How to Learn Urdu on the Internet

By Khalidah Tunkara, eHow Contributor

Urdu, which is spoken in several countries, including Pakistan, India and the U.S., originated as a dialect of Turkish phonetics. To learn Urdu online, all that is needed is a few minutes spent each day learning the language and a motivation to apply the language in everyday conversation with other Urdu speakers.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Visit an online Urdu tutorial site to start your lessons. There are a host of sites that specialize in teaching the language and won't charge any fees. One such site, word2word.com, offers a free course in Urdu as well as other language courses.
   
2. Get a tape recorder to record yourself speaking. This will allow you to hear what you sound like to others and can be a great way to catch your language errors quickly. Most language sites offer a pronunciation tool so you can hear what a word or sentence should sound like. But nothing is better than hearing your own voice for corrections.
   
3. Practice writing down all the alphabets of the Urdu language from right to left. Since Urdu's language structure is similar to Arabic's (it is written from right to left instead of left to right), it may be easy to learn if you are already familiar with Arabic or any other language that has the same structure.
   
4. Practice speaking some of the letters with a mirror or with someone online, via a webcam, who speaks the Urdu language. This will allow you to see how your mouth should be formed while speaking and help you attain the correct voice and inflection for certain words.
   
5. Keep a journal of Urdu letters and try to see how many words you can find when visiting cultural exhibits, grocery stores and other places where the language is spoken or on display. Be aware that Urdu has some words that may not be found in English. Therefore, it is important to avoid substitutions. Rehearse conversations with a native speaker.