Dutch language
West Germanic language / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dutch (Dutch: Nederlands) is a West Germanic language. It comes from the Netherlands and is the country's official language.[3] It is also spoken in the northern half of Belgium (the region called Flanders), and in the South American country of Suriname. A language known as Afrikaans was developed from Dutch by the people in southern Africa and is now spoken mainly in South Africa but also in nearby Namibia. About 22 million people around the world speak Dutch.[4]
Quick Facts Pronunciation, Native to ...
Dutch | |
---|---|
Nederlands | |
Pronunciation | [ˈneːdərlɑnts] ( listen) |
Native to | Netherlands and Flanders |
Region | Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname; also in Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, French Flanders |
Ethnicity | |
Native speakers | 22 million (2016)[1] Total (L1 plus L2 speakers): 28 million (2018)[2] |
Indo-European
| |
Early forms | Old Dutch
|
| |
Signed Dutch (NmG) | |
Official status | |
Official language in |
|
Regulated by | Nederlandse Taalunie (Dutch Language Union) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | nl |
ISO 639-2 | dut (B) nld (T) |
ISO 639-3 | nld Dutch/Flemish |
Glottolog | mode1257 |
Linguasphere | 52-ACB-a |
Dutch-speaking world (included are areas of daughter-language Afrikaans) | |
Distribution of the Dutch language and its dialects in Western Europe | |
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. |
Close