Talk:Languages of Pakistan

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Contents

[edit] Question "what is the official language(s) of Pakistan" should be addressed at top--that's what most readers come looking for

I do find the huge variety of languages interesting, please don't get me wrong. But an encyclopedia article should cover the basics in the first couple of paragraphs, namely, what languages are used to conduct government business, and if there is controversy about this, a brief explanation of the positions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.86.248.1 (talk) 00:48, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] English and Urdu

The summary lists Engligh as the national language, and Urdu as the official, then the details contradict it. 85.210.44.166 02:53, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] English / Urdu Debate

I extracted some POV debate content out of the article. It sounds hopelessly biased and even strange (complaining about learning English in English). If someone wants to clean this up, we can put back in that there is a debate, yadda, yadda, yadda --MarsRover 03:31, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Urdu

There is also a wide strong debate against Urdu by the staunch Pakistani nationalists led by the Pakistan Language Movement that; Should Urdu or Hindustani continue as our National Language? However their answer is No! and here is a very good reason why: Language is the most important aspect of culture, just like it is in England of the British Isles in the UK. It is the dominant feature in determining nationality in Pakistan’s Case or ethnicity in Bangladesh’s Case based on languages. It is the binding force that unites a people, and makes them distinct from others, especially the disparity between the formers Province of West Pakistan and East Pakistan administrative provincial regional state Entities of pre-1971. Language represents a people’s heritage and identity. However, the imposition of Urdu as the so-called ‘sole’ national language of Pakistan has been disastrous to the country ever since it's inception in 1947 evidently shown on the 1971 conflict of East Pakistan provincial region of a United Pakistan (UP) into a disastrous separate and unfortunate for Pakistanis a nation of a inevitable Bangladesh from hereto Pak-Territory in the partitioned eastern Bengal region of India pre-1947, only to be united by foreign rule i.e. Indian Empire Rajs of Britain.

[edit] English

There is also a wide general debate against the staunch Pakistani nationalists led by the Pakistan Language Movement that; Should English or Angraisè continue as our Official Language? However their answer is No! and here is the reason why: All the languages of Pakistan are oppressed, and the ruling elite Anglophones continue to deny them their rightful role they deserve as the official languages of Pakistan. Fifty years after the so-called jointly independence of India into Free Indias’ of (Bharat) & Muslim PAKISTAN from the U.K of Gr. Britannia and Ireland. The English Language continues to this day as the official language and graduates from non-English medium schools face a job market in the control of these colonial forces bent on the total destruction of all Pakistani languages. The fact is that in 1947 we inherited an elitist ruling class bureaucracy tenaciously clinging to power and owing allegiance to Great Britain alone and seeking a strengthening of Anglo-American interests and cultural subversion, the destruction of Muslim/Pakistani values and lifestyles throughout the country. The plain fact is that as long as English remains as the official language of Pakistan it will be difficult to create a vibrant national spirit or culture The status of a national language is meaningless; unless it is allowed to assume the role of official language or native languages of Pakistan, and as the medium of universal instruction within the country. Language is a potent force in the promotion of nationalism and national cohesion.

I agree with this totally.Well said.

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[edit] Iranian languages?

Say there are more Pathans in Pakistan than Iran.Labelling Pashto and Balochi "Iranian languages" is clearly provocitive.-Vmrgrsergr 20:36, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Pashto and Balochi belong to the family of Iranian languages, a group of languages that stretches from Turkey to Tajikistan. The name is well established in linguistics, and is not provocative at all. —Angr 14:21, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Edit tag

Don't have much to say for this one. It's not too bad, but some parts of the article (especially near the bottom) need some work, preferably by someone with knowledge of the subject so mistakes aren't made in the content. It's generally understandable but doesn't flow well to an English reader. Brutannica 22:13, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

I will see what I can do about it.-Vmrgrsergr 03:05, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Whats with the Map???

why is a map of all of South Asia here? this is a Pakistan specific article and should contain a map of Pakistan only!

If its about the lexical similarities of languages spoken in Pakistan then a wider map stretching from Iran, Central Asia, Afghanistan all the way to Tibet should have been included.

Please put a Pakistan specific map for this article as many are easily available.


Can you suggest a map if they are easily available? Preferable with the legend in English (not in German). MarsRover 23:25, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ethnologue

It looks like large portions of this article were taken directly from the copyrighted Ethnologue article on Pakistan. Pretty much all of the content from Ethnologue will have to be deleted to avoid a copyright violation. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 14:11, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Unsourced figures

The article says 50% of Pakistanis "have a basic understanding of English" or something to that effect. It also says 70% of Pakistanis can understand Punjabi. Where did these figures come from? Because I as a Pakistani find this doubtful. I would say about 30% of Pakistanis can speak functional English and only 50% can understand Punjabi. However since this is conjecture, I am not going to insert it into the article. But it seems someone put figures into the article based on personal 'observations' with no reputable source cited. Someone needs to cite these figures or remove them --Zaindy٨٧ 10:35, 26 May 2008 (UTC)