Dutch is the language spoken in the Netherlands. In Dutch the language is called Nederlands. It is also spoken in the northern half of Belgium (Flanders). They also speak it in Suriname. A language developed from Dutch called Afrikaans is spoken in South Africa and Namibia. About 22 million people speak the language worldwide. Dutch is related to German and English.
Dutch is a Germanic language, so it is related to German. The Dutch of before 1170 is called Old Dutch (Oudnederlands). The Dutch between 1170 and 1500 is called Middle Dutch (Middelnederlands), which is also called Diets. That's why Dutch is called Dutch in English (Dutch is called Nederlands in Dutch). The oldest Dutch book known is Wachtendonckse Psalmen which was written in 900. The first Dutch writer we know by name is Hendrik van Veldeke, who was born around 1150.
This language has its own Wikipedia project. See the Dutch language edition.
This page was last changed on 3 May 2014, at 20:00.