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As for the subject matters covered, we are ready to handle technical, legal, business, IT and financial translations, as well as a wide range of other translation and revision tasks.
Why is Dutch said to be between English and German colloquially? To answer this it is necessary to go back to the origin of these languages. Their common roots are in the West Germanic language family. The three languages belong to the same group and had been very similar until the Early Middle Ages, when they started to split and differ more from one another.
During the Middle Dutch period, from 1150 to 1550, many Dutch dialects developed. But in the 16th century the language went through a standardisation process that defined the language the Dutch population speaks today.
The Dutch language is officially spoken in the Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, Aruba and Curacao. Despite the standard version of the language known today, many dialects have remained characteristic of some areas, such as West Flemish spoken in Flanders and Zeeland, Hollandic in Holland and Utrecht, Brabantian in Antwerp and Limburgish in part of Belgium. Another very similar language developed from Dutch: Afrikaans, typically spoken in South Africa and Namibia. As to modern Dutch, nearly 23 million people speak it worldwide, including parts of Asia, Australia and America. The language has been, obviously, influenced by other languages, such as French, Latin, English and German since its origins.
The Netherlands, homeland of the Dutch people, is one of the six founding members of the European Union, and of course Dutch is one of the EU’s official languages. The country is also home to the International Court of Justice in the city of The Hague.