Thanks for A2A. Well the Hindi you speak is 98% Similiar to Urdu all of us can understand it yes our entire population. Because of same Grammar same Vocabulary.

But We can not Write Hindi Language and we can not read it. This is the only thing which tease us while watching Bollywood or Pollywood (Indian Punjabi) Movies. We can not understand Devanagari Script. We write Urdu in Persian Script.

Our accent is a bit different than yours we Pronounce some words differently. And there are few hundred words which are different in Both languages.

I’m Gonna list that words which are different in both languages.

English…. Hindi ….. Urdu

Believe …. Wishwas…. Yaqeen

Language . Bhasha…… Zuban

Country ……. Desh…….. Mulk

Prime Minister….. Pradhan Mantri …… Wazir-e-Azam

Power …. Shakti ……. Quwat /Taqat

Powerful… Shaktishali…….. Taqatwar.

Lady……… Mahila…………. Orat

Promise……. Vachan……….. Wada.

Great/Huge….. Wishal……… Azeem

Mother’s Sister….. Mausi…… Khala

Taste…………. Swaad……… Zaiqa.

Wife…… Patni…………….. Bivi

Clever……. Chatur………. Khushyar.

Its really interesting and i can really mention many other words here but this is not the point of my answer.

Now there are some words we Pronounce Differently.

1- In Urdu we do not read “Z” by “J” as you people do. We will say Ziada and you will say Jiada.

2- We do not replace PH by F. we replace it by another alphabet most of you are not familiar with it. it is the mixture of P and H. like you call Father’s sister Fufi and we call her Phuphi. It sound like blowing some air out of your mouth.

A few Words which are different in Pronunciation.

English …………………………….. Hindi………………. Urdu

Father in Law…………………….. Sasur…………….. Susar.

Sea…………………………….. Samudra………… samundaar.

Urdu contains more Persian words so it is a bit different but anyone who speaks urdu it is impossible for him that he can not understand Hindi and anyone who speaks Hindi it is impossible for him that he can not understand Urdu.

None.

Pakistan has significant amount of people understands urdu which is pretty much identical to hindi. But no one know how to write in sansikrat script.

Well as said by most of Pakistanis here since spoken Urdu and Hindi are similar so almost everyone can understand Hindi while listening but I am one of very few Pakistanis who can read Hindi as well in Devanagari Script, but I learned it due to my own interest. Although I still have difficulty reading Hindi names in Indian movies because they move very fast I am not that fluent while reading as I am while reading Urdu in Nastaliq Script because I have been reading it all my life. But every now and then I practice my Hindi reading by reading some famous Urdu poems/ghazals in Hindi script from [Urdu Poetry, Urdu Shayari of Famous Poets - Rekhta]. Most Pakistanis would consider my this hobby useless and a waste of time but for me it is very interesting.

Hindi is not spoken here.

Urdu and hindi are similar when you hear them given that simple or street urdu and hindi are being spoken.

If Hindi and Urdu are spoken in their pure form then it would be difficult to comprehend by 50% to 60% for either speakers. The vocabulary of both is very different in pure form. The harder and bigger the words the harder to understand.

Urdu speaking population may understand hindi in Bollywood movies as they generally use slang or easy hindi. However some tv shows use big words that fly over the head.

Non urdu speaking population may not understand at all if they never learnt urdu.

However no one can read hindi and they look like squiggly lines to most. Understanding is done by the ear and exposure to certain words

Unless someone learnt hindi, no one speaks or reads it.

I would say that the percentage of Pakistani people that are able to properly speak and understand the Persian language is probably less than one percent. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone. The Persian language doesn’t really have any real use in modern-day Pakistan. At best, it might be two or three percent of the population.

The largest Persian speaking population within Pakistan are probably the Hazara people. The Hazara people speak the Hazaragi language, a dialect of the Persian language. This is about a million people, which is less than one percent of the total population. Other than the Hazara, there are probably small numbers of Tajiks and other groups who may be able to understand the language.

Pakistani people may be able to understand a little bit because of the common words found in the Urdu language. However, we cannot really call this properly understanding the language or speaking it. At best, they might understand a few words or phrases.

The Persian language within Pakistan is viewed in a similar light to Latin in Europe. It is seen as a classical language. Some might dedicate their time to learning it for its historical significance or poetry. This was especially true a generation or two ago, when the language was a lot more common. These days it is hard to find anyone who is learning the language. It simply doesn’t have much use in the modern-day world for Pakistani people.

For a more detailed answer on the Persian language and South Asia - ‎Ahmad Abubakr (احمد ابوبکر)‎'s answer to Why doesn't Pakistan speak Farsi anymore?

Allama Muhammad Iqbal is Pakistan’s national poet. His works were in the Persian language as well. Before Pakistan’s independence and in its earlier decades, many people still learned the Persian language. This is no longer so. The benefits that the language may have once offered simply no longer exist.

No one in India or Pakistan speaks Hindi or Urdu , they speak hindustani (Hindi mixed with Urdu) the hindustani spoken in Pakistan has more urdu whereas the hindustani spoken in India has more Hindi . When we write chaste hindi and Urdu , they seem much different but when we talk about commonly spoken Hindi and urdu , they are very similar because they have derived from the same base “Prakrit”

So as stated modern Hindi is Sanskritized form of hindustani and modern Urdu is persianised form of Hindustani. Realistically speaking no one speaks these languages in their modern form and in general conversations hindustani is used. So people of both countries can converse very easily with each other. People of India think they are speaking Hindi but in reality they are speaking hindustani which is slightly tilted towards Sanskritized Hindi and people in Pakistan think they are speaking Urdu whereas in reality, they are speaking hindustani which is tilted towards persianised Urdu.

Secondly will be surprised to know that Urdu is not a native language of Pakistan but a native language of India (originated in Delhi) . Pakistan government has imposed Urdu on the all the people of the country and their original languages are suffering so much due to this . The native languages of Pakistan are punjabi,Sindhi, Baloch,Dari,Pashto etc and not Urdu.

Urdu - Wikipedia

Hindi - Wikipedia

Hindustani language - Wikipedia

We can almost understand every thing, and in context, virtually everything. In fact, you might not know but even our children see Indian cartoons from childhood because of unavailability of Urdu cartoons. So, they even incorporate some Hindi words temporarily, which they forget after growing up. But whenever in life they hear that word, they can clearly remember.

This fact even helped in learning many Hindi words, because I was born in Pakistan. Of course, some professional and typical words are confused, but as to day to day speech, Urdu and Hindi people are almost same, a little dialect difference. They don't even would know that the language is different.

I clearly state that I am tired of politics in case of linguistics and languages, because I love languages. I love Hindi as I love Urdu, no language belongs to a country or a religion. We should remove our biases and political prejudices.

You need to understand that Hindi and Urdu are independent languages. Urdu is not written in the Arabic script. It is written in Nastaliq.

Can Indians understand Urdu?

Most Indians never learn Urdu. Therefore, they cannot read Urdu written in the Nastaliq script. Hindi and Urdu are separate languages but they have the same base — Prakrit and Sanskrit. Urdu has a heavy layer of Persian and Arabic on top. So most Indians can follow spoken Urdu until it gets technical.

Can Indians read Urdu written in Devanagari script?

Indians who have learnt Hindi can obviously read Urdu if it is written in Devanagari because they can read Devanagari. But most Indians won't be able to understand it if the content gets too technical. Reading and understanding are two different things.

Disclaimer

All Indians do not learn the Devanagari script. Therefore, these Indians will not be able to read Urdu even if it is written in Devanagari.

Some Indians learn Urdu in school or out if interest. These people will be able to read and write Urdu even if it is written in Nastaliq. They will be able to understand pure Urdu also.

If I write a sentence in Thamizh language using the Devanagari script, most Indians will be able to read it, but they won't be able to understand anything. Being able to read does not necessarily make the language simple to understand.

Show a layman in northern, western, or eastern India a speech of Imran Khan, and odds are they will not understand anything that man is saying because his language is technical and quite pure.

Now let's write the same thing about Pakistanis and Hindi.

Can Pakistanis understand Hindi?

Pakistanis cannot read Hindi written in the Devanagari script, but they can understand Hindi till it gets technical.

Can Pakistanis read Hindi written in Nastaliq script?

I doubt it because Nastaliq is not made for writing Hindi. I mean you need to be quite inventive and add diatric marks to Devanagari characters to accomodate Urdu sounds. As Shah Rukh Khan explains in My Name Is Khan, it is ख़ान, not खान or कान.

Show a layman in Pakistan a speech of Narendra Modi, and they will not understand anything that man is saying because his language is technical and quite pure.

I can give you a sample if you want, and we can ask Indians and Pakistanis to read and see if they understand anything. I can read and write both Hindi and Urdu.

Yes, obviously. Instead, we Pakistanis can speak and understand pure classical Urdu, because it is our native language, that came into existence in Lahore during the Ghaznavid era near 11th century, and then it later got popular across South Asia. The older names of Urdu were ‘Lashkari’ and ‘Rekhta’, but ultimately during the late era of Mughals, the language was started being called as ‘Urdu’, which translates in Turkic languages as ‘camp’ or ‘army’. The glorious lands of Pakistan have produced excellent Urdu literature, greatest writers and exceptional poets. I would further say that, Pakistan is the only country that has any ancestral right to the soulful language of Urdu, and for this reason, it is both our official and national language. Today, Urdu literature, writings, poetry, music, Qawwali and Ghazal are all produced in Pakistan and no other country. This sweet and delightful language has played a vital role in shaping Pakistan’s national identity by uniting the wider regions of our homeland. Peace.

“Hum Ko Ma’lum Kai Jannat Ki Haqeeqat Lekin……” Mirza Ghalib (R.A), the celeberated Mughal poet.

The eminent Iqbal (R.A). Poet of the east, Muslim league activist and ‘Mufakir-e-Pakistan’. One of our founding fathers.

Quite comfortably. I've met a number of Indians in real life, and have had no problem at all talking with them.

Urdu has a lot of Hindi words that is why Hindi is easy for Pakistanis to understand. Urdu has a lot of Arabic and Persian words also. Plus some with either a Turkish root or some other variant of all these languages. These are the words, I guess, that Hindi speakers have a problem with.

So, Indian movies are as easy for me to follow as a Urdu movie. I do keep a rough estimate of the 'other than Hindi words' I hear in an Indian movie.
Where I have a problem, and need context for those are the words not used in Urdu.

First of all, the people of Pakistan are of four major groups: Panjabi, Baluchi, Sindhi, and Pakhtun, whereas each group has its own language with associated dialects. As you can see, Urdu as a language did not figure in as a native language of Pakistan. Urdu, in fact, came to Pakistan as a foreign language, as the speakers of Urdu where from Delhi/UP, who'd been tasked with heading up the new nation. Hence, their language, Urdu, was institionalized in Pakistan post-partition. Fastforward 70 odd years later, we see Panjabi-Urdu, Baluchi-Urdu, Sindhi-Urdu, and Pashto-Urdu - hybrids - along with the standard Urdu used by the descendants of the original migrants and the goverment. So, in fact, it is Urdu that is heard in Pakistan, not Hindi, and, in fact, Urdu is native to India where is it still widely used since everyone who speaks Urdu didn't go to Pakistan during/after partition.

Why are Hindi and Urdu similar at least 70 percentage?

You should hear Imran Khan's speeches if you think that Hindi and Urdu are 70 percent similar. They are similar enough for people to make sense of each other if and only if things are kept simple. Once terms get technical, Hindi draws from Sanskrit and Urdu from Farsi (Persian).

So the number 70 percent is incorrect.

But they are similar. And that is because Urdu is nothing but Persianised Hindi.

Why are Pakistanis speaking Hindi or similar Urdu Hindi?

Because Pakistanis are ethnically Indians. No matter how much they argue, until 1947, what is now Pakistan was the northwestern part of India.

Pakistan's creators looked at Urdu as a “Muslim” language and adopted it as the national language. Therefore, they speak Urdu. Otherwise Urdu is an out-and-out Indian language, having been born in what is now Uttar Pradesh.

Some technical terms and how they differ:

The Sun: Surya/Sooraj in Hindi, Shamsi in Urdu

Solar system: Saur mandal in Hindi, Nizam-e-Shamsi in Urdu

Electromagnetic current: Vidyutchumbakiya dhaara in Hindi, Barqi maqnateesi current in Urdu

Morality: Naitikta in Hindi, Ikhlaqiyaat in Urdu

Education: Shiksha in Hindi, Taaleem in Urdu

History: Itihas in Hindi, Tareekh in Urdu

Yes. They can.

The two languages were nearly the same in Pre-Independent India and this common lingo was popularly called Hindusthani.

They shared common words from Sanskrit and Arabic/Persian.

The day to day conversational Hindi and Urdu can be mutually understood.

After partition in 1947, Pakistan made Urdu its national language.

Official Hindi and Urdu drifted apart.

Urdu adopted more and more words drawn form Persian and Arabic and dropped Sanskrit based words.

Pure Hindi/Academic Hindi/Government Hindi dropped common and popular words from Arabic and Persian and adopted more Sanskrit based words instead.

The two languages chose totally different scripts which were mutually unintelligible to each other.

So written Urdu and written Hindi are totally different in appearance even if the same word is written in both.

Academic Urdu and Academic Hindi are almost totally different languages though they share grammar rules and sentence structure and sequence of words.

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. The popular songs use more Urdu words than Hindi.

As a person knowing Hindi, I can understand 80 percent of the Urdu spoken by the Pakistanis. I don’t know how much Hindi they understand but going by the popularity of Hindi films in Pakistan, I suppose they understand quite a bit of it, even if they cant read or write it.

GV

Hindi and Urdu are not the same languages. They are two separate languages by every definition of the world and only fall under the same group of languages.

Urdu sprung up as one of the many languages being spoken in and around the Muslim Quarters of Mughal India. At the time one would have difficulty distinguishing between the various dialects. Aurangzeb I believe was the first to use the term ’Zaban-e-Urdu’ or the Language of the Army. Later Mughals also started using Urdu while Persian remained the official language of the elite. The word Zaban-e-Urdu is a mix of the Persian word ‘Zaban’ (language) and the Turkic ‘Ordu’ (Army), the Mughals afterall were Turkic, to begin with.

When the British started ruling over the subcontinent they chose Urdu as the official language to replace Persian. It was a simple choice considering that it was what the Mughal empire was transitioning into on a day-to-day basis. Urdu was codified under the British.

Seeing this the Hindus wanted a codified language of their own. At this point, the idea of the Muslims being foreign to the Subcontinent really caught on and carries on to this day. In any case, this began the process of the ‘sanskiritization’ of Hindi and after the independence of Pakistan, the ‘Persianization of Urdu’ (although my personal suspicion is that the Persianization began because of the poetry of Allama Iqbal, the most dominant figure in Urdu in the 20th century).

They are a part of the same group of languages and share grammar but so do Punjabi and Sariki, and that doesn't make them the same language.

Hindu and Urdu are two separate languages by any definition of the word. There is no confusion about this (as is with English and Scotts). They have separate codecs, separate scripts, separate governing bodies and vary about 30% vocab in simplified form and even more in their pure form.

Yes. Pakistanis speak Hindi. Hindi and Urdu used to be predominantly Indian languages (in other words originated in what is now called modern day India). Together, Hindi and Urdu are referred to as Hindustani. Hindustani came to be used as a lingua franca in Northern India, Southern India, and areas which are now part of modern day Pakistan. The older generations of Pakistanis, a lot of whom are from the time before the Partition of India still speak the indigenous languages of Pakistan, i.e. Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, Pashto, etc. But after Pakistan became independent in 1947, Urdu was chosen as the national language of Pakistan and was promoted heavily by the government and was increasingly used as the medium of education and publication. Gradually, the older generations passed on Urdu to the younger generations and abandoned their native languages. This certainly happened in Punjab and is still going on in other parts of Pakistan as well. Because Urdu and Hindi are almost the same languages while being spoken, it can be said that Pakistanis speak Hindi as a first language.

Pakistanis can understand Hindi; they speak it well, but I doubt about their Hindi readings. As much of the country is Urdu-speaking, people are able to understand & speak it well, but I don't think majority of the people can read or write Hindi. People in the Punjab region, a minority of the Sikhs & Hindus, write Punjabi in Gurumukhi script; the rest in Shahmukhi script. So, the minority may be able to read Hindi, owing to similarities in the languages. Sindhis, mostly Sindhi Hindus, would surely be able to write, read in Hindi, if they have continued their heritage. But in any case, majority of Pakistanis can't read or write Hindi.

A very definite no Iranians do not understand Hindi, unless they have lived in India for sometime. Not only this, they will not follow your Farsi unless you pronounce it correctly. If you don't speak Farsi in correct accent no body will follow you. And this I speak with my own experience as we have lived in Tehran for more than three years.

With my children settled I had ample time and so decided to learn Farsi, not just to communicate with the grocer but to read Farsi literature. I purchased Farsi primers and started with the alphabets. As I had not joined any coaching class my Farsi accent was not up to the mark. This I learnt the hard way. After about a year one of my friends asked me to help her sister learn English. Though she was doing graduation the standard of her English book was at par with any third standard book of a public school in India. By this time I had learnt enough Farsi to explain to her the meanings of the English words in Farsi -

Or so I thought!

In the very first lesson there came the word 'try.' Very easy! We have used the word 'Koshish' so many times that we had forgotten that it originally comes from Farsi. I repeated the word number of times but every time the girl looked up at me blankly. I was stuck. What can be easier than this and I didn't know any other Urdu synonym of 'Koshish.' Finally I rang up another friend to ask Farsi word for try. 'Kooshish' he replied. This is only one example that I have given but it happened often. A slight change in pronunciation and no one will follow you. We in India are used to so many different pronunciations that don't even notice it. A mumbaikar speaking Hindi is very different from a Bihari speaking Hindi. And when a Bengali says 'I don't eat tea'' You know what he means.

True, they are crazy about Hindi movies. In spite of the fact that the Iranian movies are superb. The direction is world class. But there are restrictions. No female figure can be shown without full hijab- a long loose coat, a head scarf and socks. No song and dance sequence, no romance and no beautiful dresses. Mostly they are war or social movies. But a common man wants some entertainment which is provided in plenty by our film industry. We had gone to Tehran long after Hindi block buster 'Sholey' was released. The question to be asked was not 'have you seen Sholey?' but 'how many times have you seen Sholey?' Once I asked an acquaintance who boasted of watching Sholey 16 times, if by now he can follow the dialogues as there are plenty of Urdu words in it? His answer surprised me when he said that he could not follow a single word. They could not follow the Urdu words even though they have been borrowed from Farsi, because of the slight change in pronunciation. So forget that the Iranians can understand Hindi.

But I must quickly add that because of watching Hindi films so ardently, they know a lot about our customs and traditions. Many a times while having dinner at a restaurant or sitting in a park youngsters came to me and with hands folded awkwardly said- 'Nammete'

No, I have not spelt it wrong, this is how they caught the word.

Essentially, Hindu is a word used not to discuss religion, but to explain regional affiliation, for those who used to live near Darya e Sindh (Indus River), And people living in the region spoke some language they called it Hindi.

Now, Indus River is father of all the rivers in Sub continent, it spans most part of India as well as Pakistan. Which lays down the foundation of the fact that, there were more people who used kind of a similar language to communicate (Hindi) and the people were called Hindus.

Urdu came into being very late. It was a composition of multiple languages, which includes but is not limited to, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hindi, Sanskrit and English. Urdu uses Perso-Arabic script whereas Hindi has its own script.

I find Urdu polite and gentle comparing Hindi. Since, Urdu spans multiple languages, it is more expressive than Hindi is. Yet, it has words that are hard to understand for people speaking it since their births (don’t take it literally).

The reason most people deny both are same languages is, because they are looking into bigger picture, not just few words that are common. Spoken language can be understood by either party (Hindi or Urdu speaking) but written is a tough job because of the different writing scripts.

Apart from that, in India, this was the language of the poets. I can’t recall any poetic verse in Hindi but for Urdu, I have hundreds if not thousands just in my head.

No extent. They have changed and followed doctrines that are foreign to their origin/ancestors/forefathers. Pakistanis were always Hindus and away from Sanatanism. Had they followed Sanatanism they would not have converted to Islam. Hinduism is a minute part of Sanatan Dharma. Sanatan Dharma includes Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikkhism, Zenism, Orientalism and Yogism. Had Pakistani’s geared their doctrine upon Sanatanism and self realisation they would have defeated the would converters. Jinnah Dada was Hindu, Bhutto’s mother was Hindu, all these fellows have Hindu in them. Pakistani’s have become holier than though because since they converted to Islam. Real Islamic followers are no where like them. Real Islam is nothing like the barbaric mannerism of Pakistan.

Pakistan has lost touch with Shudh Bhasha. They speak Hindustani. Hindustani is not Sanskrit. Sanskrit is the language of the sub continent not these mumbo jumbo languages you get every 50 kilometres on the whole sub continent. Had Nehru not concentrated upon Edwina Mountbatten then the sub continent would not have been bifurcated. Pakistani cannot comprehend Sanskrit since their original doctrine of self realisation has changed. Look at Lahore: Lahore is a once Sanskrit City named after the son’s of a Sanatan Dharma Prophet called Ram (peace be upon him). They have changed it to mimic some beliefs and doctrines emanating from Greece, Mesopotamia, Middle East and the like. Pakistani’s still keep some Hindu surnames, wear like Hindus, eat like Hindus (veg food), have Hindu like culture BUT base the beliefs on a foreign doctrine.

Pakistan and India speak Hindustani to a great extent but not Sanskrit. Had they spoken Sanskrit and followed the doctrines of Sanatanism, problem would have been solved. In Sanatanism, everything is a science. No salvation theory. You have to salvage yourself through inward introspection. You have to look inward. Every person who read the Sanatan Text “The Bhagavad Gita” which are scientific lines of texts from the Sanatan Prophet Krishna (peace be upon him) has never converted or diverted from self realisation.

No. Common Pakistanis don't understand Arabic at all except religious preachers. Pakistanis use Arabic alphabets to write their native languages. So reading Qur'an is comparatively very easy for them but to understand what are written in verses they look for translations because no Pakistani can understand the meaning of Arabic sentences off course apart from Mullahs. Even Mullahs can't speak fluently in Arabic and have half backed knowledge about Arabic because it is not language of Pakistan.

You need to know Arabic is extremely complex language in terms of grammer. Even ethnic Arabs have difficulty speaking in standard Arabic maintaining the grammer correctly. Let alone other ethnic people understanding the language.