Dutch

Dutch is the native language of most of the population of the Netherlands, and about sixty percent of the populations of Belgium and Suriname.

Also known as Nederlands ("Netherlandish") in the Netherlands, or in some regions Hollands (e.g. in South Africa. The Belgian version of Dutch is also referred to as Vlaams or Flemish in South Africa.

Dutch in South Africa

The language was brought to South Africa in 1652 with the settlement of the Cape by the Dutch East India Company, and the 17th centrury Dutch spoken by the settlers gradually became the basis for the development of an indigenous form, initially referred to as "Cape Dutch" and eventually standardised into Afrikaans.

During the language struggle to have Afrikaans declared the official language alongside English, a simplified form of Dutch, referred to as Vereenvoudigde Hollands was evolved by supporters of Dutch. However that disappeared as Afrikaans grew in strength and influence.

In this encyclopaedia, the term Dutch is reserved for the original language of the netherlands, and is not to be confused with Afrikaans - even though some English speakers occasionally still refer to Afrikaans speakers as "Dutch speakers".