Dari, along with Pashto, is one of the two major languages spoken in Afghanistan. It is spoken by about one third of the population or some 5 million people. Dari is often confused with its close cousin, Farsi (Persian). Dari can be considered a closely related dialect of Farsi, and the two are mutually intelligible, though Dari employs some consonants not used in Farsi and makes use of accented words less prominently. Dari is written in a modified Arabic script and borrows heavily from both Arabic and Farsi. Dari is the language of wider communication in Afghanistan today.