Frisian language facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Frisian
Frysk
Bilingual sign in German and North Frisian, respectively, in Husum, Germany
Native to	Netherlands, Germany
Region	Friesland, Groningen, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein
Ethnicity	Frisians
Native speakers	480,000  (ca. 2001 census)e18
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo-Frisian Frisian
Early forms:	Old Frisian Middle Frisian Frisian
Dialects	West Frisian Saterland Frisian North Frisian
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Netherlands Germany
Regulated by	NL: Fryske Akademy D: no official regulation unofficial: the Seelter Buund (for Sater Frisian), the Nordfriisk Instituut (for North Frisian)
Linguasphere	52-ACA
Present-day distribution of the Frisian languages in Europe:      West Frisian      North Frisian      Saterland Frisian

Frisian refers to three languages that comes from Friesland, a province in the Netherlands. They are spoken in the Netherlands, in Eastern Germany, and in some areas of Jutland, Denmark. It is also spoken on the Frisian Isles (Wadden Isles) and Western German (East Frisian) Isles such as Borkum.

They are West Germanic languages related to Dutch and are also the closest living languages to English. Since they have been spoken since Roman times, English could descend from Frisian directly.

The Frisian languages are:

• West Frisian
• North Frisian
• Saterland Frisian

Images for kids

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  Old Frisian text from 1345.

See also

In Spanish: Lenguas frisonas para niños