How many of you can read/write Pashto?

[toughpashtun]

Like most Pashtuns who grew up in Pakistan , I cannot write or read Pashto though it is my mother tongue and first language and I speak it fluently.

How many of you can actually write and read Pashto?
And where/how did you learn it?In school?At home?

[Elite Pakhtun]

It's fairly straightforward if you know how to read and write in Urdu. There are a few letters that are different. Learn those, and the rest is almost identical.

[Shapur]

I can easily read Pashto but make few grammatical mistakes with written Pashto.
I was brought up in the West and haven't been through Afghanistan's education system and learned to read/write myself.
Written Pashto is a bit complicated because it is trying to accomodate all dialects rather than choosing one dialect as standard. We should come up with simplified Pashto script to make things easier.
It is not that hard to master Pashto if you are familiar with Arabic script though.

[Shapur]

I would also like to add that to improve your Pashto, start reading Pashto articles, poetry and listen to Pashto News from Pakisstan and Afghanistan because they use formal language.

Websites like taand.com, benawa.com, BBC pashto, voice of America Pashto are a great way to start.

[DaZahroJaam.]

I can read it fluently and write alright but my handwriting is not as great as it used to be. I did my first to third grade in Afghanistan and that was in Dari. I don't remember if Pashto was part of the curriculum back then or not. Homeschooled in Pashto by my father from there on.
But it's true that if you can read and write in Urdu, you can teach yourself Pashto, Dari and possibly Arabic too. You just have to be patient with it.

[toughpashtun]

I would also like to add that to improve your Pashto, start reading Pashto articles, poetry and listen to Pashto News from Pakisstan and Afghanistan because they use formal language.

Websites like taand.com, benawa.com, BBC pashto, voice of America Pashto are a great way to start.

I can understand the formal Pashto spoken on Pakistani Tv channels.But in Afghanistan they tend to use more Farsi words(whereas we rely on Urdu) , so some words I don't understand.
A member here recommended a Pashto book,which I made an effort to read.Since it didn't go that smoothly,i lost interest.
But your advice is correct.

[toughpashtun]

I can easily read Pashto but make few grammatical mistakes with written Pashto.
I was brought up in the West and haven't been through Afghanistan's education system and learned to read/write myself.
Written Pashto is a bit complicated because it is trying to accomodate all dialects rather than choosing one dialect as standard. We should come up with simplified Pashto script to make things easier.
It is not that hard to master Pashto if you are familiar with Arabic script though.

I did hear about a standard script that was being devised, don't know hat came of it though.

[toughpashtun]

I can read it fluently and write alright but my handwriting is not as great as it used to be. I did my first to third grade in Afghanistan and that was in Dari. I don't remember if Pashto was part of the curriculum back then or not. Homeschooled in Pashto by my father from there on.
But it's true that if you can read and write in Urdu, you can teach yourself Pashto, Dari and possibly Arabic too. You just have to be patient with it.

Pashto is part of the curriculum now in Afghanistan, at least in the Pashtun parts.I don't know which era and which part of the country you got your schooling from, but let me tell you, that in the early 90s,I was living in Peshawar, and some Afghan friends told me that doctors there study their medical education in Pashto.Which I found quite impressive.So if they had their higher level education is Pashto then obviously the school level curriculum would include Pashto also.
As for as myself is concerned, I am not able to devote much time to learning to read and write Pashto as I have too much stuff on my hands at the moment.But I do feel the need when I come across some good material in Pashto and then am unable to read it properly.

[Nekrofrost]

I spent most my life outside of pakistan so initianlly i couldnt even read urdu but after having to learn urdu in a pakistani school i became okay at reading and writing that. As far as pashto goes i didnt even know it was a language that could be written but then i learned it myself by literally just memorizing the letters. I still am not too good at it(im not tok good at reading urdu either so pashto is kinda harder because i never formally learnt it). I learnt the alphabets from this picture here

[Akbar]

I can easily read Pashto but make few grammatical mistakes with written Pashto.
I was brought up in the West and haven't been through Afghanistan's education system and learned to read/write myself.
Written Pashto is a bit complicated because it is trying to accomodate all dialects rather than choosing one dialect as standard. We should come up with simplified Pashto script to make things easier.
It is not that hard to master Pashto if you are familiar with Arabic script though.

thats not a good excuse
even if you were through afghan education system you would have been literate in dari than in pashto.
why should we change the pashto script just because you find it tough to learn. that doesnt make sense, if you have too much trouble learning it dont bother.

[salman47]

چه زه ویړکی وم، نو مور مې ښوونکۍ وه!!
ډېر خوشبخت یمه!

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

I didn't learn Pashto as a kid. I only attended school for 3 years in Afghanistan. By the age of 18 I couldn't read or write anything. Then I started teaching myself. About 10 years ago I forced myself to learn how to read and write again. Now I read books, I can write and I am trying improve it so that I can start writing books in Pashto in future.

[toughpashtun]

I didn't learn Pashto as a kid. I only attended school for 3 years in Afghanistan. By the age of 18 I couldn't read or write anything. Then I started teaching myself. About 10 years ago I forced myself to learn how to read and write again. Now I read books, I can write and I am trying improve it so that I can start writing books in Pashto in future.

That's a unique story.
By age 18 you couldn't write Pashto , or anything at all?

[Traveller]

I taught myself to read and write Pashto in the past few months. I can read and write better than anyone else in my family but I have a vocabulary deficiency and I'm not experienced in reading Perso-Arabic script outside of reading Quran so my reading is very slow.

[Akbar]

i didn't learn pashto as a kid. I only attended school for 3 years in afghanistan. By the age of 18 i couldn't read or write anything. Then i started teaching myself. About 10 years ago i forced myself to learn how to read and write again. Now i read books, i can write and i am trying improve it so that i can start writing books in pashto in future.

ما خو ته کله هم نه یی لیدلی چی څه دی په پښتو لیکلی وی.