Quote:
In the near term, I'm a fan of Arabic, Somali, and Urdu. In the long term, Mandarin.
Folks in Pakistan and India who speak Urdu as a rule also speak English. My experinece when stationed in Pakistan, while ancient, 1963-1965, was then, and I suspect based on friendship still in Karachi and among overseas Pakistanis here where we live in the States is that English works fine. "Against putting time into Urdu." My personal comment/opinion here. English is the defacto language of all of Pakistan and is required in all public schools in Pakistan.