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From: Michiel Meeuwissen <meeuwiss@fys.ruu.nl>
Subject: Re: easiest lang for beginner (Dutch)
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Date: Wed, 15 May 1996 14:37:35 GMT
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Organization: Physics and Astronomy, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Osmo Ronkanen wrote:

> >speakers (15 million in the netherlands and 5 million in belgium)
> 
> How about Afrikaans? Do you understand that? Is Dutch spoken in other
> former colonies?

It's not difficult to understand Afrikaans, for a dutchman, but easily
recognizable as not being Dutch. It's really another language as it has
e.g. its own literature, while flemish and dutch literature form a
unity. 

Dutch is also an official language of Surinam, but most people there
speak other languages, like Sranan. The number of people in Surinam and
the Antils is anyway very few, only a few hunderd-thousand.  Also in
Indonesia quite a lot know Dutch as a second language. I don't know any
numbers.  

Michiel
   
-- 
% Michiel Meeuwissen  (meeuwiss@fys.ruu.nl)
% http://www.fys.ruu.nl/~meeuwiss
