Do people in Pakistan speak English? What it means for your driver

Do people in Pakistan speak English? In offices, hotels, airports, universities and courts, yes, a great deal. On the street and behind the wheel, less than most visitors assume. English has official standing, and the 1973 Constitution kept it in use for official purposes while Urdu was meant to take over, but everyday conversation runs in Urdu and in regional languages such as Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Saraiki. For a car journey the practical answer is simple: expect your driver to understand addresses, numbers, place names and a handful of travel words in English, and do not expect a long conversation about a changed plan. Put the important details in writing before the car arrives, learn ten Urdu words, and ask the booking desk to brief the driver. That same text-first habit is exactly what a deaf or hard-of-hearing passenger needs, so this guide treats them as one plan rather than two.

The decision summary

• Short city transfer, one stop, confirmed address: basic English plus a pinned map location is usually enough.
• Airport arrival with family waiting, multiple stops or a late flight: write it all down in advance, and share it with the driver through the booking desk.
• Long intercity day or a rural destination: assume little English, prepare a written itinerary and a contact who speaks Urdu.
• Deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-impaired passenger: run the whole journey on text, agree visual signals, and state the need at booking stage, not at the kerb.

English in Pakistan: official status versus everyday use

The legal position is less tidy than people expect. Article 251 of the Constitution names Urdu as the national language and says arrangements should be made for its use for official purposes within fifteen years of 1973, with English allowed to be used for official purposes until then. That transition never fully happened. English still carries a heavy load in government, the courts (pleadings are in English), college and university teaching, commerce and a large English-language press, which is why many visitors get through an airport, a hotel front desk and a business meeting without a word of Urdu.

Now look at what people actually speak at home. The 2023 census results, released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, put Punjabi as the most common mother tongue at around 37 percent, followed by Pashto at about 18 percent, Sindhi at about 14 percent and Saraiki at about 12 percent. Urdu is the mother tongue of only around 9 percent. Yet Urdu is the language that ties the country together: it is widely spoken and understood as a second language across the country.

So the realistic layering looks like this. A driver’s first language might be Punjabi or Pashto. His working language with passengers is Urdu. English is a third tool, strong on vocabulary he meets every day (airport, terminal, hotel, left, right, stop, luggage, toll, motorway) and weak on anything abstract or conditional. “The flight is delayed, so wait at the café and I’ll message you” is three ideas in one sentence. That is where things go wrong.

Why the numbers alone mislead

You will find wildly different estimates online of how many Pakistanis speak English, and they are measuring different things. Reading a signboard, understanding a spoken instruction and holding a conversation are three separate skills. Many people who read English comfortably, because school textbooks and road signs use it, speak it hesitantly. Treat any single percentage with suspicion, and plan around the specific person driving you.

Is English widely spoken in Pakistan by drivers? Cities versus rural routes

Is English widely spoken in Pakistan among the people who drive for a living? It depends on the job more than the city. The table below is a planning framework, not a survey: it describes what a careful traveller should assume, so that anything better is a bonus.

Two patterns hold almost everywhere. First, numbers travel well: flight numbers, house numbers, times written in 24-hour format and phone numbers rarely get lost. Second, directions from family members in a village often use landmarks rather than street names, “past the mosque, second turning after the petrol pump”, and those directions work best in Urdu, spoken straight to the driver by the person who knows the lane.

If you want the higher end of the English range, ask for it. A chauffeur service in Pakistan booked for business visitors is a different request from a standard transfer, and saying “English-speaking driver preferred” at booking gives the desk something to work with. It is a preference to be checked, not a promise, because who is available on a given day varies.

Urdu phrases for taxi journeys: ten that actually get used

These are Roman Urdu spellings, the way most Pakistanis type Urdu on their phones. Pronunciation will not be perfect and nobody will mind. The point is to cover the moments when a single word saves a misunderstanding.

1. Assalam-o-alaikum — the standard greeting. Reply to it with Walaikum assalam.
2. Yahan rokiye — stop here, please.
3. Aahista chalaiye — please drive slowly. Useful with children, older passengers or on hill roads.
4. Seedha / daayen / baayen — straight / right / left.
5. Aage / peechay / wapas — ahead / behind / back (turn back).
6. Kitni der? — how long? Point at the map or the watch for extra clarity.
7. AC chala dein — please switch the air conditioning on.
8. Mujhe washroom jaana hai — I need a toilet stop.
9. Mujhe Urdu nahin aati — I don’t speak Urdu. Said with a smile, it resets expectations.
10. Shukriya — thank you. Bohat shukriya is “thank you very much”.

Two more words earn their place: theek hai (okay, fine) and ruk jaiye (wait). Between them they cover most of the back-and-forth at a pickup point.

A text-first plan for a hearing-impaired passenger taxi journey

Spoken language is only one channel. For a deaf or hard-of-hearing traveller, or anyone whose speech is affected, the phone call that most transfers rely on (“I’m outside, which door are you at?”) simply does not work. Pakistani Sign Language is used across the country, but you should not expect a driver to know it, and you should not count on the relay or captioning services you may use at home. The fix is to move the whole journey onto text and visuals, and to settle it before travel day.

The UK government’s guidance on foreign travel for disabled people puts it plainly: accessibility standards and facilities abroad can be different to the UK. The practical response is to settle your needs with the transport provider before you travel, not on arrival. Applied to a car journey, that means four things.

1. State the need at booking

Write it plainly in the booking notes: “Passenger is deaf. Please do not call. Use text or WhatsApp messages only.” If a companion hears, give their number as the voice contact and the passenger’s number as the text contact, and label both. Vague notes such as “special requirements” get lost; a specific instruction gets passed on.

2. Agree the message format

Ask that the driver sends three short messages: one when he sets off, one on arrival with his exact position and car details, and one if anything changes. Short, factual, one idea per message. A driver who is not confident in written English can send the same information as a location pin and a photo of the car, which needs no language at all.

3. Carry a card

Prepare a small printed card, in English and Urdu, that the passenger can show. A version that works:

I am deaf. Please write or type. Main sun nahin sakta (or sakti, for a woman). Meharbani kar ke likh kar batayein.

Ask a Urdu-speaking friend or the booking desk to check the Urdu line and, ideally, write it in Urdu script as well, since some drivers read Urdu script more easily than Roman letters.

4. Keep a notes screen ready

A phone notes app with large text is the simplest two-way tool in the car. Type, turn the screen, let the driver type or point. Translation apps help with longer sentences, though their Urdu output can be stilted; keep sentences short and they cope better.

Text only booking communication: written pickup details and pre-agreed signals

Text only booking communication is not just an accessibility measure. It is the most reliable way to run any Pakistan transfer where the passenger and driver do not share a strong common language. Everything that matters should exist in writing on both phones before the car moves.

The pickup sheet

Send this to the booking desk, and ask that it reaches the driver unchanged:

• Passenger name exactly as it will appear on the name board, plus a second name if a relative is collecting.
• Flight number, scheduled arrival time and terminal, or the full address with a map pin for a home pickup.
• Number of passengers, children and car seats, number and size of bags, any wheelchair or walking aid.
• Destination address in English and, if possible, in Urdu, with a landmark and a phone contact at the other end.
• Planned stops in order, and anything the driver should not do (for example, no phone calls, text only).

Signals agreed in advance

An arrivals hall full of waiting families is no place to start looking for a stranger. Agree something visual. The name board is the obvious one; add a detail such as the driver raising the board when he sees a hand wave. Agree that a thumbs-up means “yes, that’s my car” and a flat palm means “wait”. Inside the car, a tap on the shoulder and pointing at the map is an ordinary way to ask for a stop. None of this is complicated. It just has to be decided beforehand rather than improvised at the kerb.

For wheelchair users or passengers who need step-free boarding, the vehicle matters as much as the messages; the accessible vehicle options page explains what can be requested, subject to availability in the city you are travelling from.

Asking the booking desk to brief the driver

The most useful single step is also the least glamorous. A booking desk that speaks both your language and the driver’s can turn your notes into a clear instruction in Urdu, answer the driver’s questions before he sets off, and act as the go-between if a flight lands late. That is the job a managed platform should do, and it is worth using deliberately rather than hoping the driver reads the notes.

A good brief request has three parts:

1. What to pass on. “Please send the driver the pickup sheet below and confirm he has read it.”
2. How to contact the passenger. “Messages only to this number. Voice calls to this second number.”
3. What happens if plans change. “If the flight is more than an hour late, message both numbers with the new plan.”

Send it early. A brief made the evening before gives the desk time to reply with questions, and it gives you time to fix a wrong address. You can do this when you request a journey through the booking page, or by writing to the team through the iDrive contact page if the details are too long for a notes field. What comes back is a quote and confirmation from the desk; until you have that in writing, treat the arrangement as a request.

Families organising trips for older parents face many of the same problems, particularly with long days in the car and relatives who prefer Urdu or Punjabi. Our sister service Pakistan Taxi, which runs on the same iDrive network, has a practical guide to planning intercity travel with older relatives that pairs well with this one.

Where language planning is not enough: safety constraints

A good communication plan does not change the security picture. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all travel to the whole of Balochistan, to many districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Peshawar and Swat, and to within 10 miles of the Afghan border. It advises against all but essential travel to Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the areas of Sindh north of and including Nawabshah, Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab, and within 5 miles of the India border, among others. Check the FCDO safety and security advice for Pakistan for the exact areas before you plan any route, because the map changes and your insurance may depend on it.

The same FCDO page advises against street taxis, e-taxis and app-based taxis, and recommends using taxis from reputable, licensed companies where you call and the operator contacts the driver. It also warns that local driving standards are erratic, especially at night. For a passenger who cannot easily talk to the driver, those points argue for daylight travel on longer routes, pre-arranged cars rather than hailed ones, and a stop plan written down before departure.

A worked example: one arrival, planned in writing

This is an illustrative example, not a real booking. A hard-of-hearing traveller from Manchester lands at Islamabad International Airport in the evening, heading to a family home near Jhelum. Her brother in Pakistan speaks Urdu; she does not.

• Two days before: she sends the pickup sheet through the booking request, marks her number “text only” and her brother’s as the voice contact.
• The day before: the desk confirms in writing, and the brother sends the driver Urdu directions for the last few kilometres from the main road.
• On landing: the driver messages a photo of the car and a pin for the meeting point outside arrivals. She replies with a thumbs-up.
• In the car: a large-text note on her phone lists the planned stop and the arrival contact. The card in her bag covers anything unexpected.

Nothing in that plan needs a fluent English speaker behind the wheel, and nothing depends on a phone call. The same shape works for a hearing traveller with no Urdu, which is rather the point. If your trip starts at the capital, the Islamabad airport taxi and transfers page sets out how arrivals pickups are arranged.

Questions people ask

Can I get by in Pakistan with English only?

In airports, hotels, offices and most city services, largely yes. With drivers, shopkeepers and people outside the big cities, you will get further with written details, a few Urdu words and a contact who speaks Urdu.

Is Urdu or English the official language of Pakistan?

Urdu is the national language under Article 251 of the Constitution. English remains in wide official use in government, the higher courts and higher education.

Can I request an English-speaking driver?

You can ask for one in your booking notes, and the desk will say what it can arrange. Treat it as a preference rather than a guarantee, and prepare written details either way.

How should a deaf passenger communicate with the driver?

By text. State “messages only, no calls” at booking, agree a meeting-point photo and location pin, carry an English and Urdu card, and keep a large-text notes screen ready in the car.