Aazaad Standard

Aazaad means Free/Open/Liberated in Hindi-Urdu. Open-source can also be translated as Aazaad in Hindi-Urdu. Aazaad Standard is conceptualized as the 21st century standardized register of Hindi-Urdu i.e. Hamari Boli. Since everything about the HB Initiative is opensource, the very Standard and Romanization scheme i.e. the bedrock of entire enterprise are also opensource/aazaad for everyone.

Although Hamari Boli embraces the whole Hindi-Urdu spectrum, including all three scripts, i.e. Devangari, Nastaliq & Roman; Based on our experience at Khan Academy Hamari Boli, we are following and advocating some golden rules for language used in mass media and education, this is what we call the '''Aazaad Standard for Hindi-Urdu. '''and it encompasses three major language planning domains i.e;

Lexicon & Style: Numerals:
 * 1) Use neutral vocab (Hindustani) as much as possible (like Bollywood) as in "Nahaana" for 'Bathing' instead of Standard Urdu 'Ghusl' & Standard Hindi 'Ashnaan'
 * 2) Use English words wherever more familiar (as in 'School' for Urdu 'Maktab' and Hindi 'Vidyala') or wherever a common word is not available.
 * 3) All technical terms (science, maths etc) should be exclusively as per internationally recognized English conventions. e.g. Maths or Mathematics (even tho a common neutral word is available i.e. 'Hisaab' in addition to Urdu 'Ilm-e Riyazi' and 'Ganit Vidya' )

Script:
 * Use standard english numerals i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0
 * Preferably written in Standard English Alphabet, equally accessible to Devanagari, Nastaliq & Roman readers/writers alike.

Aazaad Scheme for Hindi-Urdu Romanization
Roman alphabet have been used for writing/learning Hindi-Urdu since 1700s. In 1796, Dr. John Borthwick Gilchrist published the first ever grammer of The Hindustani Language in English by the title, "A Grammar, of the Hindoostanee Language ". Since then there's a well established history of Hindi-Urdu publications in Roman alphabet. Throughout the 1800s uptil 1947, hundreds of works inclduding scores of Grammars and Dictionries were published by pioneer linguists and philologists like Dr. Gilchrist, J. T. Platt, Duncan Forbes etc using several romanization schemes. Most of the earlier schemes used diacritics to map indic phonemes to roman graphemes. There was even a Roman Urdu Society in late 1800s which published a regular journal advocating Romanization of Urdu -the then official language of British India- by the name of Roman Urdu Journal with the stated agenda, "To Advocate the Use of Roman Alphabet in Oriental Languages"

One of the earliest inspirations behind HBI was the Uddin_and_Begum_Urdu-Hindustani_Romanization scheme developed and proposed by late Syed Fasih Uddin & Quader Unissa Begum. The Uddin-Begum Scheme is so far the only standard which specifically aims to address Hindustani Language. Several modern systems such as ITRANS have been around for a while too, however, no one system or standard has gained wide currency since there's no 'official' attention. Both Survey of India and Survey of Pakistan use simpilified Hunterian Transliteration System for Indic Romanization. General people intuitively follow the coventions evolved out of the application of hunterian scheme to the local accent of Hamari Boli.

For now, we'll be starting with a modified and simplified hybrid of the Hunterian and Uddin-Begum schemes, involving only standard English Alphabet, available on every keyboard & keypad. However, since the very idea is "Open Language Planning", other suitable schemes and suggestions will also be evaluated and deliberated at project wiki. Through community input and collaboration, we hope to refine and evolve an even more detailed system over time.

 Aazaad Letters of Alphabet for Nastaaleeq

 Aazaad Letters of Alphabet for Devanagari

Numerals:

 Standard English Numerals i.e.;

9
