1 comments about Let's Study Urdu: An Introductory Course (Yale Language).

1. This is definitely not a book for beginners unless you are using it in a classroom. I have been studying Urdu for 3 years, and I can read the Urdu script. The book leans heavily on the Urdu script. If you are trying to use this book on your own, GOOD LUCK.
   The publisher did a lousy job putting this book together, sometimes they rely too much on the academia (they best), and turn what could have been a unique book into a not so unique book. The book needs to be restructured in order to be user-friendly.

3 comments about An Anthology of Modern Urdu Poetry: In English Translation, With Urdu Text (Mla Texts and Translations, 12).

1. Best collection of Urdu poetry I've seen yet coming from a western publisher. Nice selection of modern greats. Well transliterated, and clear text. It's about time non-Western literature stops being overlooked. Great work MLA! Looking forward to seeing more.



2. this book is filled with the original poems in urdu and the english translation. But i must say the english translation is so less passionate and flavorful than the urdu version. So i strongly recommend this to people that read urdu. And those that have heard of the Pakistani legendary singer Noor Jahan- some of her songs were poems, which can be found in this book. I had my dad read the poems to me- which was akward as they are love poems- but it was fun listening to how creative these writers are!



3. I was a student of Dr. Habib's and he is as articulate in these pages as he is in his lectures. The forward and introduction are beautifully written. He translates the poems clearly and imaginitively. It is wonderful to see a male give consideration to the feminist poetry as well, A definite must-read.

4 comments about Urdu: An Essential Grammar (Routledge Grammars).

1. A great book. It does what it says. Clear, easy to understand. It says that this book is not for complete beginners, but it could be, given only that said beginners are not complete idiots. I bought another book, a 'teach yourself' book, which I needn't have, given that this book suffices.



2. This book fills and important hole in the literature: a solid, up-to-date, in-print grammar of the Urdu language. I have used it to supplement my study of other Urdu texts.

   I have a few minor quibbles with the book:

   1) The Urdu transcription system is not given explicitly. Reference is made to R. S. McGregor's Urdu Study Materials, an out-of-print book published in India. While it may be readily available in major centers of learning or through interlibrary loan, I think that reference to an out-of print book for something as significant as the transcription system should be avoided. Perhaps in future editions the system should be included in the text.

   2) Sections appear where reference is made to 'ko' marking objects and 'ko' marking subjects. I'm not sure that this is the best way to address the use of 'ko', since it is more a comment on peculiarities of English grammar than any feature of Urdu. In Russian there are similar impersonal structures that use dative objects for what we would consider subjects in the English translations. A simpler approach to the issue of 'ko' might be to say that it marks dative objects, which may, however, be translated into English by words having different grammatical roles in the corresponding English sentence.

   Incidentally, I also have the "Teach Yourself Urdu" book and have found it of value, though not for its grammatical descriptions, which don't seem to me to be a distinguishing strength. I have collected the Urdu texts of the dialogues into a notebook that I find useful for rapid reading practice.




3. This is a reference grammar of a traditional informal type. It provides much information about how different things are said, including such specialized constructions as dates and times, with numerous examples. It has a detailed index and a fair amount of cross-referencing. Examples are provided both in Arabic script and in romanization.
   
   A small complaint is that the romanization is not explained. Instead, a reference is given to another book, one that can hardly be expected to be on every student's shelf.
   
   The main problem with this book is that it is weak on analysis and generalization. It is appropriate that a book intended for non-linguists learning Urdu should avoid excessive use of technical terminology and formalization, but the author's descriptions of grammatical constructions are so vague that one often cannot tell what is possible and what is not, or when exactly the contruction or form is used. For example, in native Urdu noun phrases, most modifiers of the noun precede the noun. In particular, genitive phrases precede the noun, so that "Rahim's daughter" is "Rahim kii beTii" that is: Rahim GEN daughter. Urdu also has another construction, the izaafat construction, which is borrowed from Persian. In this construction, the order is reversed. The izaafat equivalent of the above would be: "beTii e Rahim": daughter of Rahim. So, is the izaafat construction simply a variant of the Noun Phrase in which the order of possessor and possessed is switched, otherwise like other, native, Urdu Noun Phrases? This book never answers that question. In fact, the answer is no. izaafats cannot have any other internal modifiers, such as adjectives or relative clauses. This is but one example of many. You get a general idea of what a construction looks like, but all too often you don't get enough information to be able to use the construction with any confidence or to have a good idea of what to expect.
   
   Similarly, I found the explanation of when the different tenses and aspects of the verb are used to be excessively vague. Some technical terms, such as "habitual" and "punctual" are used, but rather sloppily, not in their established technical senses.
   
   The book does not justify the analysis given, even where the reader may wonder about it. For example, "experiencer" subjects typically take the postposition ko. Schmidt refers to these as "dative subjects". Some readers will wonder if these are really subjects. There is evidence that they are, for example the fact that they can be antecedants of apnaa "self", but this is not discussed.
   
   All in all, there is a good deal of useful information in this book, but it is not the sort of detailed, comprehensive, reference grammar that answers all, or at least most, of the questions one has about a language.



4. Mr. Poser's review missed the point of this book, I think. Having studied from Barker off and on over many years, I passed over Essential Urdu both at conferences and libraries until the other day when I checked it out just to.... check it out. I haven't been able to put it down; I even read it while I'm cooking.
   Despite the reviewer, Mr. Prendergast, who said the book was good for beginners, too, I believe it is my vague familiarity with Urdu which gives the book so much impact on my understanding of how the language works. IMHO, only a linguistically sophisticated person would grasp the import of the fascinating structures found in everyday Urdu, let alone in the many borrowing from Arabic, Persian, Hindi, English, and so on. (One of my great frustrations is that when I trot out a new Urdu word for, say, school registration, my friends say, "Oh, we just say 'registration'").
   
   To be fair to Mr. Poser's complaints, I do believe it is my wide if not deep readings in linguistics plus my study of Barker and others, including the Russian Klyuyev, that allow me to 'fill in' some of the gaps he cites. So, indeed, it may not be for beginners.
   
   But let me cite some elements of the book that I found so enlightening and helpful. The sections on particles and interjections, courtesy forms,
   time and dates, and causatives were particularly useful to me. Let me be clear here, I am comparing this book to all other such manuals; it could be that all in this series are as careful about covering as many aspects of speech as possible, but my experience of many years in using grammar manuals of many languages is that these elements are often skipped or slighted, or, at least, not presented in a compact way.
   
   And I think it is this latter point that is both a strength and a bit of a put-off in the book. The long pages of forms are not a way to learn those forms; they must be learned through use, not memorization. But as Prof. Schmidt lays the paradigms out, it does clarify them for the person who already has some of the forms internalized through use.
   
   So, for me, reading and annotating this book for my use has been a series of epiphanies. I especially liked the examples of how the play of transitive/intransitive and causative forms allows a range of expression typically represented in English by totally different words. In teaching Spanish, I found it important to explain how Spanish vocabulary, smaller in toto than that of English, supplements meaning through derivation. This section explains how causatives do that in Urdu (not to say Urdu's lexicon is small by any means!).
   
   I recall when an eminent scholar of Urdu was so kind as to e-mail me about my on-again, off-again study of the language and tell me that the language was pretty simple. When I responded that the morphology may be simple compared to Russian or Latin, but that Urdu more than compensates in the complexity of word-formation and syntax. You have only to read Prof. Schmidt's helpful gathering of ways to express obligation, probability, and so on, to realize that.
   
   The features Mr. Poser wants delved into more would be appropriate, IMHO, for one of Routledge's Comprehensive series, and that is a hint to Routledge.

5 comments about The Rebel's Silhouette: Selected Poems.

1. Faif Ahmed Faiz was born in Punjab (now a province in Pakistan) in the early 20th century. He was brought up in a literary environment and was mentored by some of the most liberal minds of that time. Early in his professional career, he became famous for his poetry in Urdu and Punjabi. In the 60s he was involved with the communist movement and conspired with Russia and India to bring about communism in Pakistan. Not only was he unsuccessful in his conspiracy, but was also imprisoned for many years by the government of Pakistan. Some of his best works were conceived during those times of confinement. His collection of poems reflect his philosophy and inclination toward communistic way of living, but his poetic eloquence is convincing to even the most anti-communist of us. Such is the power of his words. Agha Shahid had translated the verses well, but the original flavor of Urdu is lost and so have the extreme passion and agony. I would recommend it to readers who are mature enough to distinguish illusions and fantasies from reality and practicality. There are some poems in the collection which are my favorite in their original Urdu form.



2. faiz was one of the modern best poets of the world, though his most poems are about the labour class but at the same time he touches the heart of the humans by his sensitive words. after reading him one can very easily say , he is the best.



3. Faiz is one of the best known poets in the Urdu tradition, so his work in translation is bound to be the object of much scrutiny and criticism. While it is impossible to recapture the rythms and music of Faiz's originals, this translation is indeed a beautiful one. Agha Shahid Ali has done a wonderful job of capturing the essence of the words. Faiz was a passionate politician, and that aspect of his personality comes out in his poems as musically and intensely as his writings of love. I am not much of a poetry reader, but it is impossible not to read and savor the work of Faiz!



4. Only a rebel can say words as deep and meaningful as
   Aaaj Ka Naam Aur Aaaj Ka Gham Ka Naam
   Zard patton ka Gham jo mera Dees hai
   Zard ki Anjoman jo mera dees hai

   Faiz is a poet of beauty and love. His message is the reign of beauty and love in the country. The passion for enjoying the beauty of life, his deep attachment to love of self and the agony of the world, his love of humanity, his patriotism, his passion for revolution, his sense of justice, are all metaphors of the agony of love. That agony of love which is the soul of his imagination and feeling, on account of which he illuminates the beauty of both worlds with the desolation of his heart. For Faiz, the testing power of beauty is in its creativity. Beauty is not mere artistic value, it is also a social and moral value:
   The candle of a look, the star of imagination, All these illuminations have come from your gathering.
   Whichever be the source of pain, we ascribe it to you,
   Whatever complaints we have, are on account of you.

   If it be the agony of the world, if it is the beloved's face or the hand of the rival,
   We responded towards all of these with love.
   Faiz wrote a sad revolutionary battle-song, the like of which is not be found in any language of the world:

   For the love of your flower-like lips,
   We were sacrificed on the dry branches of the noose,
   For the desire of the candles of your hands
   We were killed on half-dark paths.
   And with revolutionary dignity:
   On our lips the words of the ghazal,
   And the torch of misery in our hands,
   Gather our banners from the place of murder,
   Caravans of other lovers will emerge,
   For whose path our feet have shortened the distances of pain.
   
   In the Lenin Peace Prize speech he had said:
   I believe that humanity which has never been defeated by its enemies will, after all, be successful; even now and at long last, instead of wars, hatred and cruelty, the foundation will rest on the message of Hafiz, an old Persian poet: "Every foundation you see is defective, except the foundation of love, which is faultless.
   And Faiz Sahib prays:

   Let us too lift our hands,
   We who do not remember the customary prayer,
   We who do not remember any idol or God except love.

   This agony of love is not only a part of the human condition but it is a relationship which extends from one end of the world to another. Faiz Sahib's love for humanity is free from the prejudices of race, colour or nationality. The new literature of protest suggests a radical change and, in the words of Faiz, it confers on us the power of "forcefully spurning the hand of the killer". It does not accept defeat because it is convinced that darkness should and must end.
   When personal sorrow drank the elixir of world-sorrow, the lovers' love became doubly strong:

   My heart repents neither this love nor the other,
   My heart is spotted with every kind of sorrow,
   Except the mark of repentance.




5. Faiz, the eternal. Faiz, the beloved. Sweet little collection of the Giants work. Had my favourite misra in it.
   
   ' Chand ko gul karein tau janein '
   
   I dont mind paying 15 bucks for that. Heavy on the prison evenings though.

5 comments about Teach Yourself Beginner's Urdu Script.

1. I am a university student who's studied Arabic for the last few years and am now thinking about learning Urdu. Because I know the Arabic script already, I figured this book might be a good way to teach myself the Urdu script before going on to learn to speak and read. I have to admit I was slightly skeptical about the whole teach yourself thing, but this book turned out to be a great resource! The author does a good job of teaching how to form the letters step-by-step in each of their positions, and how to link them together. It was especially important for me that this part be clear, as there are several key differences from Arabic. The whole book is easy to follow, but doesn't condescend to the reader. What was most helpful, though, is that it allowed me to deal with one part of the language at a time. Now that I feel comfortable with the script, I feel like I can go on to learn to read and speak. I would also guess that this would be an especially useful tool for native speakers who may not have learned to write in the Urdu script.



2. Good Urdu learning material can be hard to come by. Delacy hits the mark with a self-contained introduction that serves as an ideal base for launching into further studies of Urdu. The book presents Urdu letters in bite-size units with the emphasis on character recognition and handwriting. There are lots of reading and writing exercises, all with the answers provided. You'll learn about how, like Arabic, these letters change depending on if the letter is first or last in a word or somewhere in between. You'll also learn how to read and compose simple words.

   Here are a few assorted findings. There are two styles of Urdu script: nasta'liq and naskh. Nasta'liq is a bit more intimidating than naskh although the latter is also common to Arabic and Persian. Delacy utilizes the nasta'liq in his text which may cause you to curse at first but in the end you'll be glad that the book is presented that way. Not only is nasta'liq is the more common Urdu script but its compact, slanted form gives written Urdu a distinct character compared to other languages that utilize Perso-Arabic scripts. Also, the letters are not presented in the order of the Urdu alphabet nor are letters which appear similar in shape presented together as a group, as intuition would suggest, but rather spread out throughout the book. This arrangement is a bit weird but it works. If you already know Arabic you'll simultaneously find a lot of commonality and difference with Urdu. For example, you'll find many of the same letters in Arabic as well as some letters that look the same but aren't. There are also different rules for connecting letters when constructing a word.

   One of the book's chief benefits is that it will give you a head start when undertaking more advanced studies in Urdu. You will already know how to read the language and will not have to bother with messy transliteration schemes that use the roman alphabet (along with funky tildes, macrons, and umlauts) to teach pronunciation. The author does employ such a scheme but you'll need a native speaker to help you correctly pronounce Urdu. The chief benefit, however, is that this inexpensive book fulfills its purpose of teaching you how to read and write Urdu in an easy to follow manner.




3. This is an excellent book if you want to learn how to read and write in Urdu. Unless you are a native speaker, you might need to consult someone who can speak a North Indian language to help with the pronounciations. The exercises are excellent-they are not only designed to test your reading skills, but they also test you on your writing abilities. All in all, it is highly recommended if you want to learn how to read & write Urdu.



4. There is no secret to learning another form of writing. Not that it needs to be hard. After completing a chapter of this book per night (one hour per night for ten nights), I found that I have a good understanding of the Nasta'liq script.
   
   If you diligently work through the exercises this book will rapidly get you to a point where you can read and write Nasta'liq. However, this book will not advance you past this point. Any further advancement requires other learning aids.
   
   This book simply does what it tries to do, and it does it well. I highly recomend it to people learning the Urdu script.



5. I agree with the other reviewer. This book is terrible if you want to learn how to write naturally. Everything is computerized and the characters are all in bold thick print as though a marker drew it. It makes it impossible to see how to write a letter and/or word naturally. Everything seems to just blend together. There are NO examples of actual handwriting whatsoever. I think the author could have done a much better job. Also he really doesn't tie the ideas in together to move from one point to another. Definitely would not recommend this book to anyone else. There simply must be something better out there.

1 comments about Your First 100 Words in Urdu w/ Audio CD (Your First 100 Words).

1. Its great if you are a new learner of the language.
   My girlfriend wants to learn urdu. I bought this for her, and in two weeks she is already saying alot of words. CD is a plus. She saved the sounds from the cd to her ipod.
   Definitely recommend it, just to get your feet wet.

2 comments about Hindi, Urdu & Bengali: Lonely Planet Phrasebook.

1. Although this combined edition is more accurate than the previous separate phrasebooks for Hindi/Urdu and Bengali, do not expect to use it to actually learn the languages or even get beyond a couple of dozen phrases.
   
   Perhaps in conjunction with a formal language guide to Bengali, this phrasebook would be more helpful, but at the time of my recent travels, there was no English language language study guide available for Bengali/Bangla (I think the Teach Yourself series has one, but that series is currently going through a one-by-one reissue as the cover format and typeface have changed).
   
   The main problem is the Bengali to English dictionary, which is listed from the point of view of the written form vs. how things sound or how they transluterate to Latin characters. This requires first learning Bengali script, which is quite difficult due to the bizarre rules in all South Indian derived scripts (including Thai and Khmer/Cambodian as well as Hindi) vs. Cyryllic, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. And besides which, literacy is not and should not be a requirement for developing the more important day-to-day fluency of speaking and listening skills in a new language while traveling.
   
   The publisher would also be advised to make clear that there are significant regional variants within Bengali (if not also Hindi/Urdu), and thus one is not always understood even with basic everyday phrases as they are published here. They might also be advised to include the related Punjabi language/dialect in the next edition, to be more complete.



2. I've been using the computer program Rosetta Stone to learn Hindi, and it's extremely helpful in getting a person started with learning the grammar, some basic words, and the script. But Rosetta Stone doesn't teach you the really crucial basic phrases, like "Hello, how are you?", "My name is Bob," or "Where is the bathroom?"
   
   That's the specialty of this phrasebook--teaching you the basic phrases you'll need to get by. It also shows the basics of how to read the Urdu and Hindi scripts, but it's not necessary to learn them to use it, since the phrases all have phonetic renderings. One of the other reviewers complained that this phrasebook won't teach you the language. But it's not meant to; it's just supposed to help you get started, or to help you get by when you're not planning to actually learn the language.
   
   The organization of the book is very useful, since it's grouped into sections for different kinds of phrases, making it easy to find the stuff you're most interested in.
   
   The dictionary in the back, when you're going from Hindi or Urdu to English, is arranged in the order of the Hindi or Urdu alphabets. Maybe this doesn't make the most sense for English speakers, who if they're just starting aren't going to memorize the order of all the letters in the Hindi and Urdu alphabets. The other reviewer complained about this, but since the dictionaries aren't very long, I don't think it's a big deal. The dictionaries also have the phonetic spellings, so you can flip through pretty quickly to find the letter you're looking for.
   
   My main complaint is that the Urdu font in this book is kind of hard to read. It might just be because I first learned the script from another book that used a different font, and that's what I'm used to now. But I think that with the font used in this book, it's inherently harder to tell which letter is which, making it harder on a beginner.

2 comments about Urdu-English/English-Urdu Dictionary and Phrasebook: Romanized (Hippocrene Dictionary and Phrasebook).

1. I found this phrase book a very useful tool. It is ideal for someone going abroad or working in a community setting. Also the romanized form is a good starting point for people initially learning the language.
   
   I have purchased two of these books as gifts and both recipients have spoken highly of it.



2. This is a very solid book for people who don't have the time or patience to figure out Urdu script! Covers a lot of essential material. Not sure what is going on with this other reviewer because he seems to have given a positive review but only 1 star? In any case, this probably works better than the lonely planet one if you are just interested in getting by with spoken Urdu and don't have a current need for learning other languages.

3 comments about The Adventures of Amir Hamza (Modern Library).

1. This book is delightfully written as a translation from the Urdu text. As I read, it has the flowery descriptiveness of the old Urdu stories, leaving me with a feeling as if I was reading an Urdu book. It is well written, is interesting and the story is captivating. This book is one to keep in your personal library and pass on as a gift to family members. As our Urdu language seems to be withering away maybe this will preserve the stories if not the language itself. The author has done a wonderful job !!



2. I finally finished reading the more than 900 pages and am slowly returning to contemporary life. The beheadings and halvings of infidels was getting a little too much, and the donations of robes of honor turned into a choking mass, but the whole is very very endearing.



3. There is much here to affront modern sensibilities and expectations from literary fiction: misogyny, repetitions, annoying chapter-headings which announce the coming turn of events, beheadings of the infidels, lack of secularism, characters which are 'types'...
   
   But despite all this, there is much more. This book opens up a world unknown to most and leads into the most beguiling feats of imagination and story-telling. It tells stories using many non-conventional devices, which in itself is worth the read. For the 900 pages you are in the book, rest assured that you would be transported to worlds which are much beyond ordinary (even extraordinary) expectations. Pick up this book and ready thyself...

5 comments about Teach Yourself Urdu Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (Teach Yourself Language Complete Courses).

1. It is as compact as it gets... I was amazed to see myself reading and understanding (!) websites in Urdu after 3 weeks max (i have to mention tho, that i am a native Turkish speaker with some knowledge of Persian.. that certainly helped me memorize words much faster and eaily). The topics are well chosen, giving just about info you'd need for a daily conversation (and survival). The repetition pattern helps a lot to keep words in your mind. And no matter how much I want to complain about it's load of grammar and structure, in the end, it proved successful.
   
   pros: has a mini dictionary, there is no english transliteration after unit 6 (but included as an appendix- it pushes you to try to understand), includes info about the culture and traditions as well.
   
   cons: the dictionary could've been more comprehensive (a seperate verb list would be good), not enough chance to exercise what you've learned.



2. On the box it says that the goal of this book was to reach "all-around confidence". It did that and more. This book covers a variety of subjects while following the story of John and his wife Helen as they travel through several sites Pakistan and North India. There were even several situations and vocabulary words that they covered that I thought I would never need to use, but found myself using in conversation shortly after. Also, the culture notes were a very nice touch as well. And as a Muslim I really liked the Islamic culture notes they brough up also.
   
   I am a USAF military linguist and I was 100% sure that the best way to learn a language was to be in a class all day, or immerison in the specific country, or among friends. This book proved me wrong. The content is difficult, especially after the 5th chapter because they remove the English transliteration and you are stuck reading the Urdu script and can only "cheat" by going to the back of the book. It seemed like every five chapters it got REALLY hard and seemed not gradual enough in the level of difficulty. But it took me three weeks to finish this book (I will admit, that was way too fast) and afterwards I was speaking and thinking in Urdu and the overall goal of "all around confidence" was definatley met.
   
   That being said, I want to share the downsides, which are few. The errors that a lot of the reviewers talked about, I didn't notice until the last few chapters, and most of the students will probably notice this because by that point they are familiar with the Urdu script and it won't be a problem. Also, I learned Arabic script first from "Teach yourself Arabic Script" and "Very Simple Arabic Script" so I can't comment on their Urdu script introduction, which is needed for the rest of the book. You can't fake it past chapter five without knowing the script!
   
   Finally, I would like to add that if you are *really* serious about learning Urdu, this is THE book to get, but still there is a long way to go. I *highly suggest* following up by getting "Urdu - An Essential Grammar" by Ruth Schmidt afterwards. I was so confident in Urdu after this "Teach Yourself" course but the Grammar book will make your realize that there is still a whole bunch more to be learnt and clear up the fuzzy spots. But overall, I very highly recommended "Teach Yourself Urdu Complete Course" very, VERY well done.



3. El libro está bastante bien. La clasificación de las lecciones es clara, las explicaciones son minuciosas y tiene diálogos con personajes simpáticos para ponerse en situación. Me gustan mucho los CDs, se escuchan bien y en poco tiempo empiezas a entender lo que dicen.
   En contra: está en inglés, por lo que al explicar la pronunciación de cada letra es algo lioso. El tipo de letra cuando escriben en urdu es muy pequeña y veces no se distingue bien.



4. I disagree with all of the prior glowing reviews. What is most likely the case is that the reviewers, being completely new to Urdu, did not have an appropriate standard of what is required of a book of this sort. I, on the other, know Hindi, and bought it not to learn a new language, but another register of one already learned. I came to learn Perso-Arabic script and vocabulary. Thus I can give an assessment with that in tow.
   
   The book contains 15 chapters of 3 dialogues each, centering around the travels of an Urdu-speaking Englishman, John Smith (jAn ismith), in Pakistan (Land of the Pure) and a bit of India. The first thing he wanted to do in Delhi was visit Jama Masjid and the Red Fort. LOLLLL. ... Anyway, after each dialogue, the book doles out bits of information: syntax, conjugations, idioms, etc. in not so much a comprehensive but a simple yet soundly-explained way, putting the reader at ease. One of its good points is the cultural tidbits (siqAfat). The book invariably takes a long time to read, due to the lameness of Urdu Script, which seems, unlike brAhmI-based scripts, to takes more than a Teach Yourself book to get down pat, to say the very least.
   
   My criticism of the book is that it is very slow. It went well throughout the beginning, but it was when I landed upon the 11th or 12th chapter, nearing the end, that I started to worry. Besides getting sick of reading so many "bahut"'s, by that time I saw that SO much had not been explained. The real meat of the grammar, such as the relative-correlatives is only touched upon in the last throes of the course. Bizarre! Causatives are merely grazed, and passives have no mention at all! The book ends right there, when it really needs at least 30 more pages. It is this major fault, this slowness and incompleteness, that warrants a low score. The other criticisms I have are the lack of a "Further Reading" section, to recommend where to go when you're done; there being no primer on naskh (original Arabic) script, which is the digital standard; no reference grammar (though there is an index); no English-Urdu dictionary; and the lack of spaces between words (I don't know if it's the authors or Urdu convention). There are some typos but it's not too big a deal.
   
   With that said, what I recommend instead is the fantastic Teach Yourself Hindi by Snell and Weightman. Its reviewing on Amazon is much too brutal, too unwarranted, perhaps somewhat ridiculous. Complaints about its intensity only match its comprehensiveness: it's the closest to everything you'd want to know. Having learned Hindi in the fantastic Devanagari (Divine City) script, you can then go ahead with Urdu, undertaking the single struggle (jihad, lol) of learning a new and difficult script over the double-struggle (double-jihad, lol) of learning a new and difficult script AND a new language.
   
   Though there is the possibility that Teach Yourself Urdu ("Camp") in it's incompleteness is not too different from other Teach Yourself
   books and that rather Teach Yourself Hindi ("Indian") is uncharacteristically thorough! :]



5. A really authoritative course in Urdu with lots of useful cultural info as well. It puts you at the deep end and gets tougher. The main problem that will stop most beginners getting past chapter one is that they decide to use the nastaliq (complex cursive) script from the beginning. Given that "ordinary" cursive arabic script is tricky enough to get your head around this more elaborate form is a real obstacle. Even native speakers have to know the words in Urdu before they can pronounce them properly from this script so the benefit of this immersion method is not clear. They could have been gentler with beginners and had a few more chapters exclusively in roman script to ease them in.
   If you have a grasp of the language from other sources and want to use this to build up grammar as well as reading and writing skills this will do the job.
   
   Michael