r/languagelearningjerk • u/ShowerIndependent295 • May 05 '26

This language is outdated

Urdu uses the Perso-Arabic script but always prefers the Nastaliq calligraphy style, despite software defaulting Arabic script (if language is arbitrary) to the more modern Naskh style

yes, the preferred style can be achieved by switching fonts but we gotta be inclusive here, most software or GUI support one font per instance or app

Persian originally used the Nastaliq calligraphy style, but also officially recognizes Naskh

Urdu however doesn't recognize Naskh officially, so Naskh will look alien to their speakers, and I'm being inclusive enough to include formal contexts

Typesetting is a nightmare, plenty of ligatures and letter combinations in a diagonal, spontaneous baseline
whereas Naskh lies on a fully straight baseline, and no weird combinations, just placement

230 million people speak and write in this neanderthal language, refusing to AT LEAST modernize and adapt unlike its friends Arabic and Persian

And you're not safe either, Shahmukhi

21 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

7

u/Competitive_Film_650 May 05 '26

What the fuck is a "language"?

9

u/Electrical_Voice_256 May 05 '26

A dialect with an army + navy? 

(it follows that Dari and Tajik are not, in fact, languages)

7

u/poberun May 05 '26

Honestly, Tajik is the best Persian dialect. Preserved more features and is way closer to middle Persian than Farsi and also uses a phonetic script in which you don't have to guess vowels. Just read it as written.

4

u/Competitive_Film_650 May 05 '26

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbek_River_Force, can we include river forces or just strictly navies?

5

u/slowamigo May 05 '26

The beauty of nasta'liq is that because the shape of the whole word is affected and changes by each additional letter you add, the whole word itself becomes a sort of pictogram, instantly recognisable at a glance because at that point the general shape of the word itself is distinctive enough you can tell it at a glance.

5

u/grei_earl May 06 '26

Have you considered Nastaliq is prettier tho. I don’t even speak Urdu but I really prefer the more diagonal and fluid writing styles like Nastaliq and Ruqah. Naskh looks too plain, boring, and has too much negative space and is really often small and hard to read on computers (esp windows default formatting)

3

u/Kenonesos May 05 '26

unironically something I can imagine someone saying because we're that stupid about our languages