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Facts about the Dutch Language
Dutch is spoken by the 15 million inhabitants of the Netherlands, and is also the official language of Surinam in South America, and of the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean Sea.The name Dutch comes from the word Dietsc, or Duutsc, as the language was called in the Middle Ages. It meant "language of the people." In the Netherlands, it is also called Holland, a reminder that the language evolved from the dialect of the old province of Holland.
Dutch, is one of the Germanic languages, and thus part of the Indo-European family. It is related to Frisian, German and English.
In the late 1930s, Dutch was made the official language of the northern part of Belgium.
Both Belgium and the Netherlands use a common literary language, termed standard Netherlandic or standard Dutch.
Dutch is often confused with Deutsch, the German word for German. English Dutch, German Deutsch.
Dutch vocabulary has contributed many words to the English language. For example, yacht, easel, cookie, and freight all come from Dutch.
Spoken in: Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, South Africa, Indonesia.
Region: North-west Europe and former colonies.
Total speakers: 24 million.
Official language of: Aruba, Belgium, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles and Suriname.
Statistics:
- Netherlands - 16,407,491
- Aruba - 5,289.
- Belgium - 4,620,150
- United States - 412,637
- Canada - 159,165
- Germany - 101,000
- France - 80,000
- Australia - 47,955
- Israel - 1,680
- Suriname - 200,000
- Netherlands Antilles - 4,000
- Total - 21,999,367
Classification: Indo-European | Germanic
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