About Sindhi Language
Sindhi is one of the major languages of Pakistan, spoken in the province of Sindh by approximately forty million people. It is one of the oldest languages of the sub-continent with a rich culture, vast folklore and extensive literature.
Linguistic Boundaries:
Sindhi has extended its boundaries beyond the province of Sindh. In northern Sindh it flows over to the north-west into Baluchistan province, former Bahawalpur state (now in Punjab), on the west it is bounded by the mountain range separating Sindh from Baluchistan. This boundary has not been crossed by Sindhi, except in the southern part of the hilly area of Kohistan. Here in general, the language spoken is Baluchi but Sindhi is also found spoken by a good number of people. It is spoken as mother tongue in some parts of Baluchistan. It has spread its influence still further towards the Persian Gulf, in the Lasbella area of Baluchistan; and is spoken as a first language along with Baluchi (Makrani) language, by a large number of people in Guwadar, Ormara and Pasni. It has crossed the Gulf and is spoken in Muscat, UAE and generally in the coastal region.
In the east and south-west, Sindhi has crossed the Runn of Kucch and is spoken by a large number of people in Kucch, Gujrat and the peninsula of Kathiawar in India. In the east, it has influenced the speech of the neighbouing parts of Marwar and Jaisalmir states of Rajistan (Rajputana in India).
After the partition of British India, numerous Sindhi Hindus migrated from Sindh and settled in the central and western parts of India, who speak Sindhi in their household. It is also spoken by approximately 4,00,000 people as their first language, in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Congo, South Africa, Madagascar, East Africa U.K., U.S.A. and Canada by those who have migrated from Sindh and settled there. It is also spoken in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and in some other countries in the Far-East and South East-Asia by those people who had settled there in the first quarter of the 20th century or even earlier.
About the Sindhi Learning Course:
Sindhi Language Authority is pleased to develop an interactive multimedia, Online Sindhi Learning Course for all platforms with accessible potential on all browsers and Operating Systems. Furthermore we are developing Android based App and Mac App for offline users as well, which will be launched very soon.
This course is being taught through English medium, with the support of Roman Sindhi and Urdu Language also.
This is a Web-Based Training (WBT) program with extensive learning material for understanding and speaking Sindhi. It is assumed that the learner has basic knowledge of English. This is an 'electronic' book for self-learning.
In order to learn to speak like native speakers, Roman alternatives can help, but re-organization of Roman alternatives is most important in this case, which is included in the first chapter about the Alphabet. Here the learner can speak the Sindhi words and sentences to perfect his speech and compare with the pronunciations in the course, or you may also imitate the spoken voice. To learn to read and write the language, the learner can print the screens for practicing cursive writing.
Acknowledgments & Contributions:
Course Designed by: Prof. Dr. Fahmida Hussain (Chairperson Sindhi Language Authority)
Compiled by: Ms. Anees Kaka (Computer Programmer)
Developed & Programmed by: Amar Fayaz Buriro (IT Specialist), Ms. Saima Asghar (Programmer)
Data Entry & Tabulation by: Fahad Hussain Memon (Software Developer) & Operators of Institute of Sindhi Computing (SLA).
