Urdu

Urdu Language Translation Services

An Accent on Accuracy

The highest quality translations, brisk turnaround schedules, competitive rates, and sharing of our knowledge, are all requisites for ALT's success. The complete and accurate translation of your company's communications is vital to your success. That's why ALT is obsessed with providing the best translators for YOUR project. High-quality translations are the product of a highly talented and experienced translation team with expertise in your industry. ALT puts all the pieces together to make it happen.

Why Choose Advanced Language Translation Inc for English to Urdu or
Urdu to English Translation?

Advanced Language Translation’s Professional Urdu translation services utilize only native speakers to ensure quality and precision translations for your target audience. With Urdu in particular, a deep understanding of the culture, as well as the language, is needed for translation to be successful. When doing business in Urdu, professional, human translation is a must. Do not expect to close a business deal or impress your clients with spotty software translation. Only through human translation, edited and customized to your target audience, can your meaning be honestly conveyed and your audience not be offended.

We are proud of our excellent reputation for reliable and high quality Urdu to English and English to Urdu translation services. We have assembled teams of translators from around the world, with an array of skills and specialties and can custom-fit the knowledge and strengths of our teams to your specific projects. To demonstrate our commitment to quality and our dedication to our clients, we offer free consultations and provide an industry leading 180-day warranty on translation!

We provide quick and easy custom quotes for your Urdu translation and localization needs.

Interesting Facts about the Urdu Language

Urdu, a language full of beauty and grace seems to have been custom-built for literature, prose and poetry. Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and is also widely spoken in India, the place where it emerged. More than 220 million people in Sub-continent regard it as their mother tongue and is actively used by 400 million people in India and Pakistan for communication. Urdu by itself is the 20th most popular 'first' language in the world.

Urdu is widely spoken today in countries having a sizeable South Asian diaspora including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Mauritius, Nepal, Saudi Arabia ,UAE (1 million), US (1 million), UK (1 million), Germany, France, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji , Tanzania, and Zambia.

Urdu is a very expressive language. In poetry and songs, it can convey emotions using simple and gentle words while its literature can also be used for exact and rational reasoning. It has absorbed both the native and non-native elements of writing in Arabic and Persian. Besides, it derives its words from Sanskrit. Its grammar is similar to Hindi.

Urdu is very similar to Hindi while speaking but both are totally different in writing form. It is written in the Persio-Arabic script, while Hindi follows the Sanskrit (Devnagri script) characters. It is a very flexible language and has adopted words from English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Punjabi, Persian, Arabic, Turkish and others.

History of the Urdu Language

Urdu is a member of the Hindustani group of languages that is a subgroup of the Indo Aryan group of languages, which is in turn part of the Indo-European family of languages. Urdu is a word of Turkish origin meaning "horde." (Lashkar- ) The word "Urdu" symbolizes its development by the interaction of foreign army, merchants and immigrants with the local population of South Asia.

The history of Urdu can be traced back to 16th century when it developed as a vernacular dialect from the interaction between local Indian Sanskrit-derived Prakrits and the languages that were spoken in the courts of the rulers of the Subcontinent. The language of the courts was Persian at the time. From the time of the Delhi Empire to the Mughal Empire and its succeeding states, Urdu soon became the popular language, distinguished linguistically from local languages by its large and extensive Arabic-Persian vocabulary (40%) superimposed on a base of grammar, usages and vocabulary that it shares in common with Hindi.

There are many views regarding the origin of Urdu. Urdu may have originated anywhere in India: the Deccan, in the Punjab, in Maharashtra, in Bengal, in Sindh or in the neighborhood of Delhi. These hypotheses are backed by Urdu literature having been found in these areas as far back as the period of the Delhi Empire. It is often said that Urdu originated in or around Delhi over a period of a few centuries. The first manuscript found in Urdu was written in 1515 (911 Hijri) by Hazrat Sharafuddin Yahya Muneri and is in his tomb in Muner Shareef.

The credit for publishing first Urdu book in Northern India goes to the State of Bihar ; the book is Seedha Raasta (Right Path) published in 1670. The works of Amir Khusro are intelligible to the speakers of Urdu/Hindi even though they were written in the 14th century.

Urdu, especially in its less formalized form as it developed from a dialect to a more formal language, has also been referred to as "raikhtha"( ), which literally means "a rough mixture". The formal language is sometimes referred to as Zaban-e-Urdu-e-Moalla
( ), which can be translated as "Language of Camp and Court". Urdu has been known by a host of names during this seven century long interval: Hindvi, Hindi (not to be confused with the modern sister-language), Rekhta, Shahjahani, Deccani, Urdu-e-Mualla, and Urdu.

Written Language

Urdu is written in a derivative of the Persian alphabet which is itself derivative of the Arabic alphabet. It is written from right to left. Urdu is similar in appearance and letters to Arabic, Persian, and Pashto. Urdu differs from Arabic in the sense that it uses the more complex and sinuous Nastaliq script whereas Arabic tends to follow the more modern Naskh.

The Urdu alphabet consists of 37 characters though some linguists agree on 44 to include the characters that are used for varying sound pronunciation. Urdu follows Arabic numeral system though it is not in everyday use. Rather, Roman numerals are used in ordinary communication. Urdu nouns fall into two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. There is also a singular or a plural noun form. A host of words are used to show respect and politeness. These words are generally used with people who are older in age or with whom you are not acquainted. For example the English pronoun 'you' can be translated into three words in Urdu: the singular 'Tu' (informal, extremely intimate, or derogatory) or the plural forms 'Tum' (informal) and 'Aap' (formal and respectful).

Roman Urdu is Urdu written in the Roman script. Roman Urdu has been used since the days of the British Rule and its use was common in some contexts, such as product labels. It is again gaining popularity among users of text-messaging and Internet services — especially the young — and is developing its own style and conventions. Roman Urdu enables an Urdu speaker to have a chat on internet with much ease with Hindi speaker.

But bare transliterations of Urdu into Roman letters omit many subtle phonetic aspects that have no equivalent in English or other languages written with the Roman alphabet, such as a sharp exhale at the end of certain words (known as aspiration).

A fast Urdu hand writing is done in Shikastaa, which is very close to shorthand of English or other European languages, however it does not use the principles of shorthand.

Urdu Language Statistics

• Urdu is understandable by some 400 million people in the Sub-continent.

• Urdu speakers are found in all parts of the world having South-Asian diaspora. Over 1 million Urdu speakers live in the UK, US and UAE each.

• Urdu is the 20th most popular first language in the world. Urdu is highly expressive language and is considered the language of romance and love.

Translation Issues with Urdu

Advanced Language Translation Inc. has extensive experience with the in and outs of the Urdu Language and we have a long and flawless record of success with complicated Urdu translation projects. Here are some of the common issues with English to Urdu translation and desktop publishing that we have learned:

• Urdu is a very rich language and it is not possible to utilize software for its translation. It identifies context and adopts meaning according to it. Sometimes there are 7 or 8 meanings of a single word that software can’t identify.

• Urdu text expands 30% to 40% in size from English.

• Urdu is not supported by all applications and it becomes difficult to typeset Urdu in complex layout. Due to varying coding requirements by different applications, the data transfer creates problem for a novice when text order is mingled.

• Urdu has its own grammar, punctuation, and hyphenation rules that must be used for understanding the language. Some applications don’t support all these.

• For displaying Urdu text and typesetting, Urdu support must be enabled. Microsoft XP and advanced versions have built-in Urdu support and it is possible to typeset the Urdu text. However, for printing and viewing the document created on MS XP, other system must be Urdu enabled too.

• Urdu Unicode text is not displayed in Non-Unicode Urdu editors and vice versa.

• Unlike English, the Urdu text converted into PDF does not display everywhere. A good postscript driver, however, can do it.

• For Urdu typesetting along English text, a desktop publishing application must have bi directional support.

• Various Urdu key boards have been developed over the period of time. However, the one following the Phonetic layout remains the most popular.

• For Urdu typesetting, non-Unicode editors like Kaatib, Raaqim, and Inpage have traditionally been used but the introduction of Windows XP system opened a new world for Urdu typing where it is possible to type Unicode Urdu in various fonts. A fully Unicode Urdu Editor workable in all applications is still a dream.

• Urdu Web pages don’t display characters unless Urdu support is enabled. In most cases, the custom built fonts have to download prior to viewing the page. Sending an Urdu e-mail through ordinary mail accounts is not possible.

Urdu Language Vital Information

Language Classification: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Western Hindustani, Urdu
Speaking Population: Approximately 220 Million
World Ranking: 20
Where Spoken: It is the national language of Pakistan and some States of India. Urdu speakers are found in South Asia, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia ,UAE ( 1 million), US (1 million), UK (1 million), Germany, France, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji , Tanzania, and Zambia
Writing Systems: 37 to 44 alphabets (based on Persian)
Font: Traditionally Nastaliq but a host of others are also in use. Click here to download .
Written Form: Right to Left
Unicode Supported: Yes
Language Codes:

SIL code: URD ISO 639-1: ur ISO 639-2: urd

Windows Name: LANG_URDU Win Code: 0x20

Mac Name: langUrdu Mac Code: 20