Knowledge of foreign languages in the Netherlands, in percent of the population over 15, 2006. Data taken from an EU survey.[8]Knowledge of the German language in the Netherlands, 2005. According to the Eurobarometer: 70% of the respondents indicated that they know German well enough to have a conversation. Of these 12% (per cent, not percentage points) reported a very good knowledge of the language whereas 22% had a good knowledge and 43% basic German skills.
English is an official language in the special municipalities ofSaba andSint Eustatius (BES Islands), as well as the autonomous states ofCuraçao andSint Maarten. It is widely spoken on Saba and Sint Eustatius. On Saba and St. Eustatius, the majority of the education is in English only, with some bilingual English-Dutch schools. 90-93% of the Dutch people can also speak English as a foreign language. (see also:English language in the Netherlands)
Papiamento is an official language in the special municipality ofBonaire. It is also the native language in the autonomous states ofCuraçao andAruba.
Another Low Franconian dialect isLimburgish, which is spoken in the south-eastern province ofLimburg.Limburgish is spoken by 825,000 speakers. Though there are movements to have Limburgish recognised as an official language (meeting with varying amounts of success, having previously been recognised as a regional language) Limburgish consists of many differing dialects that share some common aspects, but are quite different.[10]
The Netherlands also has its separateDutch Sign Language, calledNederlandse Gebarentaal (NGT). It has 17,500 users, and in 2021 received the status of recognised language.[11]
Minority languages, regional languages and dialects in the Netherlands and Belgium based on pronunciation differences usingLevenshtein distance.
West Flanders
East Flanders
Brabant
Southwest Limburg
Northeast Luik
Zeeland
Limburg
Central Dutch varieties
Urk
Frisian mixed varieties
Frisian
Overijssel
Groningen
The varieties in the Netherlands can be grouped into a major Low Franconian group, the one aroundAlmere and the rest.[13] Limburg is divided into a small area around Weert, a large area until Venlo and an area North of this.[13] There is another major group: Low Saxon divided into three areas.[13]Urk is separate.[13]Friesland hosts many of the varieties obtained.[13] They can be divided into Frisian, archaic Frisian (Hindeloopen,Schiermonnikoog andTerschelling island),Friso-Franconian varieties (Frisian cities,Midsland,Ameland island andHet Bildt) andFriso-Saxon (inStellingwerf and variously alsoWesterkwartier).[13]Possible clustering includes the following possible categories not mentioned hitherto:Zeeland andCentral Gelderland.[13]Midsland,Ameland island andHet Bildt can be grouped together.[13] Leeuwarden and possiblySneek can be grouped together. Dokkum, Stavoren, Kollum and possibly Heerenveen can have single varieties.[13]
West Frisian is an official language in the Dutch province ofFriesland (Fryslân in West Frisian). The government of the Frisian province is bilingual. Since 1996 West Frisian has been recognised as an official minority language in theNetherlands under theEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, although it had been recognised by the Dutch government as the second state language (tweede rijkstaal), with official status in Friesland, since the 1950s.[citation needed]
Themutual intelligibility in reading between Dutch and Frisian is limited. Acloze test in 2005 revealed native Dutch speakers understood 31.9% of a West Frisian newspaper, 66.4% of anAfrikaans newspaper and 97.1% of a Dutch newspaper.[14]
^"Cittaslow Vaals: verrassend, veelzijdig, veelkleurig". Retrieved9 September 2015. The PDF file can be accessed at the bottom of the page. The relevant citation is on the page 13: "De enige taal waarin Vaals echt te beschrijven en te bezingen valt is natuurlijk het Völser dialect. Dit dialect valt onder het zogenaamde Ripuarisch."
