The other day, I was telling my daughter about the importance of learning different languages. She asked me how many languages are spoken in Pakistan. This got me thinking a bit…
I believe the following languages are spoken in Pakistan, in some part or the other. Please add-in any which I may have missed. They are in no particular order:
That figures...no one speaks english.
That was a deliberate ommission, cz I am concentrating on local and regional languages. Thank you for pointing it out, nevertheless. :)
darri and farsi are spoken in Afghanistan..yes balochi is a seperate lang..Punjabi itself then has a different dialect as you go from say Sialkot to Pindi..it changes..and in Pindi it becomes...well...ugly...to say the least..but Saraiki is the most beautiful though.
Faisal..you have a very intelligent little girl there..MashaAllah..
and will you please contribute to Ponderings..thank you...:)
Never heard of Darri or Hindko, which areas of Pakistan are they spoken in?
I believe Darri is spoken in parts of NWFP and Balochistan.
And Hindko is spoken in some parts of Northern Punjab. I think so.
Faisal.
Darri is almost exclusively spoken by the afghan immigrants. I dont know if you can count it as a language local to Pakistan or not.
Another language is Kashmiri, or Mirpuri. But some would argue thats just another dialect of punjabi, but it does have a lot of unique words, exclusive to it.
makrani?
You can say Persian, instead of Dari, there are quite a few people who still speak PErsian, it was the court langauge before Urdu.
Other Languages are Chitrali, Kohistani and quite a few unique langauges spoken in the Northern Areas
Re: Languages spoken in Pakistan
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Faisal: *
The other day, I was telling my daughter about the importance of learning different languages. She asked me how many languages are spoken in Pakistan. This got me thinking a bit...
I believe the following languages are spoken in Pakistan, in some part or the other. Please add-in any which I may have missed. They are in no particular order:
Urdu: eveolved in the mughal court in northern india and is mixture of languages like english.
Punjabi: spoken in punjab with dialects blending in with east punjab and north. Most spoken language in Pakistan
sindhi:spoken in sindh
pahari: spoken in northern punjab.
Pushto: spoken in NWFP, northern balochistan. Balochistan pashto is more similar to the qandahari pashto and is more popular in afghanistan. NWFP pakhto is spoekn from jalabad onwards.
Siraiki: spoken in south punjab sometimes called sauvira region.
Farsi/Dari: Dari is afghan persian and is similar to tajiki and farsi. But no dari speaker will ever refer to himself as persian (because they are not) , same for tajik speakers. Spoekn mainly by refugees in Pakistan.
Hindko: once beleived to be more widely spoken now mainly in hazara area and few urban centres.
Balochi: spoken in balochistan of Pakistan, Iran and a few speakers in south afghanistan.
Brahui: spoken in balochistan only on a much lesser scale than before.
Kohistani: once perhaps more widely spoken now spoken in Swat /Dir areas
chitrali: in chitral, and some valleys
kalash: in southern chitral and some northern areas.
Burushaski: few speakers in northern areas
and many other langauges and dialects spoken in in few numbers
What about Gujarati?
I think Gujrati s spoken in india ...
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*Originally posted by Sandleen: *
I think Gujrati s spoken in india ...
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Pakistan aswell..
ahan
mujay nahi pata thaa but where in pak ???
Well, here is a comprehensive list of languages and dialects spoken in Pakistan. Yes, Gujrati is spoken in Pak as well, look under Gujrati below to find out where. Dari is spoken in Afghanistan and is related Parsi-Dari of Iran. Spoken exclusively by the afghan immigrants in Pak.
Also, Pahari-Potwari-Mirpuri is not same as Kashmiri language, although are related.
AER
BADESHI
BAGRI
**BALOCHI, EASTERN
BALOCHI, SOUTHERN
BALOCHI, WESTERN
**BALTI **
**BATERI **
BHAYA
BRAHUI
BURUSHASKI
CHILISSO
**DAMELI **
DEHWARI
DHATKI
DOMAAKI
ENGLISH FARSI, EASTERN
GAWAR-BATI
GHERA
GOARIA
GOWRO
GUJARATI
GUJARI
GURGULA
HAZARAGI
HINDKO, NORTHERN
**HINDKO, SOUTHERN **
JADGALI
JANDAVRA
**KABUTRA **
**KACHCHI **
KALAMI
KALASHA
KALKOTI
KAMVIRI
KASHMIRI
KATI
KHETRANI
KHOWAR
KOHISTANI, INDUS **
KOLI, KACHI
KOLI, PARKARI
KOLI, WADIYARA
LASI
LOARKI
MARWARI
MEMONI
OD
ORMURI
PAHARI-POTWARI
PUNJABI, WESTERN
PASHTO, CENTRAL
PASHTO, NORTHERN
PASHTO, SOUTHERN
PHALURA
SANSI
SARAIKI
SAVI
SHINA
SHINA, KOHISTANI
SINDHI
SINDHI BHIL
TORWALI
URDU
b]USHOJO
VAGHRI
WAKHI
WANECI
YIDGHA
Marathi speaking Pakistanis
What about Marathi. I know many Marathi speaking Pakistanis, most of the Marathi speaking are Muslims who migrated from Maharashtra (Like Nisar Bazmi, Suraiyya Multanikar). Also there are few Christians in Karachi , i think Goan Christians who speak Marathi and Konkani.
Most older people speak Marathi. The new generation has shifted to Urdu.
Quaid-e-Azam being from Mumbai was fluent in Marathi and his mother tongue Gujarati.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Bismah: *
Never heard of Darri or Hindko, which areas of Pakistan are they spoken in?
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Hindko sounds a lot like punjabi from my area in N punjab.
Its mostly in the areas bordering NWFP and Punjab I beleive. Darri im not sure.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by 5Abi: *
BHAYA
Could this be the version of urdu spoken by Karachiites?!
KHOWAR
and they have a language of their own, the Khowar or frustrated ppl of pakistan?! :)
what about hayderabadi? 
I found this from World Factbook:
Punjabi 48%
Sindhi 12%
Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%
Pashtu 8%
Urdu (official) 8%
Balochi 3%
Hindko 2%
Brahui 1%
English (official and lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries)
Burushaski, and other 8%