Language
Dutch, the official language, is spoken by around 90% of the population. Around 453,000 people, or 2.2% of the population, speak Frisian as their first language, mainly in the northern province of Friesland, where it is recognised as an official language. There are several dialects of Low Saxon, recognised as regional languages, in the north-east and Limburgish, which is actually many different dialects, is another regional language spoken in the south-east. Turkish and Arabic are also spoken in the Netherlands, each by over 0.6% of the population. All this makes the Dutch culture rather diverse.
English is an official language in the special municipalities of Saba and Sint Eustatius (BES Islands). There is a tradition of learning foreign languages in the Netherlands: about 89% of the total population have good knowledge of English, 70% of German, 29% of French and 5% of Spanish. The great thing is that if you have children they do seem able to absorb languages easily, and unless your Dutch is very good they will soon be translating for you. (more…)
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