Updated on: Saturday, May 11, 2013
A US student, curious to know the the political history between India and Pakistan, has won a scholarship to study Urdu in Lucknow.
"I'm very interested in the political history between Pakistan and India and their unique situation at the moment as two nuclear weapon yielding powers that haven't signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty," said Ugbaad Keynan, a sophomore and an international affairs major at Eastern Michigan University.
Awarded a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study Urdu in Lucknow, this summer, Keynan will arrive in Lucknow in June and spend the next eight weeks studying the Urdu language while living with a host family, the university said in a statement.
The goals of the CLS Urdu Programme are language acquisition and cultural immersion.
Language classes cover the concepts of grammar, conversation, pronunciation, journal writing, and dictation that hone the four skills of language development, listening, speaking, reading and writing.
"I chose Urdu because I'm interested in the region academically," Keynan said.
"I am looking forward to meeting the other programme recipients. Many of them are graduate or Ph D students who are very accomplished in their respective fields," Kenyan added.