Why is the two-year course sequence called “Hindi-Urdu”?

Hindi and “Urdu” share a common grammar, so from a linguistic point of view they are one language. Our program teaches the Hindi (Devanagari) script at the beginning of the elementary class, and the Urdu script in the spring semester of the elementary class, so everybody ends up having two “languages” for almost the price of one. In terms of vocabulary, we try to emphasize common core vocabulary rather than extremely Sanskritized or Persianized words.