ChatGPT Voice Incorrectly Detects Hindi as Urdu? Here’s What’s Happening and How to Fix It

Many users have recently reported a confusing issue with ChatGPT Voice: when speaking in Hindi, the system detects the language as Urdu and starts replying in Urdu. Even more frustrating, the conversation transcript sometimes appears in Urdu script, which some Hindi speakers may not be able to read.

If you’ve experienced ChatGPT responding in Urdu or even Arabic unexpectedly — despite setting your preferred language to Hindi — you’re not alone.

Let’s break down why this happens and what you can do about it.

The Core Problem: Hindi vs Urdu Detection

Spoken Hindi and spoken Urdu are extremely similar. Linguistically, they share:

Nearly identical grammar
Similar sentence structure
Large overlapping vocabulary

The main difference lies in the script:

Hindi uses Devanagari script
Urdu uses Perso-Arabic script

Because ChatGPT Voice relies on speech recognition and language detection models, it may classify spoken Hindi as Urdu due to phonetic similarity. Once misclassified, it generates:

Replies in Urdu
Transcripts in Urdu script

For users who cannot read Urdu script, this becomes a usability issue.

Why ChatGPT May Switch to Arabic or Other Languages

Some users report additional strange behavior, such as:

Asking for a translation and receiving a response in Arabic
Being told the model does not speak Arabic
Receiving inconsistent statements (e.g., giving the date and claiming not to know the date)

These behaviors can occur due to:

Automatic language detection confusion
Context misinterpretation
Model switching between multilingual outputs
Session inconsistencies in voice mode

Voice interfaces are more complex than text-only conversations because they involve:

Speech-to-text conversion
Language detection
Response generation
Text-to-speech output

If language detection goes wrong at step 2, the entire chain can shift into another language.

Why Setting Hindi as Primary Language Doesn’t Always Work

Even if you:

Set Hindi as your app’s main language
Prompt ChatGPT to switch to Hindi
Repeatedly instruct it to respond in Hindi

The voice detection layer may still override those preferences if it interprets the speech input as Urdu.

This is not necessarily a refusal to switch — it’s a misclassification problem.

The Most Effective Workaround: Custom Instructions

One solution that has worked for many users is using Custom Instructions.

You can find this in:

App settings
The three-dot menu in the web version

You’ll see two fields:

“What would you like ChatGPT to know about you to provide better answers?”
“How would you like ChatGPT to respond?”

Add something clear and specific, such as:

“I speak Hindi and English but not Urdu.”
“Please respond only in Hindi (Devanagari script) or English.”
“Do not respond in Urdu or Arabic.”

Custom instructions act like a permanent pre-prompt applied to all conversations.

However, some users report that even with this setting, transcripts may still appear in Urdu if the speech engine detects Urdu.

Why the Transcript Appears in Urdu Script

When ChatGPT Voice converts speech to text, it first decides what language it thinks you’re speaking. If it identifies Urdu, it generates:

Urdu script transcript
Possibly Urdu responses

Even if the assistant responds in Hindi afterward, the original transcript may remain in Urdu.

This is a speech recognition limitation, not necessarily a language generation issue.

Why This Feels Worse in Voice Mode

In text conversations, you control the language explicitly.

In voice mode, the system decides:

What language you’re speaking
How to transcribe it
Which language to respond in

That extra automatic layer increases ambiguity.

As one user accurately put it, AI “doesn’t know what it doesn’t know.” If your spoken language could reasonably be Hindi or Urdu, it must guess — and sometimes guesses wrong.

Practical Tips to Reduce Misclassification

Here are steps that improve results:

At the beginning of the conversation, clearly state:
“Please respond in Hindi (Devanagari script).”
Speak slightly more formal Hindi vocabulary instead of highly neutral Hindi-Urdu shared phrases.
If it switches languages, immediately correct it:
“Switch to Hindi in Devanagari script.”
Use Custom Instructions with explicit script guidance.
If needed, switch temporarily to text mode and reset the conversation language.

Is Hindi Fully Supported?

ChatGPT supports Hindi well in text. However, voice recognition accuracy depends on:

Accent
Regional variation
Speech clarity
Background noise

Hindi is widely supported, but voice detection may not always perfectly distinguish it from Urdu due to linguistic overlap.

Where to Give Feedback to OpenAI

If this issue is persistent, you can:

Use the “Report a problem” feature in the app
Submit feedback through Help & Support
Provide specific details:
- Device type
- App version
- Whether it’s Voice or Web
- Sample phrases that triggered misdetection

Clear user feedback helps improve speech models.

Final Thoughts

If ChatGPT Voice is detecting Hindi as Urdu:

You are not alone
It’s likely a speech recognition classification issue
Custom instructions help
Explicit script requests improve reliability