There are several different languages spoken across Pakistan. Most people in Pakistan will speak several languages, mainly their own local language as well as Urdu and then also commonly a base level of English.
The most common languages are Urdu, Pashto, Punjabi and Baloch. Urdu is widely understood across the entire country and is often used for the government.
Punjabi is spoken mainly in the Punjab region which borders India and is host to the well-known city of Lahore.
Urdu and Punjabi are closely related to Hindi and are mutually intelligible, however have some minor differences based on the different religious orientations of the speaker. For example, instead of “namaste” used for hello in India, you will say the Islamic greeting of “Asalam wa alaykum” which is used in nearly every Islamic country.
Pashto is spoken along the mountainous region of the Afghan border in the east of the country. Pashto is a very different language to that of Urdu, however you will rarely find yourself in a situation where someone will exclusively speak Pashto unless you’re travelling deep inside tribal border areas of Pakistan-Afghanistan.
The south eastern part of Pakistan is a region known as Balochistan which runs along the border of Iran.
