Passengers point out incorrect Urdu signs at Hyderabad airport

Hyderabad: Like all international airports, even Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad in the city outskirts is subject to myriad problems like delayed flights, passports getting misplaced and the likes.

However, although these are bound to happen for inexplicable reasons, one confronts problems that could be avoided in the first place.

For instance, in the departure area of the airport, the ‘Domestic Arrival’ sign in Urdu is گھریلو آمد , which when translated implies ‘Homely Arrival’.

Many passengers took to social media to lament the sign errors in Urdu at the area's airport and utter lack of Urdu newspapers. Come to think of it, there is an overwhelming Middle East traffic, day in and day out, including Haj pilgrims.

A passenger tweeted on Friday, “Dear @RGIAHyd, Please get some professional help for your Urdu signs. Translation for ‘Domestic Arrivals’ is inaccurate. It translates as ‘Homely arrivals.’ While such an experience would be great, the translations should be accurate. This is embarrassing for a city known 4 Urdu”.

Dr Syed Zahoor Ahmad Geelani, Principal, Manuu, told Newsmeter "I think Urdu signs should be given to a specialist because you can't directly translate any language into English. The context changes every time you explicitly translate any language into any other language. You can send it to an expert if you intend to write signs in Urdu, which is widely spoken across the Asia continent. As Urdu speaking is similar to Hindi, and when the appropriate translation is not affected, people usually combine terms in Hindi and English, rendering the purpose of the original language useless. It fails to serve the intended purpose of putting signboards."