Learning Journal 3

[Pravaas Gurung]

Urdu (like many languages) follows a different system of sentence structuring than English. I have an advantage in that some of the sentence structure in Nepali is similar to that of Urdu, so there are some structures I will not have to learn, but only transfer over. However, there are some types of sentences that follow different structures. An example of this would be how one says "You took the book from me". A direct translation into English of the Urdu would go: "you the book from me took", while Nepali would go: "the book you from me took." I have been learning where I cannot use the same Nepali structures in Urdu when talking in Urdu to my language partner and Pakistani friends. However, because there are many similarities in the two languages' structures, I have not felt the need for any sort of formal methodological learning exercises, though I do make note of and write down the differences I find.