Urdu Translation Services

Where Urdu is spoken and where your translation is accepted

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, where it is official together with English, and one of the 22 languages listed in the Constitution of India, official in several Indian states. About 70 million people speak it as a first language, and more than 200 million speak it in total, because in Pakistan it is the common language of people who grow up speaking Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto or Balochi. Large communities live in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Italy and the Gulf countries, and the destination decides the type of translation.

Urdu translation services for Pakistan and India

Urdu is one language in Pakistan and in India, but it is written in its own script, from right to left, and documents from each country follow their own formats. Many Pakistani records are printed in English with fields filled in Urdu, or in both languages side by side. A good translation keeps every name, date and note of the original and reads naturally to whoever receives it.

• Script: Urdu is written from right to left in the Perso-Arabic alphabet, in the flowing Nastaliq style, with letters of its own such as ٹ, ڈ, ڑ and ے. Handwritten fields and stamps are read letter by letter, and the translation marks any part that is illegible.
• Names: the same name can be spelled Muhammad, Mohammad or Muhammed in English, and many people have no fixed family name. Pakistani records identify a person by the father’s or husband’s name, shown as son of (s/o), daughter of (d/o) or wife of (w/o). The translation keeps each name exactly as in the original, so tell us the spelling used in your passport when you order.
• Dates and numbers: dates are written day, month and year, so 03/10/2026 is October 3, 2026, and a Nikah Nama can also carry the date of the Islamic calendar. Large amounts are grouped in lakhs and crores, so 1,50,000 is one hundred fifty thousand, and the translation writes them in the format of the destination.
• Documents from Pakistan: the national identity card (CNIC), the child registration certificate (B-Form) and the family registration certificate (FRC) come from NADRA, the birth and death certificates from the Union Council, and the marriage contract is the Nikah Nama. The translation reproduces every stamp, seal and note.
• Documents from India: Urdu records from India, such as old certificates and religious marriage documents, follow the format of the issuing state. The receiving authority defines whether the translation needs a certification, a notarization or the apostille on the original.