'Sayonara' linguistic barriers: Japanese's romance with Urdu

"Phailti jayegi Urdu ku-ba-ku, beej iska dil mein bhi bona chahiye (Urdu will spread everywhere, one must sow its seed in the heart as well)." This is how Japanese professor of Urdu at Osaka University So Yamane sums up his passion for the language that may be alien to his culture but with which his love affair has continued for over 35 years.

Yamane, 53, who mesmerised the audience with his romantic couplets in Urdu at the Jashn-e-Bahar Mushaira here, said that when he took up the language in 1982 for graduation, it was just his love for the romantic language that motivated him and not career considerations.

He said his first brush with the language was in high school when one of his teachers, who was enamoured by Indian culture, taught about Indian history.

Yamane said he got attracted to the Mughal period and later to Urdu.

Yamane, who teaches Urdu at the Osaka University where it is a subject for the last 98 years, said he tells those taking up Urdu, to do so for the love of the language and not for any other consideration.

"I ask my Japanese students, you must have heard the name of Urdu for the first time and your family and friends would be asking what will you get by learning Urdu. I tell them and I firmly believe that it is not a matter of gain or profit and loss but it is a matter of interest," he told

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