Netherlands language

Dutch
Nederlands
Pronunciation	[ˈneːdərlɑnts] ( listen)
Native to	Mainly the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname; also in Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, as well as France (French Flanders).
Region	Mainly Western Europe, today also in Africa, South America and the Caribbean.
Ethnicity	Dutch people Flemish people
Native speakers	22 million (2016) Total (L1 plus L2 speakers): 28 million (2012)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Low Franconian (Frankish) Dutch
Early forms	Old Dutch Middle Dutch
Writing system	Latin (Dutch alphabet) Dutch Braille
Signed forms	Signed Dutch (NmG)
Official status
Official language in	Aruba Belgium Curaçao Netherlands Sint Maarten Suriname Benelux European Union South American Union Caricom
Regulated by	Nederlandse Taalunie (Dutch Language Union)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	`nl`
ISO 639-2	`dut (B)` `nld (T)`
ISO 639-3	Dutch/Flemish
Glottolog	`mode1257`
Linguasphere	`52-ACB-a`
Dutch-speaking world (included are areas of daughter-language Afrikaans)
Distribution of the Dutch language and its dialects in Western Europe
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