6.10 Cultural Notes and Extra/Optional Online Materials
Cultural Notes
| # |
Topics |
Explanation |
| 1. | تو، تم، آپ | It is very important for all Urdu language learners to learn the proper uses of تو ، تم ، and آپ . Typically, people learn about students’ cultural competence based on their uses of these three variants of the pronoun “you”. As it is explained in the chapter, you should use them appropriately. |
| 2. | Giving orders | As you learned in this chapter, the تو and تم forms are used for giving instructions and commands. Urdu native speakers hardly use this with strangers. So, if you meet any strangers, please use the آپ form and try not to give instructions and commands. |
| 3. | Making requests | Please use this آپ form to make a request. However, it is important to keep in mind that native speakers may use the subjunctive to express requests and not the imperative forms of آپ . |
| 4. | Cooking | Unlike America, in India and South Asia, traditionally people learn to cook by either participating in cooking or observing. Reading a cookbook and/or following written recipes is not part of the culture. |
| 5. | Giving directions | In India and South Asia, people use landmarks for giving directions because towns/cities are not well-planned and, hence, no one really knows the names of streets other than the main streets and roads. |
| 6. | Giving suggestions | Indians and South Asians always give advice and suggestions even though you didn’t ask for it. It may sound like a violation of privacy for non-Indians/South Asian to receive unsolicited suggestions. However, this is the way they show that they care and express their love for you. Please observe this culture and participate in it.
Additionally, older people may use the imperative construction to give suggestions/advice rather than the ( چاہیے + verb) construction, which might sound rude, but this is how they emphasize that you should do what s/he is suggesting. |
Extra/Optional Online Materials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUpe99582n4
!شکریہ
