Your comments

harjinder from Mumbai
as a broad yorkshire speaker and fluent Panjabi speaker i can say that the present young generation find it easy to understand Panjabi but very hard to engage in conversation. Like all languages English is taking over. This may not be a bad thing because languages should be alive. Panjabi is a rural language and whenever anyone wants to talk of higher things they have to borrow words from Hindi or Urdu. it is not a particularly beautiful language but one that is very funcional as is required in rural settings. I challenge anyone to talk to me about history, for instance, without borrowing from Hindi or Urdu. It if fine as it goes but slowly dying out. With regret it will be missed for a while and then forgotten. In any case why should the younger generation learn Panjaib in the west? There is no real need for it.

Rishi from SOAS, Uni of London
Panjabi is not spelt as 'Punjabi' anymore. The latter is from the times of the Orientalists. The correct transliteration is Paňjābī and the trend is going towards this. Unfortunately the diacritic marks will not show in normal type. R Singh, if you want to improve, take an evening course at SOAS.

r singh from england
i am terrible at speaking panjabi and was wondering if anyone knew a way that i could improve on it.

Natalie from West Yorkshire
I'm fully a native english speaker but I've recently had to do research into punjabi for a course I'm doing at uni. It seems like a beautiful language and I as an english speaker would embrace the teaching of punjabi in schools where there are indian/pakistani children.

Roop
I am a born again Punjabi. I have over the last 4 years taught myself to read in the langugae, and write as a novice. I have now decided to write a novel in Punjabi, showing British Born Punjabi point of view. I hope it works. I have also set up easy to learn lessons on the web. I hope other UK borns do the same.

Emily from Birmingham
Do you all think Panjabi will die out in Britain? Would you bring up your kids speaking Panjabi and English? I would love to be Bilingual!

Aman Sekhon, WA
My mom gurmunder does not speak english fluently, but since I, my dad, and my sisters do, she doesn't need to... I like knowing my heritage it's comforting to know where we come from.

natasha - leicester
always had a love for languages when I was younger- French/German/Russian.I never wanted to learn punjabi/panjabi (whichever your preference) though. Regret it now!!! I can speak the language along with Hindi/Urdu and Gujerati- but that's from living in a multicultural society and of course growing up on BOLLYWOOD!! The thought of being able to translate or better still read a piece of literature in my own mother tongue - wow, how breath-taking would that be...

Waris Khan from Hounslow
Gurumukhi is the sanskrit script, and the Perso-Arabic script is called shahmukhi.

Sara Ali From London
I love Punjabi, My family is from Punjab, and I have grown up speaking it, It is a wonderfull language, jina Punjab nahi Vekya woh Jamiya Nahi.

jyoti from bishop's stortford (age 13)
my family and i speak punjabi, but it is much easier to understand than speak. i find it really complicated!

Amn Kaur from Bradford
panjabi is special to me personally as it reminds of my heritage whenever spoken. jus returned from panjab and had the time of my life! and it is spelt panjabi. this is because the word panjab means land of the five rivers. and 'panj' in panjabi means five! just to clear up any confusion...

parmjit samra, liverpool
For those of you have not yet been to the punjab, you should visit your origin.

Jasmin from Sutton Coldfield
Punjabi is a beautiful language, especially when spoken politely, i.e. "Toosi" instead of "Tu" etc.

Jasmin Kaur Johal, EastSide London
True panjabi must be saved, however I have seen anincrease with english words used in every panjabi sentence spoken especially when pronouncing days of the week, number, colours. These basic nouns will disappear forever if they are not regularly applied when speaking panjabi. Full Panjabi is a must. Panjabi is also along with Swahili both the easiest languages to learn however westernisation losesthese languages status.

A.S. Kang
Dear Gurmeet Kaur: Panjabi used to be spelt as Punjabi...Not anymore because writing Panjabi as 'Punjabi' does not make correct pronounciation. Therefore correct way to spell is 'Panjabi'.

Anjali frm east london
i myself speak punjabi, n i fink its a gr8 language! also i luv punjab!!! goin der dis summer!! yay!!!

Pavandeep Singh from Singapore
Considering everything, a lot of effort is required now to save this language. It is being mutilated and corrupted from on-going Anglacization. Even in the Panjab, where I've been, the situation is being worse by the minute, especially in everyday conversations and the media. It does not help that schools there place priority on English over Panjabi.

Gurmeet Kaur from India
Panjabi is spelt Punjabi.

Yuvraj from south staffs
i think panjabi is a very good language and to me it is like english as i speak it every day. i only know a few words and sentences but i understand it fully.