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Dutch language: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As Dutch Nederlands • Flemish language • Vlaams language • Nederlands language • Flemish Vlaams

Photos

Thematic map of Europe displaying the distribution of Germanic languages, with different colors indicating regions where English, German, Netherlandic (Dutch), Frisian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese are spoken. Striped areas mark regions where bilingualism is common, and language regions cover countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and parts of surrounding countries.
Netherlandic-German dialect divisions
A family tree diagram shows the evolution of Germanic languages from Proto-Germanic, branching into West, North, and East Germanic groups. West Germanic splits into Anglo-Frisian (English, Frisian) and Netherlandic-German (Netherlandic, German). North Germanic divides into West Scandinavian (Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian) and East Scandinavian (Danish, Swedish). East Germanic is represented by Gothic.
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Related Topics and References

Topics
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Key People

Joost van den Vondel
Joost van den Vondel
Dutch writer
Coornhert, Dirck Volckertszoon
Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert
Dutch author
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Jan Frans Willems
Flemish poet and philologist
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Philips van Marnix, Heer Van Sint Aldegonde
Dutch theologian
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Roemer Visscher
Dutch poet

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