Learning Urdu is difficult for me, but one thing that helps a bit in practicing speaking is to learn little nursery rhymes. Practicing the sound of the words in little silly poems help me be less nervous when actually speaking.
This is the first one that I learned, and the one I know best-
Machli jal ki rani hai
Jeevan uska pani hai
Haath lagaoge to dar jayegi,
Pani se nikalo to mer jayegi,
Machli ko pani men reynedo,
Jeevan uska pani hai.
The fish is the queen of the water,
The water is her life,
If you touch her she will be afraid,
If you take her out she will die,
So put the fish back in the water,
The water is her life.
I like this one, it is a little sad, but very pretty. When my nephew(he is one year older than Saad) was learning this one, he refused to say "mer jayegi". He didn't want to say that the fish will die, but he would substitute another word, like the fish will fall down or something. Saad doesn't mind, and will very happily talk about how he squished a bug and "now it's die". We all die eventually, I prefer not to hide death from him.---(oh, how heavy, can we move on?)
Another poem that is a bit longer is this one-
cham cham cham---
aath aaney ki chalia
aath aaney ka paan
chal mere ghorey Hindustan
hindustan ki pehli gali
pehli gali main liaqat ali
liaqat ali ko goli lagi
sari dunya roney lagi
rotey rotey bhook lagi
khalo beta moongphali
moongphali main dana nahin
hum tumharey nana nahin
nana gaye dehli
dehli sey laye billi
billi ne diye do bachey
Allah mian sachey
sachey sachey jaingey
bhai ki dulhan laaingey
bhai ki dulhan kali
sau nakhron wali
ek nakhra tuut gaya
bhai ka mun sooj gaya!
Cham cham cham
50 cents for one chalia
50 cents for one paan
Lets go, my horse, to India
First street in India,
in the first street lives Liaqat Ali
Shoot Liaqat Ali with a bullet,
all the world is crying
Crying and crying, I am hungry
eat my child, peanuts
there are no seed in the peanuts
I am not your grandfather
grandfather went to Delhi
From Delhi he brought a cat
and the cat gave two children
Allah is truth
go on the truthful way
brother brought a bride
brother’s bride is black
she is very prideful(stuck up)
her pride is broken
Brother is upset.
This one is a favorite of my niece, she can say almost the whole poem in one breath! Saad doesn't know this one yet, it is a bit long, and I am only just learning it. Please excuse any weird bits in translation(totally my fault), I am not very good at that bit, so I had to ask my SIL for some help.
