Irshad Muhammad Oct 8, 2012:

Dear Abu Riaz Sahib, Thank you very much for your input. You have commented in a nice way, while respecting everyone else point of view and disagreeing with the colleagues without solid grounds.
As you have mentioned, and I have also been lenient towards using the transliteration of common English words, particularly related to the new technology. For instance the words 'Izn' or 'pervangi' etc have been used in the old times, for license but modern concept of this term is of course quite different from that of the Mughal era.
Thanks again for your nice comments on my input and summarizing the topic in a professional way.

abufaraz Oct 7, 2012:

License Dear Irshad Sb, IMO,'Ijazat Nama' gives the meaning of 'Permit' in English and 'Consent Form' is 'رضامندی فارم', like we translate 'Informed Consent Form' as 'باخبر رضامندی فارم' in the translation of Medical Studies. I don't think 'Consent Form' and 'License' are one and the same thing.

Dear Ikram Sb, I have also seen 'پروانگی' and 'پروانہ' being used as the translation of 'license' but more often 'پروانہ', which is still in use in some old Court Papers and Government documents. But unfortunately, this word is also going towards extinction as a meaning of 'license'. like so many other Urdu words.

Having said that, I agree with both of you that it is better to use the transliteration of 'license' as it will be more comprehensible to an average reader. You will appreciate that our utmost effort, as a translator, should be to make the reader understand what he/she is reading, be it translation. transliteration or the English word itself.

Thanks and Regards,

Muhammad Ikram Oct 4, 2012:

Dear Irshad Sb! So after your insistence on translating license into Urdu,with a little research I have found few words in Urdu which can be good translation of license: اجازہ، پروانہ یا پروانگی ، اذن These words are used in the meaning of license. پروانگی was used during Mughal era in terms of official permission from any authority. But it is not wise to used these words as لائسنس is more recognizable than all suggested words. thanks for showing interest in this discussion

Irshad Muhammad Oct 4, 2012:

Brother Atiquzzaman! Full transliteration might be fine as the related people are familiar with it but you will have an issue with the Urdu spelllings of 'End' as Urdu script seems to be unable to differentiate between 'End' and 'And'

Irshad Muhammad Oct 4, 2012:

Dear Mr. Ikram. Thank you very much for your input -- very helpful in clarifying some terms. Can you back translate "Ijaza nama" into English? Does it not mean "Consent Form". Do you think, as a linguist, a consent form and license are legally and linguistically one and the same things?

Muhammad Ikram Oct 4, 2012:

Dear Irshad Sb! Although license is widely used in Urdu but even if one wants to translate it, in my opinion best meaning of license can be conveyed through "اجازت نامہ" because license is something that gives permission of doing something. I will still suggest that license itself has become part of Urdu language and no need to translate it

Atiquzzama Khan (asker) Oct 3, 2012:

Thank you very much brother Irshad Muhammad.

Irshad Muhammad Oct 3, 2012:

As, I have mentioned in my suggested translations, you can of course use the transliteration of full phrase or might be partially for the word 'license' only depending on the level of target audience. I guess, for most audience you can use the full transliteration.

Atiquzzama Khan (asker) Oct 3, 2012:

Dear Linguists, I just asked the meaning of "End-User License Agreement". You all have suggested some meanings. But I want to know if we can transliterate it as "اینڈ یوزر لائسنس ایگریمنٹ". I got this meaning at http://www.urduenglishdictionary.org/.
Please let me know your suggestions.
Regards