hollandsk

Hollandsk is the Danish and Norwegian term for the Dutch language and, by extension, for things related to the Netherlands. In English, the language is usually called Dutch (Nederlands). The label Hollandsk is commonly used in Scandinavian linguistic writing to refer to the language and its varieties rather than the country itself.

Dutch is a West Germanic language in the West Dutch group. It is the official language of the Netherlands and one of the official languages of Belgium (primarily in Flanders and Brussels), and it is also used in Suriname and in the Caribbean territories of Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten, where it functions in administration, media, and education. Outside these areas, Dutch is spoken by diasporic communities and taught as a foreign language worldwide.

The language is standardized as Algemeen Nederlands (General Dutch) for formal use, while regional varieties include Hollandic, Brabantian, and Flemish. Standard Dutch and Flemish are mutually intelligible to a large extent, though dialects and regional speech can differ markedly in pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntax. The Dutch spoken in the Netherlands and in Flanders share a core grammar and core lexicon, with regional differences.

Orthography uses the Latin alphabet and is regulated by the Dutch Language Union (Taalunie). Dutch features common digraphs such as ij, ei, and ui, and uses punctuation similar to other Western European languages. The language has a rich literary and cultural tradition and is widely taught as a second language in schools and universities around the world.