TURK STUDENTS LEARNING URDU IN PAKISTAN: HISTORY, PROBLEMS, SUGGESTIONS

TURK STUDENTS LEARNING URDU IN PAKISTAN: HISTORY, PROBLEMS, SUGGESTIONS

The relations between Turkey and Hindustan especially Muslims of Hindustan are based on brawny historical foundations. History tells that during “Khilafat movement” in early 20th centaury Hindustani Muslim’s love for Turkey was obvious and very high. Before 20th centaury many Turkic speaking Central Asian conquerors ruled Hindustan or its parts for many centuries. These multi dimensional relations always required language understanding of each other for continued communication. This is the reason that among elites of Hindustan many commoners also learned Turkic languages beside Arabic and Persian. These strong built relations continued further between Pakistan and Turkey after the partition. Turkey has gained more importance economically alongside historical and geographical. Interests in Pakistan by Turk increased in recent years. Affects of these relations can be traced in both languages. National University of Modern Languages, is the only and authentic university of Pakistan which is well-known the world over for teaching modern languages. Although Punjab University in Lahore and some private institutes teach few world languages, but still NUML specially its Urdu department is famous for its latest scientific and linguistic methods. Since its establishment in 1976 the Urdu department receives a lot of students from all over the world. Among them a significant number has always belonged from Turkey and it continues. In this article the problems Turk students confront during their stay at NUML while learning Urdu are discussed. Primarily the language related issues like Phonetics, Morphology and syntax are focused. Administrative issues they face are also included here. The objective is to highlight the issues and suggest possible solutions so that both benefit, Urdu teachers and learners.