Dutch

Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken by some 21 million people mostly in the Netherlands (Holland) and the northern half of Belgium (Flanders, including Belgium's capital Brussels).

The variety of Dutch spoken in Belgium is known as Flemish. There is a dialect continuum between Dutch and Low German so that there is no clear boundary between the two languages. Some German dialects are closer to Dutch than they are to Standard German.

The word ' Dutch' comes from the old Germanic word theodisk that referred to the language spoken by the people as opposed to the official Latin. Theodisk became deutsch in modern German. In Dutch, theodisk became two different words: duits, meaning "German," and diets, meaning " Dutch, " a term no longer in use. Today, theodisk survives as tedesco, the Italian word for "German."

Prior to Holland's becoming an independent country in 1550, the English word 'Dutch' was used to refer to any Germanic language. To this day, descendants of German settlers in southeastern Pennsylvania are known as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

According to Ethnologue, Dutch is spoken by 12 million people in the Netherlands. The number of Dutch speakers worldwide is estimated at over 17 million people. Dutch is spoken by practically all inhabitants of the Netherlands and parts of Belgium, as well as in the northernmost part of France where it is called Vlaams (Flemish). On the Caribbean islands of Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles, Dutch is used along with Papiamento and English. It is also spoken as a first language by over half of the population of Suriname. Finally, there are also some speakers of Dutch in Indonesia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

Dialects
The dialect picture is somewhat complicated since Dutch is spoken in two countries.

Netherlands
•   Low German spoken in Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel.
•   Zuid-Gelders which is also spoken in the North Rhine-Westphalia area of Germany.

Belgium
•   West Flemish which is also spoken in part of the Dutch province of Zeeland, and in a small area near Dunkirk, France, on the Belgian border.
•   East Flemish

Netherlands and Belgium
•   Brabantian
•   Limburgish

Flemish dialects are characterised by a large number of French loanwords, e.g., the Flemish word for "fork" is fourchette, instead of the Dutch vork.

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