Language
As both the Anglo-Saxons of England and the early Frisians were formed from largely identical tribal confederacies, their respective languages were very similar. Old Frisian is the most closely related language to Old English and the modern Frisian dialects are in turn the closest related languages to contemporary English.
The Frisian language group itself is divided into three not mutually intelligible languages:
- West Frisian, spoken in the Dutch province of Friesland.
- Saterland Frisian is spoken in the German municipality of Saterland just south of East Frisia.
- North Frisian, spoken in the German region of North Frisia (within the Kreis of Nordfriesland) on the west coast of Jutland.
Of these three languages both Saterland Frisian (2000 speakers) and North Frisian (10,000 speakers) are endangered. West Frisian is spoken by around 354,000 native speakers and is not threatened.
Read more about this topic: Frisians
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