A Branch on the Indo-Iranian Tree

Can Urdu Speakers Understand Persian?

No. The majority of Urdu speakers don’t understand Persian whether it is spoken by Iranians (Farsi), Afghans (Dari), or Tajiks (Tajiki). However, Urdu speakers can understand a few words in Persian depending on the situation and the person who is speaking. Additionally, there are some Urdu speakers who are fluent in Persian, but they are typically from small ethnic minorities (such as Hazaras, Iranian and Afghan migrants), the older generation, or individuals who study Persian as an academic subject.

Urdu: The Language of Two Nations

Pakistan’s national language is Urdu, which is also the official language of Pakistan alongside English at the federal level. Despite these two languages, most Pakistanis speak over 74 languages as their mother tongues. In fact, only 5–8% of people in Pakistan speak Urdu as their first language, mostly in big cities like Karachi. The overwhelming majority of Pakistanis speak other languages and dialects (e.g., Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Seraiki, Hindko, Balochi, etc.) as their first languages. India has more than 70 million native Urdu speakers, which makes up 4.9% of total population of India and is also officially recognized in the constitution of India, This means 18 million Pakistanis and 95 million Indians speak Urdu as their first language.

Most of the languages spoken in Pakistan & India actually belong to the Indo-Iranian branches of the Indo-European language family. So, both Urdu and Persian belong to the Indo-European language family, but they are mutually unintelligible. Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language while Persian is an Iranian language. However, despite the differences and the unintelligibility between the two languages, Persian has had a huge influence on Urdu. For example, 70–75% of Urdu words have their etymological roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit, but another 25–30% of words have Persian etymological roots, which is a very high number compared to other Indo-Aryan languages. Even the Arabic loanwords in Urdu are heavily “Persianized” because the Arabic origin words in Urdu came directly through Persian. Plus, the script of Urdu is called the “Nastaliq” script, which is similar to the Persian script also known as the Perso-Arabic script.

To Be Continued…..

There's so much more to uncover about the rich history and intricate relationship between Urdu and Persian. Join us in the next part of this series for further fascinating insights!

Explore History in Images

Section featuring images of historical landmarks from around the world.

We Value Your Feedback!

At The Bit Bots Brunch, we're always striving to deliver the most engaging and informative content for our readers. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us achieve that goal.

• Did you find this article interesting?

• Are there any specific areas you'd like to see us explore in more detail?

• Do you have any suggestions for future topics?

We encourage you to share your thoughts by replying to this email or reach out on x at any time.