Hindi and Urdu

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Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, and in some states of India. Between 30 and 50 per cent of the population of India have Hindi as their first language, in contrast to only 10 per cent of Pakistan who have Urdu. For many people who do not claim either as their first language, they exist as a 'link language' spoken in addition to a regional language.

Hindi and Urdu in their everyday spoken forms are almost identical. The languages are written in different scripts, Hindi in the Devanagari script written from left to right, Urdu in the Persio-Arabic script called Nastaliq, written from right to left. Hindi and Urdu share a common core vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation so speakers of either can usually understand one another.