pluricentric language. Even native speakers of Hindi or Urdu agree that they have pretty much the same language, save for the writing system and religious-based preferences in formal speech (Urdu prefers Arabic words, Hindi prefers Sanskrit.) Personally I would love to have a course for just Urdu, and take the Hindi course separately, because I love Urdu a lot and I feel like it should be treated separately from the equally lovely but different Hindi.
Sadly, no. I was mistaken. While the letters are similar, they are not the same. See this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urdu_alphabet
Me too! I’ve been waiting patiently for the past 5 years for Urdu to appear... you can only imagine my frustration when I see full courses of languages that are for fictional languages or those spoken by a very very small minority. I imagine Urdu would attract a LOT of learners! Especially because there are a large proportion of British Pakistanis who can only speak English, myself included!
From this I have got the impression that Duolingo have a grudge against Pakistanis and other Urdu speakers!