Been reading your blog for a while now, and today finally know the topic enough to actually give my opinion! Coming from a Pubjabi speaking background myself, I know that Punjabi and Hindi speakers both tend understand Urdu, as do Bengali speakers. Gujrati speakers also understand and speak Urdu. There are probably only a minority of Muslim people in East London who actually speak or understand Arabic. Arabic in its purest form is mostly for reading the Qur'an, which incidentally is not written in the Arabic that Arabs actually speak today. However Arabic although challenging is a beautiful language. So if you want a challenge for the New Year, learn Arabic, and if you want your choice of language to help with the work you do, Urdu or Hindi is probably your best bet!! Good Luck!