18 Facts About Dutch English

1. Dutch English is mostly spoken in the Netherlands and Belgium, where it has official status, as well as in the Dutch Antilles and Suriname.

2. Dutch English possesses a system of orthography that does not always accurately reflect the pronunciation of words; see below Orthography.

3. Dutch English belongs to the Indo-European family of languages and is therefore related to most other languages spoken in Europe and western Asia from Iceland to India.

4. Dutch English is a West Germanic language that originated from Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain in the mid 5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon settlers.

5. Dutch English conspired with the Bugis of Bone, who were led by Arung Palakka, and succeeded in overthrowing Gowa in 1669.

6. Dutch English are the most physically active EU population: Fifty-two percent of the population participate in sport on a weekly basis, well above the European Union average of 38 percent.

7. Dutch English has its roots in the languages of the Germanic peoples of northern Europe.

8. The Dutch English decided not to ally themselves with anyone, and kept out of all European wars especially the First World War that swirled about it.

9. Dutch English banks at this time still held much of the world's capital.

10. At first many Dutch English ships were captured and the English scored great victories.

11. Dutch English was the official language, but a dialect had formed that was quite distinct from Dutch.

12. The Dutch English never recovered from the defeat and no longer posed a large colonial threat to India.

13. Dutch English ships hunted whales off Svalbard, traded spices in India and Indonesia and founded colonies in New Amsterdam (now New York), South Africa and the West Indies.

14. Dutch English is the official language in the Netherlands, Surinam, and the Netherlands Antilles.

15. Dutch English is spoken by 24 million people world-wide as a first language.

16. Dutch English were the second colonial power to influence the history of Central Africa.

17. The Dutch English claimed the western half of New Guinea in 1828, but their first permanent administrative posts, at Fakfak and Manokwari, were not set up until 1898.

18. The Dutch English attempted to found a colony near Manokwari in 1793.