Dutch Voice-Over Agency

Which countries have Dutch as a national language?
Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands, and one of three official languages of Belgium (along with French and German). It is also the official language of Suriname, although the country gained independence from the Netherlands in 1975. The Dutch language has official status in the Caribbean island nations of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, all parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Dutch is an official language of the European Union, and the Union of South American Nations.

How many people speak Dutch as their first language?
Over 23 million people speak Dutch as their first language. Around 96% of the population of the Netherlands and 59% of Belgians speak Dutch as their native language. In Suriname over 60% of the population speak Dutch as their first language, and another 24% as their second. In Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten less than 8% of the population speak Dutch as their first language, even though it is the official language of the islands.

Did you know…

• The Dutch language has had no official status in Indonesia since it gained independence from the Netherlands in 1945. The Dutch didn’t try to establish the language within the colony, preferring it to be spoken only by the ruling elite. Today only a minority of Indonesians can speak Dutch fluently.
• Although English speakers usually refer to the language of the Netherlands as Dutch and the language of Belgium as Flemish, they are in fact widely agreed to be the same language, and its official name is Nederlands, or Netherlandic. The word neder means low, and refers to the region’s geographical position, downriver at the mouth of Rhine, on the lowest dip of the Northern European plain.
• Many Dutch words have been incorporated into the English language. These include booze, cruise, frolic, gherkin, gruff, landscape, snoop and yacht.
• In terms of the size of its vocabulary, Dutch is one of the richest languages in the world. The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal (The Dictionary of the Dutch Language) is the largest dictionary in the world in print.

The Dutch economy
The Netherlands has an open economy, the fifth largest in the eurozone. Characteristics include stable industrial relations and relatively low levels of unemployment and inflation. The country is an important European transportation hub, and depends heavily on foreign trade. Industries are concentrated around food processing, chemical production, electrical machinery and petroleum refining. The Dutch invented the Stock Market, through the trading activities of the Dutch East India Company. The Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union and the World Trade Organisation.