"Beginning Urdu" is a complete first-year textbook designed to help learners acquire the language by actively using it in realistic situations. This book and its accompanying audio files on CD contain all that is needed to complete one full year of study, including clear explanations of language structures; useful, fun, and engaging activities; and an organizational format that makes it easy to chart student progress. This title develops all four skills-listening, speaking, reading, writing-through a wide range of tasks and activities, including role plays, games, and short conversations. It is beautifully illustrated with full-color, authentic images and written in an accessible style. It introduces the sound system and script of Urdu. It is organized around functional themes such as home and family, everyday life, the marketplace, personal responsibilities, and travel. It features straightforward grammatical explanations and topically organized vocabulary lists for each of the 34 chapters. It integrates cultural information within the thematic units and also presents culture through aphorisms, poetry, and photographs. It provides an activity set for each unit along with review activities, including tips for increasing fluency and sets of questions to help personalize learning. It contains Urdu-English and English-Urdu glossaries. It includes three appendices-Urdu numbers, additional grammatical structures for moving to advanced levels of proficiency, and a suggested syllabus. "Beginning Urdu" covers approximately 150 contact hours and is designed to bring learners to the ACTFL proficiency level of mid- to high-intermediate in all four skills. This book also serves as a valuable resource for independent learners.

Beginning Urdu is a welcome addition to the study of South Asian languages. I commend this book for its accuracy, thoroughness, and usefulness. Going through the book, one can clearly see that the authors have a meticulous understanding of language pedagogy principles and a knack of presenting materials with great sensitivity to learners' needs. One feels a fresh breeze in the selection of content and methodology here. -- Surendra Gambhir, University of Pennsylvania

About the Author
Joshua H. Pien is a faculty researcher and Hindi-Urdu language specialist at the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland. Previously he was an assistant professor of Hindi at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. He has also taught Hindi at the University of Wisconsin. Fauzia Farooqui teaches Urdu and Hindi at Princeton University. She has also taught Urdu-Hindi at various other institutions, including the University of Virginia, the Defense Language Institute, University of Michigan, and the American Institute of Indian Studies in Lucknow, India. Her other publications include a monograph on the prose poem in Urdu and various original pieces of poetry, short fiction, and literary criticism, which have appeared in leading Urdu literary journals.


Book Information
ISBN 9781589017788
Author Joshua H. Pien
Format Paperback
Page Count 688
Imprint Georgetown University Press
Publisher Georgetown University Press
Weight(grams) 1560g