GupShupYou’re at a family dinner. You can follow the jokes, the questions, even the conversation happening across the room. Then someone turns to you. You know what you want to say, but you answer in English.
If that sounds familiar, try making the next conversation smaller. Pick one thing you’d like to say in Urdu: a greeting, a short answer, a question you ask every day. Practise it out loud before you need it.
It can help to ask someone you’re comfortable with to let you finish, even if you pause or get something wrong. A bit of patience makes it easier to have another go.
You can switch back to English for the rest. Next time, try that same bit in Urdu again. Having one phrase you can actually use is a decent place to start.