Knowledge of foreign languages in the Netherlands, in percent of the population over 15, 2006. Data taken from an EU survey. [2] (europa.eu)
Knowledge of the German language in the Netherlands, 2005. According to the Eurobarometer: [3] 70% of the respondents indicated that they know German well enough to have a conversation. Of these 12% (per cent, not percentage points) reported a very good knowledge of the language whereas 22% had a good knowledge and 43% basic German skills.
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 [8] 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.
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.[10]
The Netherlands also has its separate Dutch Sign Language, called Nederlandse Gebarentaal (NGT). It is still waiting for recognition and has 17,500 users.[11]
There is a trend of learning foreign languages in the Netherlands: between 90%[12] and 93%[13] of the total population are able to converse in English, 71% in German, 29% in French and 5% in Spanish.
West Frisian is an official language in the Dutch province of Friesland (Fryslân in West Frisian). The government of the Frisian province is bilingual. Since 1996 Frisian has been recognized as an official minority language in the Netherlands under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, although it had been recognized by the Dutch government as the second state language (tweede rijkstaal), with official status in Friesland, since the 1950s.
Luxembourgish is divided into Moselle Luxembourgish, West Luxembourgish, East Luxembourgish, North Luxembourgish and City Luxembourgish.[citation needed] The Oïl dialects in the Benelux are Walloon (divided into West Walloon, Central Walloon, East Walloon and South Walloon), Lorrain (including Gaumais), Champenois and Picard (including Tournaisis).
^"Cittaslow Vaals: verrassend, veelzijdig, veelkleurig". Retrieved 9 September 2015. The PDF file can be accessed at the bottom of the page. The relevant citation is on the page 13: "De enige taal waarin Vaals echt te beschrijven en te bezingen valt is natuurlijk het Völser dialect. Dit dialect valt onder het zogenaamde Ripuarisch."
[5] Ginsburgh, Victor; Ignacio Ortuño-Ortin; Shlomo Weber (February 2005). "Why Do People Learn Foreign Languages?"(PDF). Université libre de Bruxelles. Archived from the original(pdf) on 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2007-10-10. - specifically, see Table 2.