Program overview
Urdu is one of the official languages of Pakistan and is widely used in northern India and among the South Asian diaspora. This program will take you from scratch to systematically learn Urdu listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation, while also gaining an in-depth understanding of the history, literature, religion, and society of Pakistan, India, and other countries. Core courses include Basic Urdu, Advanced Urdu, Spoken Urdu, Selected Readings in Urdu Literature, Introduction to South Asian Culture, and Translation Theory and Practice. There are not many universities in China offering Urdu, but institutions like Beijing Foreign Studies University and Xi'an International Studies University have strong faculty and rich international exchange resources, with some schools offering exchange opportunities in Pakistan. If you are interested in South Asian culture, enjoy language learning, and are willing to take on a script based on the Perso-Arabic alphabet, this program is a great fit for you.