Dutch - an Overview

Dutch (Nederlandse taal) is incorrectly called 'Holländisch' in everyday German, after the Dutch region of Holland [cf. the French 'hollandaise'], or 'Flemish', after the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium.

Today, Dutch is the native language of about 25 million people. Of them, 16 million live in the Netherlands and 6.2 million in Belgium (60% of all Belgians). Dutch is spoken as a second language in Indonesia and New Guinea, but in recent times it is being increasingly superseded by English.

There are many Dutch who speak Frisian as their native language; it is closely related to Low German. They learn Dutch as a second language at school and call it 'Holländisch' [Dutch], the language of the provinces of Holland.

In Belgium the inhabitants of the northern region Flanders speak the Flemish dialects of the Dutch. However, the standard Dutch language is used as the official and written language in Flanders just as in the Netherlands.

There are some 10 thousand people living in the extreme north of France on the Belgian border who continue to speak the West Flemish variant of the Dutch.

Afrikaans originated from the Dutch; it is spoken by 6 million people in South Africa (13 percent of the population) today as their native language.

Areas of Expertise for Your Dutch Translation

Our Dutch project management team has focused on the following technical areas (industry and technology), among other fields, for your Dutch translations:

  • Dutch in pneumatics
  • Dutch in the construction industry
  • Dutch in the electrical equipment and the electrical industry
  • Dutch in biotechnology
  • Dutch in chemistry
  • Dutch in EDP
  • Dutch in medicine, medical technology and pharmaceuticals
  • Dutch for hardware products
  • Dutch in environmental protection
  • Dutch in information technology
  • Dutch in aviation and space technology
  • Dutch for machinery and vehicles for construction
  • Dutch in mechanical engineering and plant construction
  • Dutch in communications technology
  • Dutch in metallurgy and the metalworking industry
  • Dutch in the pharmaceutical industry
  • Dutch in the automotive industry
  • Dutch in software
  • Dutch in telecommunications
  • Dutch in the packaging industry