Nederlands (Dutch)
Spoken in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname
Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people as a first language, primarily in the Netherlands and Flanders (northern Belgium), with a smaller speaker base in Suriname. Afrikaans, spoken by millions in South Africa and Namibia, descended from Dutch brought by settlers in the 17th century, giving it an unusually direct linguistic link to the African continent for a European language.
Writing system
What counts as correct
Dutch uses diaeresis marks — ë, ï — to show that two vowels are pronounced separately rather than as a combined sound, and it doubles vowels (aa, ee, oo) to mark a long vowel sound, so "voetbal" (football) is correct where "voetbaal" is not.
Why it matters
Precision, not approximation
Vowel doubling and diaereses in Dutch aren't stylistic choices — they change how a word is meant to be read. Itumo checks that both are applied correctly on every Dutch translation.
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Translate Dutch with Itumo
Pair Nederlands with any of Itumo's other languages — including direct African-to-African translation.
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