Decoding The Word
Once you know letters make sounds, the next trick is putting sounds together to make a word. This is called decoding. The word cat in English is just three sounds: c, a, t. Slide them together and you get cat. The Urdu …
There is more than one way to understand this. If you have only been taught one, you have been taught less than you deserve.
There is more than one way to understand this. If you have only been taught one, you have been taught less than you deserve.
Once you know letters make sounds, the next trick is putting sounds together to make a word. This is called decoding. The word cat in English is just three sounds: c, a, t. Slide them together and you get cat. The Urdu word بچہ is also three sounds: ب، چ، ہ. Slide them together and you get bachcha. A word is a small train of sounds, nothing more.
Start with three sound words because they are the easiest to slide. In English these are called CVC words: consonant, vowel, consonant. Sun, mat, hen, pot, cup. Try saying each one slowly first, sssss, uuu, nnn, then quickly, sun. Slow then quick is the whole game.
Pakistani life is full of three sound words. روٹی, پانی, گاڑی, چاول, آم, بس, کار, دودھ. Each one is a small train. Pick a word, point at each letter with your finger, say its sound, then slide. Your finger is the engine. The sounds are the carriages.
There is one rule that helps in both languages. The vowel sound in the middle is the loudest. In cat, the a is the loudest. In بس, the small zabar above ب is the loudest. Find the loud middle and the rest of the word stands up around it.
Today's habit. Pick five Pakistani everyday words: روٹی, چائے, کتاب, پنکھا, آم. Read each one out loud three times: once slow, once medium, once fast. By the third time, your mouth knows the word without your eyes thinking. That is the goal of decoding: the word leaves the page and lives in your mouth.
Estimated time: 12 min