Punjabi · ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
Directory 10 resource listings . A short orientation and a solid starting list.
Honest start for Punjabi: pick one beginner course or community program from the list, add 10–15 minutes of listening most days, and bookmark one reference. Ignore the rest of the directory until those three habits are alive. Use the First 500 trainer for high-frequency words. Last reviewed 2026-08-01
About Punjabi
- Language family
-
Indo-European, Indo-Aryan Source: Glottolog
- Where it's spoken
- The Punjab region, split between India and Pakistan
- Speakers
-
roughly 125–150 million speakers, among the most spoken languages in the world Estimate source: Ethnologue (SIL International)
- Writing
- Gurmukhi
Punjabi is unusual among Indo-Aryan languages for being genuinely tonal, a feature that developed as certain consonant sounds were lost over time and their effect shifted onto pitch instead. It is written in the Gurmukhi script in India (also the script of the Sikh scriptures) and in a Perso-Arabic Shahmukhi script in Pakistan, making it one of the few major languages split across two writing systems along a national border. Its close relatives Hindi and Urdu share much of its core grammar.
Speaker counts are approximate orders of magnitude for learners, not census figures. Family labels follow Glottolog-style classification; vitality notes (when shown) follow UNESCO WAL / Ethnologue-style framing and should be re-checked for program planning.
How to start
- Pick one free course (or free-with-upgrades) below and finish a short beginner unit before hopping apps.
- Bookmark one dictionary or grammar reference and look up every unknown word for a week.
- Add 10–15 minutes of listening most days — news, radio, or a teaching channel.
- Drill vocabulary with First 500 words.
- When ready, use a tutor marketplace listing below for short speaking sessions.
Practice on this site
Deep links into trainers and drills that already cover Punjabi.
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| Resource | Type | Levels | Cost | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ajit / Punjabi news reading
Punjabi newspaper for extensive reading.
|
reading | B1-C2 | free | — |
|
BBC News Punjabi
Punjabi-language news service with audio/video.
|
listening | B1-C2 | free | — |
|
Learn Punjabi YouTube
Educational Punjabi Gurmukhi and phrase lessons.
|
youtube channel | A1-B1 | free | — |
|
Mango Languages Punjabi
Conversation course; often free via libraries.
|
course paid | A1-B1 | freemium | — |
|
Omniglot: Punjabi writing & pronunciation
Script and orthography orientation with sample text.
|
reference | A1-B1 | free | — |
| PTC News | listening | B1-C2 | free | — |
|
Shabdkosh Punjabi
English–Punjabi dictionary with transliteration.
|
reference | A1-B2 | free | — |
|
uTalk Punjabi
Topic-based vocabulary app covering 150+ languages, including less-common ones.
|
course paid | A1-A2 | paid | — |
|
Wikipedia Punjabi
Open reading practice by topic in the language's own Wikipedia edition.
|
reading | A2-C2 | free | — |
|
Wiktionary Punjabi category
Open Punjabi dictionary entries.
|
reference | A1-C2 | free | — |
Know a better classroom-friendly resource for Punjabi? Suggest it with attribution.