The northern areas are home to at least five major local languages, Shina, Burushaski, Balti, Khowar and Wakhi, each tied to a particular valley or district rather than spoken uniformly across the region. None of this affects a visitor much day to day: Urdu is understood almost everywhere, and English is widely spoken in hotels, restaurants and tour offices in the main towns.
This is worth knowing mainly out of interest, and because the diversity itself is one of the more distinctive things about the region. For more on the culture behind it, see our travel guide.
Do you need to speak Urdu or a local language?
No. Urdu is the language you will actually need, and it works everywhere from Chitral to Skardu, in hotels, shops, transport and with most guides. English is common in tourism-facing businesses in Gilgit, Hunza and Skardu, less so in smaller villages. Knowing a handful of words in the local language of wherever you are is appreciated but never expected.
Shina
Shina is the most widely spoken language in Gilgit-Baltistan, used across Gilgit district, parts of Astore, Diamer and Kohistan, with around 1.1 million speakers in total. It is an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic group, in the same broad family as Urdu, Punjabi and most languages of the Indian subcontinent, though not mutually understandable with them.
Burushaski
Burushaski is spoken mainly in Hunza, Nagar and Yasin, and by smaller communities in Gilgit and Ghizer, with around 130,000 speakers. It is a linguistic isolate: despite various attempts, no one has convincingly linked it to any other known language family, which makes it one of the more unusual languages in the region academically as well as locally.
Balti
Balti is the dominant language of Baltistan, spoken by around 425,000 people around Skardu, Shigar, Khaplu and the surrounding valleys. Unlike its Dardic and Iranian neighbours, Balti is a Tibetic language, part of the Sino-Tibetan family, reflecting Baltistan's historical and cultural links to Tibet before the region's conversion to Islam. It is now written mainly in the Perso-Arabic script, though the older Tibetan script is still used in some contexts.
Khowar
Khowar is the main language of Chitral, spoken by roughly 580,000 people there and in parts of Gilgit-Baltistan's Ghizer district and upper Swat. It is another Dardic Indo-Aryan language, and linguists have noted that it preserves older grammatical features closer to Sanskrit than most modern languages in the family.
Wakhi
Wakhi is spoken by a smaller number of people across the highest, most remote valleys: Gojal in upper Hunza, and parts of Ishkoman, Yasin, Gupis and the Yarkhun valley near the Chitral border. Gojal has the largest Wakhi-speaking population in Pakistan. It is an Eastern Iranian language, unrelated to its Dardic and Tibetic neighbours, and is also spoken across the border in Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor, Tajikistan and western China.
Smaller languages worth knowing about
Beyond the five larger languages, a handful of smaller ones survive in single valleys or villages. Domaaki, spoken by a small community traditionally associated with music and blacksmithing in Hunza and Nagar, is now down to only a few dozen fluent speakers between its two villages and is classed as severely endangered. Kalasha, spoken in the Kalash valleys near Chitral, belongs to the same Dardic family as Khowar but is distinct enough that Kalasha and Khowar speakers cannot simply understand each other. These smaller languages are a reminder of how much variation the region holds even beyond its main five.
Why so many languages in one region
The short answer is geography. Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral are a maze of valleys separated by some of the highest mountains on earth, historically linked more by narrow passes than open roads, many of them closed by snow for half the year. Communities in adjoining valleys could be isolated from each other for much of the year, which let distinct languages persist side by side, from different families entirely, over an area smaller than many single-language regions elsewhere in Pakistan. It is one reason linguists have spent so much time studying this part of the world specifically.
A few useful phrases
Since Urdu covers almost every situation a visitor will meet, these are worth knowing more as a courtesy than a necessity.
| English | Urdu |
|---|---|
| Hello | Assalam-o-Alaikum |
| Thank you | Shukriya |
| How much? | Kitne ka hai? |
| Water | Paani |
| Good, fine | Theek hai |
Learning a single greeting in the local language of wherever you are, such as "Ustuli" in Burushaski or "Ho Cho" in Balti, tends to get a smile more than a full phrasebook does.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main language spoken in the northern areas?
There isn't one single main language. Shina is the most widely spoken across Gilgit-Baltistan overall, but Burushaski dominates in Hunza and Nagar, Balti in Baltistan, and Khowar in Chitral.
Is Urdu understood in the northern areas?
Yes, almost universally. Urdu is the practical language for travellers throughout Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral.
Is Burushaski related to Urdu or any other language?
No. Burushaski is a language isolate, meaning it has no proven relationship to any other language family, including the Indo-Aryan family that Urdu belongs to.
Do people in the northern areas speak English?
English is common in hotels, restaurants and tour offices in Gilgit, Hunza and Skardu, and less common in smaller villages, where Urdu is more reliable.
