Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Dutch is the most spoken primary language of Belgium and the official language of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region (merged to Flanders). Along with French, it is an official language of the Brussels-Capital Region. The main Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium are Brabantian, West Flemish, East Flemish, and Limburgish.
The term Flemish itself has become ambiguous. Nowadays, it is used in at least five ways, depending on the context. These include: An indication of Dutch written and spoken in Flanders including the Dutch standard language as well as the non-standardized dialects, including intermediate forms between vernacular dialects and the standard.
Covering the northern portion of the country, the Flemish Region is primarily Dutch-speaking. With an area of 13,626 km 2 (5,261 sq mi), it accounts for only 45% of Belgium's territory, but 58% of its population.
Flemish people or Flemings (Dutch: Vlamingen [ˈvlaːmɪŋə(n)] ⓘ) are a Germanic ethnic group native to Flanders, Belgium, who speak Flemish Dutch. Flemish people make up the majority of Belgians , at about 60%.
The term "Flemish" came to be a term for the language Dutch, and during the 19th and 20th centuries, it became increasingly common to refer exclusively to the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium as "Flanders". Belgium divided itself into official French- and Dutch-speaking parts starting in the early '60s.
The Dutch language used in Belgium can also be referred to as Flemish Dutch or Belgian Dutch (Dutch: Vlaams Nederlands, Belgisch Nederlands).Dutch is the mother tongue of about 60% of the population in Belgium, spoken by approximately 6.5 million out of a population of 11 million people.
Dutch is one of the official languages in all four of the constituent countries of the Kingdom, [5] however English and a Portuguese-based creole-language, called Papiamento, are the most spoken languages on the Dutch Caribbean. [6] The Dutch dialects in the Dutch Caribbean differ from island to island. World map of Dutch-speaking countries:
Flemish may refer to: Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium; Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium; Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium; Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialect cluster spoken in Flanders; Flemish people or Flemings, inhabitants of Flanders