Languages

Dutch

A Germanic language close to English, with global echoes.

Dutch is a West Germanic language, close to English and German, spoken in the Netherlands and Flanders and carried abroad by a seafaring history into Suriname, the Caribbean, and old colonial records. Learning it brings a practical, no-nonsense vocabulary and a doorway into a country central to trade, design, and agriculture, plus a reading knowledge of Afrikaans almost for free.