Netherlands Languages

Netherlands Topics
Beginning Research
Guided Research Research Strategies Record Finder Finding Town of Origin Online Learning
Record Types
Cemeteries Census Church Records Civil Registration Court Records Directories Emigration & Immigration Compiled Genealogies Guardianship Heraldry Jewish Records Land & Property Military Records Naturalization & Citizenship Newspapers	Nobility Notarial Records Occupations Online Genealogy Records Periodicals Poor Law Population Registers Probate Records Religious Records Taxation Vital Records Websites
The Netherlands Background
Biography Church History Cultural Groups Dutch Word List Former Dutch Colonies Gazetteers Handwriting Historical Geography History	History, Military Languages Maps Names, Geographical Naming Customs Place Names Social Life & Customs For Further Reading
Local Research Resources
Archives & Libraries Societies FamilySearch Centers
Moderator
The FamilySearch moderator for The Netherlands is Daniel Jones.

Netherlands

Languages

For wordlists and help with using Dutch in genealogical records, see Dutch Genealogical Word List

Netherlands Languages

This list summarizes what languages are used in different records. For wordlists and help with using Dutch in genealogical records, see Dutch Genealogical Word List

Dutch: Used in Dutch Reformed Church records and Civil Registration after 1813. Used for any other government records. In most of the country except Frisian it was the commonly spoken language.
Frisian: This was the commonly spoken language in the province of Friesland and some neighbouring areas. Some records in those areas will use Frisian but often Dutch will still be used.
Latin: Used in Catholic Church records
German: Used in Lutheran Church records
French: Used in Wallonia Reformed Church records, and in pre-1813 Civil Registration
Portuguese: Used in some Sephardi Jewish records

For word lists and the basic grammar needed for genealogical research using documents of these languages, click on the links for each language, which will bring a page on the wiki devoted to that language.