According to Ethnologue, there are 72 individual languages in Pakistan, all of which are living. Of these, 13 are institutional, 11 are developing, 38 are vigorous, 8 are in trouble, and 2 are dying. (Ethnologue, 2013)

The national language of Pakistan is Urdu, while English is the official language. Urdu, meaning ‘language of the army camp’ is a hybrid language which developed in the 14th century. It is predominantly a mixture of Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit and other South Asian languages.

Besides Urdu, there are six major spoken the major provinces of Pakistan. These include: Punjabi, spoken by about 50% of the population; Sindhi, the second most common language in Pakistan; Pashto, spoken in Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa; Baluchi, spoken in Balochistan; Saraiki, and Hindko. There are also over fifty regional languages.

Languages in Pakistan

Photo Source: M. Izady, 2007-2013, URL Link: http://global-atlas.jrc.it/maps/PUBLIC/2142_Pakistan_Baluchistan_Linguistic_lg.jpg

For further details on the languages of Pakistan please click here.

To learn some basic Urdu phases please click here.

Citation

Ethnologue. (2013). Pakistan. Retrieved July 23, 2013, from ww.ethnologue.com: http://www.ethnologue.com/country/PK/default/***EDITION***