Language of Holland (Netherlands)
The Netherlands (Holland) is a country belonging to Europe, whose capital is Amsterdam. It has a population of about 17 million inhabitants (66th) and an area of 41,543 km 2 (131st). Its human development index is very high (10th) and its official currency is the euro. It belongs to the Benelux economic union (BE lgium, NE derlands and LUX emburgo). But what language is spoken in Holland (Netherlands)?
What language do they speak in Holland (Netherlands)?
Holland (Netherlands) has one official language, Dutch (commonly known as Dutch, but this term actually refers to a dialect of Dutch).
In addition, the Netherlands recognizes some provincial languages and regional dialects:
- Frisian, co-official language in the province of Friesland, in the north of the country.
- English is official in the special municipalities of Saba and Saint Eustatius (both belonging to the Dutch Caribbean) and in the autonomous states of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (Saint Martin).
- Papiamento, official language in the special municipality of Bonaire (also belongs to the Dutch Caribbean).
- Some dialects of Low Saxon Dutch are spoken in much of the northeast of the country, and recognized as regional languages according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. These dialects are spoken by 1,798,000 inhabitants.
Additionally, Yiddish and Romani were recognized in 1996 as non-territorial languages. Likewise, there are a series of movements in the province of Limburg in favor of the official status of the Limburgish language, spoken by 825,000 citizens.
The most learned foreign languages are English (90%), German (73%), French (29%) and Spanish (5%).
The most common immigrant languages are Indonesian (2%), Arabic (1.5%), Turkish (1.5%), Berber languages (1%) and Polish (1%).
The Dutch language
Dutch (Nederlands) is the official language of the Dutch, and is spoken by over 90% of the population natively. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language in the world (natively), after English and German.
The Friesian language
Frisian (Frysk), is spoken by 453,000 inhabitants, and is spoken in the northern part of the country, mostly in the province of Friesland, where 94% of its inhabitants are able to understand it, although 75% speak it and read, and 27% write it.
The English language
English (English) is estimated that 90% of the Dutch population is able to converse it. It is widely spoken on Saba and Sint Eustatius, where most education is in English only, although there are also some bilingual (English and Dutch) schools.
The relative proximity of the language to Dutch, the small size of the country, the dependence on international trade and the use of subtitles for foreign languages on television (instead of dubbing) are the main causes of the great command of English that it enjoys. Holland.
The Papiamento language
Papiamentu (Papiamentu) despite being only official on the island of Bonaire, is also the native language of the autonomous states of Curaçao and Aruba. It is spoken by 341,300 inhabitants of the three islands mentioned.
Share which languages are spoken in the Netherlands (Holland).
