Hindi is the most widely spoken language of India, and is the primary
official language of the Republic of India. According to the number of native speakers, Hindi is one of the most widely
spoken languages in the world.
Hindi is spoken widely in the north-central regions of India. It is spoken
much less widely in South India. India is spoken as the primary language in the
states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Hindi is additionally spoken in many other countries throughout the world. A
large number of Indian expatriates live in English-speaking regions such as the
United Kingdom, America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa.
Hindi is spoken in countries which neighbor India, such as Bangladesh and
Nepal. Hindi and Urdu are essentially dialects of the same language, and Urdu
is spoken in Pakistan.
Hindi derives its vocabulary from several major sources, including Sanskrit,
Persian, and Arabic. English vocabulary has been incorporated into Hindi also,
especially in colloquial Hindi.
Hindi and Urdu are essentially different registers of the same language.
They differ mainly in vocabulary, most prominently in formal and literary
styles.
Literary Hindi draws from Sanskrit whereas literary Urdu draws from
Persian and Arabic. However, in colloquial Hindi-Urdu, the vocabulary is mixed.
Grammatically, the two languages are basically identical. Some people refer to
the language as “Hindustaani”, and consider Hindi and Urdu to be the two
primary dialects of this language.
Hindi originated in 17th century by the mixing of the Polulau languages of
the areas around Delhi (capital of India) with Urdu and Persian
(brought in by Muslim rulers from the west).
Hindi is indirectly derived from
Sanskrit, the ancient language of
India from which most of the Indian languages are derived. Hindi is heavily
influenced by Urdu and even Persian, although it still retains the Devanagari
script of Sanskrit.
Spoken Hindi and spoken Urdu are so similar that they are mutually
intelligible by native speakers. In their literary forms, however, Hindi borrows
more heavily from Sanskrit while Urdu borrows vocabulary from Persian and
Arabic.