The National Language Promotion Department ( ur, ), formerly known as the National Language Authority (or Urdu Language Authority), is an

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...

regulatory Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

institution established in 1979 to support the advancement and promotion of

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' national language A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. Its status now has been changed to attached department. Initially it was aimed at creating a synergy between

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

and provincial governments and institutions for using Urdu. However, with time, it expanded its horizons to include

standardisation Standardization or standardisation is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization ...

and

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

aspects such as

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

and

lexicography Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

. It also provides recommendations for maximizing use of the language in all walks of life. In this respect, large amounts of

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

and

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

documents are

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

from

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and other

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

s for publication into Urdu. These efforts have resulted in greater awareness of the language's potential as well as its localisation. Recently, the status and name of organization has been changed from National Language Authority to National Language Promotion Department. The National Language Promotion Department is now an attached department of Ministry of National Heritage & Integration. Renowned short-story writer and educationist Dr. Anwaar Ahmad was the last Chairman of the NLA, as the post has been converted to Director General (D.G.).

Objectives

The institution aims to facilitate the use and adoption of Urdu language in grammatical

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

through

publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Conve ...

s and other reading materials for individuals and organisations. It also provides linkages for cooperation and collaboration among various

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

and

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

al institutions for use of Urdu language and native languages of the country. Over the years efforts have also been made to promote and facilitate Urdu as an official and business language, as a

medium of instruction A medium of instruction (plural: media of instruction, or mediums of instruction) is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. If the first language of students is different from the offic ...

, and as a medium of expression in the country. Moreover, the development of Urdu software is also encouraged at various levels to become more distant from Hindustani.

Organisation

The organisational structure consists of six divisions that include: Dictionary section (''Darul Lughaat''),

Translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

s section (''Darul Tarjuma''),

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

section (''Darul Tasneef''), and

Publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Conve ...

s section (''Darul Isha’at'') respectively. There is also a department of Urdu Informatics (اردو اطلاعیات) to carry out research in developing the suitable hardware and software for the use of language in electronic media. A dedicated

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

contains extensive resources on Urdu, and issues regular Urdu Bulletins.

Key activities

The institution has published a wide range of general, scientific and technical dictionaries and an Urdu

Thesaurus A thesaurus (plural ''thesauri'' or ''thesauruses'') or synonym dictionary is a reference work for finding synonyms and sometimes antonyms of words. They are often used by writers to help find the best word to express an idea: Synonym dictionar ...

. Especially, the ''Qaumi English-Urdu Dictionary'' has been based on

Webster's Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's ...

. A vast amount of literature has also been produced to encourage reading habits among children. In 1980, the Authority standardised the

Urdu keyboard The Urdu keyboard is any keyboard layout for Urdu computer and typewriter keyboards. Since the first Urdu typewriter was made available in 1911, the layout has gone through various phases of evolution.Zia (1999a) With time, the variety of layouts ...

layout for

typewriter A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...

s based on Naskh script. Later on, with the arrival of the

digital age The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, Silicon Age, or New Media Age) is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during t ...

, the layout was improved for

teleprinter A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations. Init ...

s and Information processing. Subsequently, in 1998 efforts were initiated to standardize Urdu encoding, which resulted in the formation of ''Urdu Zabta Takhti'' (اردو ضابطہ تختی) (UZT). This development was inline with the efforts to cope with the emerging demands of Urdu applications from word processing to mega-scale projects such as Computerised National Identity Cards by

NADRA The National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) ( ur, ) is an independent and autonomous agency under the control of the Interior Secretary of Pakistan that regulates government databases and statistically manages the sensitive registra ...

and a number of E-Governance initiatives by the national government. In July 2000, UZT 1.01 was standardised for all kinds of electronic computing, communications, and storage.Afzal and Hussain (2002) Based on this version, Urdu language support was incorporated into the Versions 3.1 and 4.0 of

Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, wh ...

. Localization of

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

applications like Windows and Office in Urdu is also done by then NLA, now NLPD.

Notes

References

* Afzal, M. (1997). Urdu Software Industry: Prospects, Problems and Need for Standards. ''4th National Computer Conference''.

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

. * Afzal, M. and Hussain, S. (2002). Urdu computing standards: development of Urdu Zabta Takhti. (UZT) 1.01. Proceedings of the Multi Topic IEEE Conference (INMIC 2001) - Technology for the 21st Century. . pp. 216–22 * Ahmed, S. (1990). Library ''Muqtadra Qaumi Zaban'': An Introduction. ''Pakistan Library Bulletin''. Vol. 21 (3-4). Sept-Dec. * Aziz, T. (1987). ''Urdu type Machine kay kaleedi Takhtay'', ''Muqtadra Qaumi Zaban'', Islamabad. (''in Urdu'') * Muqtadra (2002). ''Akhbar-e-Urdu'': Urdu Software Number. January–February. ''Muqtadra Qaumi Zaban'', Islamabad. * Rahman, T. (2004)
Language Policy and Localization in Pakistan: Proposal for a Paradigmatic Shift
Retrieved on 3 June 2008. SCALLA 2004 Conference.

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

. 5–7 January. * Sajjad, A. (1999). Efforts in the Standardization of Urdu code table, ''Akhbar-e-Urdu'' (Urdu News). ''Muqtadra Qaumi Zaban''. Islamabad. June. (''In Urdu''). * Zia, K. (1999).
Standard Code Table for Urdu
''. 4th Symposium on Multilingual Information Processing, (MLIT-4),

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. CICC, Japan. Retrieved on 28 May 2008.

External links

* * Urdu Wikipedia
Urdu COMPUTING Magazine

Download editable and offline dictionaries: urdu, english, roman urdu, persian, roman hindi
{{Authority control Urdu Pakistan federal departments and agencies Languages of Pakistan Language regulators 1979 establishments in Pakistan Organizations established in 1979