The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. (Die Grenzen meiner Sprache bedeuten die Grenzen meiner Welt.)
Dutch is spoken by roughly 18 million people in at least 12 territories. As well as being the primary language of the Netherlands, it is also one of the primary languages in Belgium, where it is often known as Flemish. There are also large communities in the United States and Canada, Germany, France (mainly in the north) and the UK, and Australia and New Zealand.
The former Dutch Guiana colony has also left a Dutch-speaking population in what is now Suriname. Dutch farmer settlers in South Africa influenced the development of the language that is now Afrikaans, which is to a large extent still mutually intelligible with Dutch, but considered as a separate language here.
