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A Dutch speaker. Dutch (endonym: Nederlands [ˈneːdərlɑnts] ⓘ) is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language [4] and 5 million as a second language and is the third most spoken Germanic language.
The countries that comprise the region called the Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg) all have comparatively the same toponymy.Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nedre, Nether, Lage(r) or Low(er) (in Germanic languages) and Bas or Inferior (in Romance languages) are in use in low-lying places all over Europe.
Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands. Dutch people as an ethnic group (Nederlanders) Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship (Nederlanders) Dutch language (Nederlands) In specific terms, it reflects the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Dutch Caribbean; Netherlands Antilles
Map of the Pre-Roman Iron Age culture(s) associated with Proto-Germanic, ca 500 BC–50 BC. The area south of Scandinavia is the Jastorf culture.. Within the Indo-European language tree, Dutch is grouped within the Germanic languages, which means it shares a common ancestor with languages such as English, German, and Scandinavian languages.
However, both Low Saxon and Limburgish spread across the Dutch-German border and belong to a common Dutch-German dialect continuum. The Netherlands also has its separate Dutch Sign Language, called Nederlandse Gebarentaal (NGT). It has 17,500 users, and in 2021 received the status of recognised language. [11]
The Dutch colonial empire (Dutch: Het Nederlandse Koloniale Rijk) comprised the overseas territories and trading posts controlled and administered by Dutch chartered companies (mainly the Dutch West India Company and the Dutch United East India Company) and subsequently by the Dutch Republic (1581–1795), and by the modern Kingdom of the ...
The Dutch name that is commonly used is Nederland, which is a singular form, whereas the official Dutch name Koninkrijk der Nederlanden like the English "(Kingdom of the) Netherlands", uses the plural form. In Dutch practice, however, "Kingdom of the Netherlands" is shortened to "Kingdom" and not to "Netherlands", as the latter name could be ...
However, both Dutch Low Saxon and Limburgish spread across the Dutch-German border and belong to a common Dutch-Low German dialect continuum. There is a tradition of learning foreign languages in the Netherlands: about 89% of the total population have a good knowledge of English , 70% of German , 29% of French and 5% of Spanish .