Urdu Poetry Forum

I don't have the word power to express my disdain for the practice of writing Urdu in Roman script.

I have been given arguments favoring such practice that, this way Urdu will be accessible to people who cannot read the Arabic script. My answer to that is then learn!

I am adamant about it and not without a sound reason! Urdu is heavily influenced with Farsi and Arabic. In fact, Farsi is also influenced with Arabic. Arabic words, the way they are spelt is NOT without rhyme and reason. There are different ways of writing similar sounding words in Arabic but they carry different meaning. This does not pose a problem to an Arabic speaking person but for most speakers of Urdu, that subtlety is lost as far as the pronunciation is concerned. But when we talk about written Urdu, those spellings can drastically alter and change meanings. Roman alphabets are not equipped to handle that subtlety that is native to Arabic and a part and parcel of it, ipso facto to Urdu. One of the reasons for the richness of Urdu poetry are those nuances that are produced making use of those characteristics. Roman/English script miserably fails to produce that effect when and if Urdu is written in it.

The intention behind the use of Roman script laudable but the unwanted effect will destroy the uniqueness and the subtlety of Urdu. It is akin to starting a new language!

What is easier...starting a new language and in doing so an existing well structure and a beautiful language is destroyed or just simply learning the script of that language!

__________________