Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and in Pakistan. It is also spoken by a significant number of people in other parts of India, such as Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic script and has a rich literary tradition, with a history dating back to the 12th century. It has a complex grammatical structure and a vocabulary that has been influenced by various other languages such as Persian, Arabic, and Turkish.

It is also the official language of Pakistan, and is widely spoken and understood there. Urdu and Hindi are very similar languages and are mutually intelligible, but Urdu has many loanwords from Persian and Arabic. In India, Urdu is also used as a medium of instruction in schools and universities and also used in media, literature and poetry. It is also spoken in the Urdu diaspora around the world, particularly in the Gulf countries, UK and the USA.