Dutch is a Germanic language spoken in the Netherlands, the northern part of Belgium (also called Flemish there) and parts of Suriname. It is the ancestor language of the Afrikaans spoken in South Africa, which is still quite similar to Dutch.

Since many Dutch and Flemish people like to practice their foreign languages it is very difficult to learn more than the basics. You will notice that even after having reached a reasonable level people continue to respond in English after having started the conversation in Dutch.
Older people generally don't speak English though, so a bit of Dutch can come in handy.

In Flanders it is much more common to use the polite form than in the Netherlands, where it is nowadays mostly reserved to address elderly people. However, since it could be a problem to use the casual form where the polite form is due, and the opposite might simply invoke some giggles, we use the polite form in this phrasebook unless mentioned otherwise.

The pronunciation of the G differs greatly between the Flemish and the Dutch. The Dutch G can sometimes sound a bit like someone cleansing his throat. The actual border of the soft/hard G lies between the Rhine and the Waal.

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