Urdu

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Urdu is the name of the language commonly used by many people living in the Punjab and surrounding areas in India and Pakistan. It is the national language of Pakistan as well as one of the 23 official languages of India. The spoken language is similar verbally to Punjabi and even more similar to Hindi. However, it is written in a different script and in reverse direction i.e from right to left and the pages also run in reverse - In Urdu books the first page begins from the right most page. (ie: this is normally the end of most English and other language books). Most people who understand Punjabi or Hindi can easily understand most words of Urdu.

Urdu by origin is a Persian-ized dialect of Hindi. Urdu was spoken for centuries in the neighbourhood of Delhi in the Sultanate period. It therefore mainly associated with the Muslim community as their language of preference. It is commonly used in Muslim majority areas of India. The official language of Jammu and Kashmir state of India is Urdu. As it similar to Hindi and to a less

Standard Urdu has approximately the twentieth largest population of native speakers, among all languages.