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Urdu learners can now heave a sigh of relief as the Union government has decided to replace difficult words in the language with simplified terms.
Just ahead of the annual review of National Monitoring Committee on Minority Education, the government on Monday asked National Council of Education Research and Technology to revise its Urdu Syllabus for schools.
"'Thermometer' in Urdu is Ala-e-paimaieshe-hararat. It is even difficult for a Urdu speaker to decipher. Therefore the ministry has decided to revise the course with more simplified version. The words will be replaced with some commonly used English and Hindi words," said a highly placed official in the ministry.
Similarly, the ministry identified words like 'surgeon' which is 'Mahir-e-Zarahat' and military science or 'Ilim-e-Zarab'. These words are difficult for a common Urdu speaker and needs to be replaced with commonly used words, the official said.
The ministry has gone through the entire syllabus and reached a conclusion that there are some words that are not in use by the regular Urdu speakers.
"Languages do get influenced by the culture and environment. Urdu has many Persian words and similarly Hindi-speaking people use certain Urdu words frequently during their conversation. So, if we will incorporate the simplified and commonly used words, that will further popularise the language," said a senior official in the ministry.
The ministry has also taken a note of the fact that the books of Urdu syllabus are not available in the market and pulled up the authorities for the delay.
The ministry wants Urdu to become a part of the mainstream. Words that are difficult to understand will distract people further and may prove a deterrent for the learners, the official said.
"The syllabus is not for the seasoned Urdu speakers; it is designed for the learners who are young. We want to simplify it a bit so that it can be more popular," ministry sources said.