Can Hindi and Urdu speakers understand each other?

Hindi and Urdu are mutually intelligible as spoken languages, to the extent that they are sometimes considered to be dialects or registers of a single spoken language referred to as Hindi-Urdu or sometimes Hindustani.

Do Urdu and Hindi sound the same?

Both Hindi and Urdu originally developed from Khari Boli, a dialect of Delhi region, and the spoken languages are extremely similar to one another. They have the exact same grammatical structure, and at the beginner level they share over 70 – 80\% of their vocabulary.

What are the main differences between Hindi and Urdu?

The main difference between the two languages is their association. Hindi is a language used and spoken by Hindi people, the native and leading population of India. On the other hand, Urdu is associated with Pakistan and Muslims. Hindi is mostly spoken in India and serves as its national language.

If you sat a Hindi and an Urdu speaker next to each other in a bar and asked them to have a ten-minute conversation in their native tongues, chances are that both would understand each other without hesitation.

What percentage of Hindi is spoken in Urdu in India?

But the common man on the street who speaks Hindi understands probably 80 percent of Urdu and this is reciprocated by the common man who speaks Urdu. This is the situation in India where both languages are spoken. Bollywood films use both in their dialogues.

Are Urdu and Hindi pronounced the same?

Generally, Urdu and Hindi are pronounced the same way, especially when the vocabulary words are shared between the two languages. Urdu, when writing loan-words from Arabic or Persian does, however tend to pronounce quite a few letters as they would be pronounced in Arabic. Examples of this are letters such as ق, غ, ع, ز, خ,ف and others.

Do Urdu speakers still need Iqbal and Khusrow?

No, of course not. Urdu speakers can still rejoice in the words of Iqbal and Khusrow much like their Hindi speaking brothers and sisters draw strength from Kabir and Tulsidas. Nonetheless, it is up to our generation, increasingly attuned to global values, to push this line just that little bit further.