# Urdu: Interview



## BP.

We have a beautiful word for rad shuda - mardood. Without any connotations. But you can't really use it without people getting other ideas. Which is a pity. "Job Interview maiN aap mardood qaraar payay" simply means you didn't make it through the selection process, but the interview-shuda guy is likely to be ba-dast-o-geraybaan with you!

By the way, could you please translate 'interview'?


*Moderator note:*
*This thread is split from here. Please don't forget to open a new thread for each and every new questions that might come up during a discussion.*
*Thanks 

Another spin-off is to be found here.
*


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## Faylasoof

For interview I have used _muHaadathah_ and also _muSaaHabah. _Seems to vary a bit.

By the way, in Arabic they use _muqaabalah_ for interview or sometimes _hadeeth_!


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## BP.

_muHaadathah_ translates to recount, narrative no? The second word  sounds like being derived from 'accompany'.

Thanks a bunch.


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## Faylasoof

Yes,  you are right about both. But if you think about it, an interview involves both.   Similarly, for the Arabic alternatives 'muqaabalah' and 'Hadeeth'. Incidentally, these two words also have roots which each are related to these very words, their respective derivatives, but have other meanings too - I mean the roots do. We obviously can't use 'mukaalimah' in Urdu for interview because we already use it to mean conversation = Hiwaar in Arabic.  Most people just use the English word 'interview' becasue they couldn't be bothered to look for alternatives.  We actually could use 'muqaabalah', just as in Arabic. But many will confuse it with 'muqaabilah' = contest / competition, in Urdu... and 'Hadeeth' for us is reserved only for Prophetic traditions. However, 'muHaadathah' as a word in Urdu is, I feel, both available and related to the other word (Hadeeth) used in Arabic for interview. Other ideas welcome!


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## Cilquiestsuens

Well, not a proper idea, but I remember a friend once came up with that funny (and rhyming ) periphrastic 'translation' of interview : 

*Rû-ba-rû guftagû*


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## Faylasoof

In Farsi, from where borrow / borrowed a lot, it is muSaahebah!   Rû-ba-rû guftagû = face-to-face talk (doesn't mean an interview - and is so used in Urdu). Usage: aaj teeno hukoomatooN ke wuzaraa ne rû-ba-rû guftagû ki [= Today the ministers of the three governments had (a) face-to-face talk(s)].   They didn't interview each other!!


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## Cilquiestsuens

Faylasoof said:


> Rû-ba-rû guftagû = face-to-face talk (doesn't mean an interview - and is so used in Urdu). Usage: aaj teeno hukoomatooN ke wuzaraa ne rû-ba-rû guftagû ki [= Today the ministers of the three governments had (a) face-to-face talk(s)]. They didn't interview each other!!


 

Who ever claimed it was ? I've called this a *periphrastic* translation, and it is quite good if you know the origin of the word interview...




> *interview  (n.)
> *
> *1514, "face-to-face meeting, formal conference," from M.Fr. entrevue, verbal noun from s'entrevoir "to see each other, visit each other briefly, have a glimpse of," from entre- "between" (from L. inter-) + O.Fr. voir "to see"*




Now the problem we are facing in Urdu is that interview is a specialized word describing a very specific thing (if you take the litteral meaning, *a *a word as simple as *mulaaqaat* almost translates it correctly !).

The other problem,  is that you would like to go for a neologism... although *interview *has become an Urdu word and I don't see it challenged by any Urdu neologism in ne near future.... The only word i can think of which has been used in the Urdu media is *mulaaqaat* (khusoosii mulaaqaat= special interview).

I think I have seen MuSaaHibah translating interview in some context, but I am not sure.... Please don't ask me for references I won't probably find them...


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## Faylasoof

Dear Cilquiestsuens,



			
				Faylasoof said:
			
		

> Rû-ba-rû guftagû = face-to-face talk (doesn't mean an interview - and is so used in Urdu). Usage: aaj teeno hukoomatooN ke wuzaraa ne rû-ba-rû guftagû ki [= Today the ministers of the three governments had (a) face-to-face talk(s)]. They didn't interview each other!!


 


			
				Cilquiestsuens said:
			
		

> Who ever claimed it was ? I've called this a periphrastic translation, and it is quite good if you know the origin of the word interview...


I didn’t say anyone was claiming anything. Perhaps that was implied, otherwise why else the suggestion on your part as an alternative to what I presented. At least that is how I understood. May be I didn't quite follow what you really meant. Anyway, if you please have a look at post #1 above, you’ll notice that I was specifically asked this: “*By the way, could you please translate 'interview'?* “ 


In _standard_ Urdu, rû-ba-rû guftagû = face to face talk, not an interview. This is how we use this term. Besides, the definition of interview you present from 1514 though very interesting historically is quite outdated. The present meaning is significantly different from how the word was used then. The term _khusoosee mulaaqaat_ also presents to me a problem as it is found in standard Urdu and means _special meeting_ ( *khusoosee* = special, and *mulaaqaat* = meeting). This is how it is used.

BTW, I really don’t need a reference for ‘muSaaHibah’. I am satisfied that it would suit the same purpose in Urdu as it does in Farsi and, just as you say, it has already been used in this manner in Urdu anyway. That’s all. 

_baa du’aa o salaam o durood o ‘aafiyat_

_(Just a more traditional way of wishing you all the best!!)_


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## BP.

Cilko I would definitely use _ru-ba-ru guftugoo_ for a footballer's _interview_ but hesitate to use the same word for _entrevue_ or _entretien_ with a prospective employer.

This word muSaaHibah is new to me but appears to be derived from _SoHbat_ and _SaHaabi_.


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## Todd The Bod

BelligerentPacifist said:


> We have a beautiful word for rad shuda - mardood. Without any connotations. But you can't really use it without people getting other ideas. Which is a pity. "Job Interview maiN aap mardood qaraar payay" simply means you didn't make it through the selection process, but the interview-shuda guy is likely to be ba-dast-o-geraybaan with you!
> 
> By the way, could you please translate 'interview'?



In the first sentence is "payay" supposed to be "paya"?  And translation of "ba-dast-o-geraybaan" please?


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## panjabigator

Todd The Bod said:


> In the first sentence is "payay" supposed to be "paya"?  And translation of "ba-dast-o-geraybaan" please?



پائے - payay

Not sure with the second one.  با means 'with', دست means 'hand', and و means 'and,' but I don't know what to make of گریبان.  Can't locate it in the dictionary either.


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## BP.

_gariibaan _means collar. _ba dast o gariibaan_ means embroiled in physical quarrel.


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## Faylasoof

These are now being recognised as accepted words for interview in Urdu:

 مُصاحَبہ_ muSaaHabah_ = [مُواجَہہ_ muwaajaha_] = interview

 مواجہہ _muwaajaha_ actually means روبرو_ ruu ba ruu_ = face to face

 مُصاحَبہ  and مُصاحَبَت are from the same Arabic root: ص-ح-ب

 مُصاحَبَت_ muSaaHabat_ = _ham nashiinii _ہم نشینی = _sangat_ سنگت = accompaniment / keeping company    

 Urdu is now distinguishing between مُصاحَبہ and مُصاحَبَت; essentially the same word, one ending in ت the other in ہ, but with different meanings.

 Here (& here – same report but different paper) is a link where مصاحبہ is used for _interview_. Some dictionaries may also be incorporating it.
 
مُواجَہہ_ muwaajaha _for _interview_ might still be quite tentative.

_(There is also a UrduLibrary.org template for the meaning of  مصاحبہ in Urdu, but at the moment it is blank.)_


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## Qureshpor

*"Interview" to my mind is a succession of questions fired from one direction to which answers are expected from the other. What do you think of the following?

pursish-o-paasuKh
purs-o-paasuKh
purs-paasuKh

[savaal-javaab is already in vogue for "Question/Answer"]

*


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## BP.

^we can be almost certain of encountering somewhere پرس و پاسخ if we read enough literature. Speach I'm not too sure. You could bring it in vogue in speech if you're famous and have a following janabe QP.


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## Qureshpor

BelligerentPacifist said:


> ^we can be almost certain of encountering somewhere پرس و پاسخ if we read enough literature. Speach I'm not too sure. You could bring it in vogue in speech if you're famous and have a following janabe QP.



*BP Sahib. purs-o-paasuKh is indeed present but I think it still has the meaning of "Question/Answer" in Persian. But we need not inform our Urdu readers about this and can pretend that it means "Interview"!

As for being famous and having a following..."yih nah thii hamaarii qismat.."!
*


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## Sheikh_14

Does muqaabalah (interview) and muqabilah (competition) have any differences in spelling and talafuz to avoid confusion.


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## Sheikh_14

Faylasoof said:


> We actually could use 'muqaabalah', just as in Arabic. But many will confuse it with 'muqaabilah' = contest / competition, in Urdu...



Aren't muqaabilah and muqaabalah the same word pronounced differently on whim rather than two set different/distinctterms? Or would you indeed consider them diverse to one another? In fact the most common pronunciation of muqaabilah as Platts illustrates is indeed muqaabalah.

muqābala (for A. مقابلة muqābalat, inf. n. of قابل 'to stand over against, to face,' &c., iii of قبل 'to look to the tip of the nose,' &c.; see qabl), s.m. Facing, standing over against; meeting face to face,confronting; opposing, resisting, contending;—putting side by side, comparing, collating;—presence; opposition, opposite quarter; resistance; encounter, contest; competition; comparison; contrast; comptrol; collation; examination:—muqābala aur imtěḥān, Comparison and examination, checking, audit:—muqābale ānā (-ke), To come in front (of), to face, confront; to oppose; to challenge to combat, to defy


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