List of territorial entities where Afrikaans and Dutch are official languages

Legal statuses Afrikaans and Dutch:
  Countries where Dutch is an official or recognized language
  Countries where Afrikaans is an official or recognized language
  Dutch is a former official or recognized language of these countries
  Countries with a significant amount of Dutch or Afrikaans speaking immigrants

Percentages of Afrikaans and Dutch speakers (assuming a rounded total of 46 million) worldwide.

  Native Dutch (47.8%)
  Native Afrikaans (15.5%)
  Afrikaans as second language (22.4%)
  Dutch as second language (14.3%)

The following is a list of the territorial entities where Afrikaans and Dutch are official languages. It includes countries, which have Afrikaans and/or Dutch as (one of) their nationwide official language(s), as well as dependent territories with Afrikaans and/or Dutch as a co-official language.

Worldwide, Afrikaans and Dutch as native or second language are spoken by approximately 46 million people. There is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages,[1][2][3] particularly in written form.[4][5][6] As an estimated 90 to 95% of Afrikaans vocabulary is ultimately of Dutch origin,[7][8][9] there are few lexical differences between the two languages;[10] however, Afrikaans has a considerably more regular morphology, grammar, and spelling.[1][5]

Afrikaans and Dutch as official languages

Afrikaans and/or Dutch are the official language of five sovereign countries, which lie in the Americas, Africa and Europe. These countries are referred to as the Nederlands taalgebied (Dutch language area). The Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname are member states of the Dutch Language Union; South Africa refuses to become a member state although Afrikaans is integrated in the task statement of the Dutch Language Union.

Country Region Population
[11]		 Speakers Notes
(native)[12][13][14] (second)[12][13][14]
 Kingdom of the Netherlands
Dutch
Europe17,261,10015,449,000 (90%)687,000 (4%)De facto national language
 South Africa
Afrikaans
Africa57,725,6006,860,000 (14%)10,300,000 (19%)De jure nationwide co-official language
 Belgium
Dutch
Europe11,502,9006,215,000 (55%)1,469,000 (13%)De jure nationwide co-official language (majority language in Flemish Region and minority in Brussels-Capital Region)
 Suriname
Dutch
South America568,301325,000 (60%)215,000 (40%)De jure sole nationwide official language
 Namibia
Afrikaans
Africa2,413,643220.000 (10,4%)lingua francaRecognized national language
TotalWorld89,400,00029,100,00012,671,000+

Dependent entities

Afrikaans and/or Dutch are co-official language in several dependent entities. At certain administrative levels in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Belgium the Dutch language is a co-official language. The same happens with Afrikaans in South Africa.

Kingdom of the Netherlands

In the Kingdom of the Netherlands Dutch is the only language that has an official status in all spheres of administration. At the federal level, in most provinces and municipalities Dutch is the sole administrative language. However, in some constituent countries, a province and some municipalities Dutch is a co-official language, together with West Frisian, Papiamento or English.

Region Status of the region Status of the language
 Arubaconstituent countryDutch is a co-official language, together with Papiamento
 Curaçaoconstituent countryDutch is a co-official language, together with Papiamentu and English
 Netherlandsconstituent countryDutch is the de facto national language, except for Friesland and the Caribbean Netherlands
 FrieslandprovinceDutch is a co-official language, together with West Frisian
 BonairemunicipalityDutch is a co-official language, together with Papiamentu
 Sint EustatiusmunicipalityDutch is a co-official language, together with English
 SabamunicipalityDutch is a co-official language, together with English
 Sint Maartenconstituent countryDutch is a co-official language, together with English

Belgium

At the federal level Dutch, French and German are co-official languages. In the Flanders Region Dutch is the sole official language. In Brussels-Capital Region Dutch and French are co-official languages. In the Wallonia Region French and German are co-official languages, but in 4 municipalities limited government services are also available in Dutch.

Region Status of the region Status of the language
 Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen)RegionDutch is the sole official language. In 12 municipalities limited government services are also available in French
 Wallonia (Dutch: Wallonië)RegionFrench and German are the sole official language in different areas. In 4 municipalities limited government services are also available in Dutch
Comines-Warneton (Dutch: Komen-Waasten)municipalityFrench is the sole official language, but limited government services are also available in Dutch
Enghien (Dutch: Edingen)municipalityFrench is the sole official language, but limited government services are also available in Dutch
Flobecq (Dutch: Vloesberg)municipalityFrench is the sole official language, but limited government services are also available in Dutch
 Mouscron (Dutch: Moeskroen)municipalityFrench is the sole official language, but limited government services are also available in Dutch
 Brussels-Capital Region (Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest)RegionDutch and French are co-official languages

South Africa

Between 1910 and 1961 Dutch was a co-official official language of South Africa, together with English. In 1961 Dutch was replaced by Afrikaans as a co-official language. However, between 1925 and 1984 Dutch and Afrikaans were seen as two varieties of the same language by the Official Languages of the Union Act, 1925 and later article 119 of the South African Constitution of 1961. After a short period (1984-1994) where Afrikaans and English were the two co-official languages of South Africa, Afrikaans has been one of eleven official languages since 1994.

Since 2012 a new language policy has been implemented where working languages of all government institutions were established. Every government institution is required to establish three working languages out of the eleven official languages. Provinces and municipalities are obligated to taken into account the local language demographics before establishing three working languages.

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Region Status of the region Status of the language
Western Cape (Afrikaans: Wes-Kaap)provinceAfrikaans is a co-official language, together with English and Xhosa
City of Cape Town (Afrikaans: Stad Kaapstad)municipalityAfrikaans is a co-official language, together with English and Xhosa. Afrikaans is the mother tongue of half of the population
Northern Cape (Afrikaans: Noord-Kaap)provinceAfrikaans is a co-official language, together with Tswhana, Xhosa and English. Afrikaans is the mother tongue of the majority of the population

Dutch is not an official language in Indonesia, but the language is widely used in Indonesia as a source language after a 350-year colonial period. Certainly in law, Dutch has some official status as many colonial laws are available in Dutch only.

Although Dutch is the native language of people in French Flanders, Dutch is not an official language in France or French Flanders.

International institutions

Afrikaans and/or Dutch are an official languages of the following international institutions:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Holm, Jdohn A. (1989). Pidgins and Creoles: References survey. Cambridge University Press. p. 338. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  2. ↑ Baker, Colin; Prys Jones, Sylvia (1997). Encyclopedia of bilingualism and bilingual education. Multilingual Matters Ltd. p. 302. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  3. ↑ Egil Breivik, Leiv; Håkon Jahr, Ernst (1987). Language change: contributions to the study of its causes. Walter de Gruyter. p. 232. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  4. ↑ Sebba, Mark (2007). Spelling and society: the culture and politics of orthography around the world. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  5. 1 2 Sebba, Mark (1997). Contact languages: pidgins and creoles. Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  6. ↑ Gooskens, Charlotte (2007). "The Contribution of Linguistic Factors to the Intelligibility of Closely Related Languages" (PDF). Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Volume 28, Issue 6 November 2007. University of Groningen. pp. 445–467. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  7. ↑ Mesthrie, Rajend (1995). Language and Social History: Studies in South African Sociolinguistics. New Africa Books. p. 214. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  8. ↑ Brachin, Pierre; Vincent, Paul (1985). The Dutch Language: A Survey. Brill Archive. p. 132. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  9. ↑ Mesthrie, Rajend (2002). Language in South Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 205. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
  10. ↑ Sebba 1997, p. 161
  11. ↑ See: List of countries and dependencies by population
  12. 1 2 Eurobarometer 2012 - Annex
  13. 1 2 "Afrikaans". Ethnologue.
  14. 1 2 "Dutch". Ethnologue.
  15. ↑ Révision portant sur le traité de 1958(2008)
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