Dutch language

Germanic language with about 20 million speakers mainlyin the Netherlands and Belgium. Reckoned by the number of people who speak it, Dutch is the third Germanic language. West-Germanic family of languages and its usage can be traced back to the fifth century.

BBC websiteWe use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. It is spoken by 23 million people and is one of the 23 official languages of the European Union.

Understanding and speaking the local language makes everyday activities, such as grocery shopping, going to a restaurant or following the news a little easier and more fun. Notice the arrows under the images of a number of cities where Dutch is spoken?

Worldwide, Dutch is a national language in Suriname (South America), Aruba and the Dutch Antilles (Caribbean). Dutch entries, or entries in other languages containing Dutch terms, that are being tracked for attention and improvement by editors. Use our free text translator for Dutch translation to and from English. Dutch! As recent labour market intelligence by the University Council of Modern Languages (UCML) points out, UK industry demand by far exceeds the supply of graduates with Dutch!

It is, therefore, closely related to English, German and the Scandinavian languages. Dutch (like English and German), is a Germanic language derived from Old Low Franconian and Old Saxon. The institute offers Dutch language courses for foreigners on a regular basis.

Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands, also spoken in former Dutch colonies (Aruba, Sint Maarten, Suriname, Curaçao and more).