Roman Urdu refers to the romanised use of Urdu, where the Urdu language is written using the English alphabet. It is mostly used for informal communication on the internet, social media, and text messaging.

According to the Urdu scholar Habib R. Sulemani in 2004: "Roman Urdu is strongly opposed by the traditional Arabic script lovers. Despite this opposition it is still used by most on the internet and computers due to limitations of most technologies as they do not have the Urdu script. Although, this script is under development and thus the net users are using the Roman script in their own ways. Popular websites like Jang Group have devised their own schemes for Roman Urdu. This is of great advantage for those who are not able to read the Arabic script. MSN, Yahoo and some desi-chat-rooms are working as laboratories for the evolving new script and language (Roman Urdu)."

Romanised Urdu is mutually intelligible with Romanised Hindi in informal contexts, unlike Urdu written in the Urdu alphabet and Hindi in Devanagari. Multinational corporations often use it as a cost effective method for printing and advertising in order to market their products in both Pakistan and India.

Although the idea of romanising Urdu had been suggested several times, it was General Ayub Khan who most seriously suggested adopting the Latin alphabet for Urdu and all Pakistani languages during his rule of the country. The suggestion was inspired to an extent by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's adoption of the Latin alphabet for Turkish in Turkey.

In India, where the Devanagari script is used, Roman Urdu was widely used in the Indian Army, as well as in Christian mission schools, especially for translations of the Bible.

The Hunterian transliteration system mostly avoids diacritics and non-standard characters.

Sample texts

Zabu'r 23 Dáúd ká Mazmúr (Psalm 23)

Roman Urdu

Urdu Bible

<blockquote>

<sup>1</sup>Khudáwand merá chaupán hai; mujhe kamí na hogí. <br>

<sup>2</sup>Wuh mujhe harí harí charágáhoṉ meṉ bithátá hai: Wuh mujhe ráhat ke chashmoṉ ke pás le játá hai.<br> <sup>3</sup>Wuh merí ján bahál kartá hai: Wuh mujhe apne nám kí khátir sadáqat kí ráhon par le chaltá hai. <br>

<sup>4</sup>Balki khwáh maut ke sáye kí wádí meṉ se merá guzar ho, Maiṉ kisí balá se nahíṉ darúṉgá; kyúnkṉki tú mere sáth hai: Tere 'asá aur terí láthí se mujhe tasallí hai. <br>

<sup>5</sup>Tú mere dushmanoṉ ke rúbarú mere áge dastarkhwán bichhátá hai: Tú ne mere sir par tel malá hai, merá piyála labrez hotá hai. <br>

<sup>6</sup>Yaqínan bhalái aur rahmat 'umr bhar mere sáth sáth raheṉgí: Aur maiṉ hamesha Khudáwand ke ghar meṉ sukúnat karúṉgá.

(Kita'b I Muqaddas: Zabu'r 23 az Dáúd)

</blockquote>

Nastaʿlīq (Perso-Arabic) Script

<blockquote style="text-align:right"></blockquote>

Devanāgarī script

<blockquote>

<sup>१</sup> <br>

<sup>२</sup> <br>

<sup>३</sup> <br>

<sup>४</sup> <br>

<sup>५</sup> <br>

<sup>६</sup>

( <big>२३</big> )

</blockquote>

Usage

Christian community in the Indian subcontinent

thumb|150px|left|Roman Urdu Bibles are used by many Christians from the South Asian subcontinent

Urdu was the dominant native language among Christians of Karachi, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan in the 20th century and is still used today by some people in these states. Pakistani and Indian Christians often used the Roman script for writing Urdu. The Bible Society of India publishes Roman Urdu Bibles, which enjoyed sale late into the 1960s (though they are still published today). Church songbooks are also common in Roman Urdu. However, its usage in Christian contexts is declining in India with the wider use of Hindi and English in the states.

Film industry

Bollywood, India's major film industry, uses a version of Roman script as the main script for its film titles. This is because Bollywood films have an appeal for viewers across South Asia and even in the Middle East. The Devanāgarī script is used mostly by Hindi speakers while the Perso-Arabic script is used primarily by Urdu speakers. The language used in Bollywood films is often called Hindi, but most dialogues are intentionally scripted on a linguistic variety designed to be understood by both Hindi and Urdu speakers alike. Because the film industry aims for mass viewership on the South Asian subcontinent, using the Devanāgarī or Perso-Arabic script is seen as unfavourable as the choice of alphabet would limit its reach. For this reason, the Latin alphabet is employed as a neutral script for Bollywood film titles, though some films feature usage of Hindi and Urdu scripts on screen as well.

The similar circumstances are also applied with Pakistan's Lollywood filming industry, where, along with the Urdu name or title of the movie, a Roman Urdu title is always provided for viewers. It has also become very prevalent in Pakistani commercial advertisement industry, as slangs and statements in the commercials use Roman Urdu to make the advertisement more highlighted.

Internet

Roman Urdu used on the Internet is non-standard and has irregular spelling. Users who use Roman Urdu on the Internet try to imitate English orthography. In most cases they are unaware of the fact that English spelling is not always phonetic.

Education

Roman Urdu is increasingly used in educational resources aimed at diaspora communities and non-native speakers. Kids Bolo has pioneered the use of Roman Urdu in both print and digital formats to teach Urdu. Their approach includes illustrated books written in Roman Urdu and interactive online conversation classes, which simplify language learning for students familiar with the Latin alphabet but not the traditional Urdu script. This methodology helps learners achieve conversational fluency and encourages cultural connection through language.

|-

| || || ġain || gh ||

|-

| || || fe || f ||

|-

| || || qāf || q ||

|-

| || || kāf || k ||

|-

| || || gāf || g ||

|-

| || || lām || l ||

|-

| || || mīm || m ||

|-

| || || nūn || n ||

|-

| || || vā'o || v/w, o, au or ū || , , or

|-

| || || choṭī he || h ||

|-

| || || do chashmī he || h ||

|-

| || || hamza || ' ||

|-

| || || ye || y, i || or

|-

| || || bari ye || e or ai || or

|}

See also

  • Uddin and Begum Hindustani Romanisation

Footnotes

Bibliography

  • Dua, Hans R. (1994b). Urdu. In Asher (Ed.) (pp.&nbsp;4863–4864).
  • Insha, Ibn e. (2002) Urdu Ki Aakhri Kitab. New Delhi: Kitab Wala. .
  • B.S.I. Kita'b I Muqaddas. Bangalore: The Bible Society of India, 1994. .
  • Gupta, Sunil (2022). The Dictionary of Urdu Poetry. Gurgaon: Zorba Books. .
  • The Urdu Latin alphabet by Adnaan Mahmood