Taibu was also in BD when Zim were touring!!!

[foreignfield]

Yes, non Bengalis have a very difficult time picking the language. We Bengalis though have a much easier time picking Urdu/Hindi because we can spot the same words much more easily. I had a Pakistani friend of mine once say that Bengali was "perverted Urdu" lol.

That's interesting. I had been wondering whether Raza and the Bangladeshi players were sledging each other in English or in Urdu.

[CrimsonAvenger]

I think Raza is pretty fluent in Urdu. Saw him chatting with Imran Tahir during the SA test on the sidelines too. Quite a long chat it was.

[grant]

I have heard that Urdu/Hindi speakers generally have a tough time comprehending the Bengali accent, especially due to the pace at which most people speak.
Is Urdu/Hindi spoken in Bangladesh too?

I think Raza is pretty fluent in Urdu. Saw him chatting with Imran Tahir during the SA test on the sidelines too. Quite a long chat it was.

Urdu is Pakistan's national language, so I wouldn't be surprised...

[CrimsonAvenger]

I have heard that Urdu/Hindi speakers generally have a tough time comprehending the Bengali accent, especially due to the pace at which most people speak.

This is indeed true.

[Kriterion_BD]

I have heard that Urdu/Hindi speakers generally have a tough time comprehending the Bengali accent, especially due to the pace at which most people speak.
Is Urdu/Hindi spoken in Bangladesh too?

I think Raza is pretty fluent in Urdu. Saw him chatting with Imran Tahir during the SA test on the sidelines too. Quite a long chat it was.

Urdu is Pakistan's national language, so I wouldn't be surprised...

Urdu is spoken in Bangladesh by two separate groups. The largest are Biharis who are Indian Muslims from the state of Bihar. I believe Tamim Iqbal and Athar Ali Khan are both Biharis. Tamim though speaks fluent Bengali. Athar's Bengali is even worse than his English, lol. There are also some remnants of Nawabs and others in Dhaka's old city who speak Urdu as their mother language. A third and possibly distinct group are Dhakayyas (natives of Dhaka) who also speak Urdu as their primary language.

Urdu and Hindi are essentially the same language. The BD players can all speak enough Urdu/Hindi to give interviews to Pakistani and Indian journalists. So its quite possie they were sledging with Raza in Urdu. Our boys are probably more comfortable speaking Urdu than they are speaking English.

Hindi/Urdu speakers have a harder time understanding us than we do in understanding them. But the languages are fairly similar. Like the difference between Dutch and German or Italian and Spanish.

Technically I am not a Bengali by strict definition. Although that is my first language and the only m language I know (apart from English and reading Arabic) my 'mother language' is Sylheti. Sylheti is considered by most Bengalis to merely be a dialect. But non Sylhetis cannot understand it, let alone speak it. It is more closely related to the Indian language of Assamese and in fact Sylhet was never even a part of Bengal, except after partition. Sylheti is of course similar to Bengali but with even more Urdu mixed in than usual. Several BD players like Abul Hasan, Nazmul Hossain, Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, and Tapash Baisya are Sylhetis.

[grant]

Interesting. The Indian subcontinent has always been a fascination for me. I have been living in India since the past few months so I do know a bit of Hindi/Urdu. I've also been to Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan. But, I didn't know much about Bangladesh apart from the cricket team as I've never been to the place. Will visit the place sometime. Perhaps the next Zim-Ban series

[CrimsonAvenger]

Urdu and Hindi are essentially the same language.

No sir, they are not . Hindi is a direct descendant of Sanskrit while Urdu has Arabic roots. Over the years, more and more Udru / Parsi / Arabic words are getting inducted into Hindi as the Sanskrit root is getting lost (and unfortunately so ). I can hardly understand anything if it is pure Urdu (except the words which have made it to Hindi regularly) but I can easily understand Hindi despite not being able to speak it, because of the primarily Sanskrit roots.

The Indian subcontinent has always been a fascination for me. I have been living in India since the past few months

Oh! That is great. Where are you in India currently? A potential ZCF India meetup might be on the offing

[grant]

No sir, they are not . Hindi is a direct descendant of Sanskrit while Urdu has Arabic roots. Over the years, more and more Udru / Parsi / Arabic words are getting inducted into Hindi as the Sanskrit root is getting lost (and unfortunately so ). I can hardly understand anything if it is pure Urdu (except the words which have made it to Hindi regularly) but I can easily understand Hindi despite not being able to speak it, because of the primarily Sanskrit roots.

The Indian subcontinent has always been a fascination for me. I have been living in India since the past few months

Oh! That is great. Where are you in India currently? A potential ZCF India meetup might be on the offing

Connaught Place, New Delhi. And where do you stay?

I think Urdu is just Hindi with Persian and Arabic loanwords.

[Kriterion_BD]

Crimson, I meant to say colloquially, Hindi and Urdu are nearly identical. Yes Urdu is written in Arabic script, and the pure literary language is heavily Persianized whereas Hindi is Sanskrit based, but as spoken in everyday usage, they are basically the same. Pakistani Punjabi is written in shahmukhi and Indian Punjabi in gurmukhi, but they are the same language. By the same token, Bengali spoken by Hindus and Muslims should then also be considered separate languages, but they are not.

[eugene]

Dumb question here, how did Bangladesh end up predominantly Muslim like Pakistan when it is bordered by India, a largely Hindu nation? Why are Pakistan and Bangladesh more closely linked to each other?