localize-ur
Localize: Urdu (ur → اردو)
Scope & Variants
Urdu is one of the great literary languages of the Indian subcontinent — the national language of Pakistan, one of 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India, and a language of culture and prestige across the South Asian Muslim diaspora. It descends from the same Indo-Aryan vernacular base as Hindi (called "Hindustani" or "Khari Boli" before the 19th century), but acquired its literary identity at the Mughal court and in the qasbahs (small towns) of north India through extensive Persian and Arabic enrichment. Modern Urdu emerged with the great 18th-19th century poets of Delhi and Lucknow (Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Ghalib, Mir Anis) and the prose stylists of Aligarh and Hyderabad.
| Locale | Name | Native name | Where | Default register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ur / ur-PK |
Pakistani Urdu (standard) | اردو / پاکستانی اردو | Pakistan (~70M L1 + ~100M L2) | Formal آپ |
ur-IN |
Indian Urdu | اردو / ہندوستانی اردو | India (~50M, primarily UP, Bihar, Telangana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Kashmir) | Formal آپ |
Default for general UI / international audiences: ur-PK (Pakistan standard, Karachi/Lahore/Islamabad register). The written standard is essentially the same in both countries — Urdu in Pakistan and Urdu in India share orthography, grammar, and formal vocabulary almost identically. Differences are mostly:
- Currency (PKR in Pakistan vs INR in India)
- Some everyday lexical items that diverge from English (Pakistan has more English loans in tech; Indian Urdu sometimes uses Sanskrit-Hindi crossovers in everyday speech)
- Religious/cultural framing (Pakistan is overwhelmingly Muslim — UI can lean Islamic by default; India-Urdu serves a religious minority and may need more secular framing)