Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands (also known as Holland), and among the official languages of Belgium, Suriname, Aruba, and the Netherlands Antilles. It is a minority language in northern France. With over 22 million speakers it is the sixth largest language in the European Union.

Dutch is a West Germanic language, and as such one of the closest relatives of English. This means that many Dutch words look familiar to anyone who speaks English, and the number of grammatical differences is limited. Yet, some time and energy has to be invested to master the basics of any new language.