Dutch is spoken by
the 15 million inhabitants of the Netherlands, and is also the
official language of Surinam in South America, and of the
Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. It is also spoken in
northern Belgium but there the language is generally referred to
as Flemish.
Dutch, like
English, is one of the Germanic languages, and thus part of the
Indo-European family. It stands about midway between English and
German and is the closest to English of any of the major
languages.
Long a maritime
nation, the Dutch have left their imprint on many languages of
the world. Many Dutch nautical terms have been adopted into other
languages. Dutch idioms and syntax are still evident in
present-day Indonesian. English words of Dutch origin include
deck, yacht, easel, freight. furlough, brandy, cookie, cruller,
waffle, maelstrom, isinglass, and Santa Claus. Many place names
in New York City, such as Brooklyn, Flushing, Harlem, Staten
Island, and the Bowery, are reminders of the old Dutch colony of
New Amsterdam.