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The official national language of the Netherlands is Dutch, spoken by almost all people in the Netherlands. Dutch is also spoken and official in Aruba, Belgium, Curaçao, Flanders, Sint Maarten and Suriname. It is a West Germanic, Low Franconian language that originated in the Early Middle Ages (c. 470) and was standardized in the 16th century. There are also some recognized provincial languages and regional dialects. *Frisian is a co-official language in the province of Friesland. Frisian is spoken by 453,000 speakers 〔(Streektaal.net over Fries )〕 *English is an official language in the special municipalities of Saba and Sint Eustatius (BES Islands). It is widely spoken on Saba and Sint Eustatius (see also: English language in the Netherlands). The municipality of Amsterdam also recognizes English as an official language 〔http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/article20477295.ece〕 but on a lower status than Dutch, meaning that communication with the municipality can be done in English, but Dutch remains the language of publications, meetings, and administration. A large majority of primary and secondary education in Amsterdam remains in Dutch only, but there are some bilingual Dutch-English schools. On Saba and St. Eustatius, the majority of the education is in English only, with some bilingual English-Dutch schools. *Papiamento is an official language in the special municipality of Bonaire. *Several dialects of Dutch Low Saxon (''Nederlands Nedersaksisch'' in Dutch) are spoken in much of the north-east of the country and are recognized as regional languages according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Low Saxon is spoken by 1,798,000 speakers.〔(Streektaal.net over Nedersaksisch )〕 *Another Low Franconian dialect granted the status of regional language is Limburgish, which is spoken in the south-eastern province of Limburg. Limburgish is spoken by 825,000 speakers. Though there are movements to have Limburgish recognized as an official language (meeting with varying amounts of success,) it is important to note that Limburgish in fact consists of a large number of differing dialects that share some common aspects, but are quite different.〔( Streektaal.net over Limburgs )〕 However, both Low Saxon and Limburgish spread across the Dutch-German border and belong to a common Dutch-German dialect continuum. The Netherlands also has its separate Dutch Sign Language, called ''Nederlandse Gebarentaal'' (NGT). It is still waiting for recognition and has 17,500 users.〔Rapport "Meer dan een gebaar" en "actualisatie 1997-2001〕 There is a trend of learning foreign languages in the Netherlands: between 90%〔(European Union )〕 and 93%〔("English in the Netherlands: Functions, forms and attitudes" p. 316 and onwards )〕 of the total population are able to converse in English, 71% in German, 29% in French and 5% in Spanish. == Minority languages, regional languages and dialects in the Benelux == 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Languages of the Netherlands」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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