Frisian is a group of Germanic languages spoken in the Netherlands and Germany. There are three varieties, each with several dialects. Frisian is a relative of Old English, but not easily understood by modern English speakers. The language has few examples of literature and some dialects are endangered.
Frisian refers to a group of languages of Germanic origin. Modern Frisian is spoken in the Netherlands and is one of the two official languages of the Netherlands. It is also a minority language in Germany. It is also one of two close relatives of Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, which forms the basis for most of the English language.
While this language may be a relative of Anglo-Saxon, a modern English speaker cannot understand most Frisian words. Both modern Danish and Dutch speakers can recognize some words due to contact during the Hanseatic League, although the languages are not directly related.
There are three different varieties of Friesian. The most commonly spoken in the Netherlands is West Frisian. In Germany, East and North Frisian are the most used. Each language can have several dialects. Some of these dialects are no longer used or spoken, and some are considered endangered languages because there are few speakers left.
The ease of understanding one dialect over another depends on dialectical differences and also on the degree of variety among the three types. Indeed in most cases a speaker of one dialect would not be able to understand a speaker of another. Thus some linguists believe that the three variants are actually three separate languages and should be described as such.
There are few examples of Frisian literature in any of the three varieties. No writing exists before 1200. Gysbert Japix is considered the best known Frisian poet with works published in the 17th century. He advocated a return to writing in the language, which was followed by later poets and may have helped preserve the language in the Netherlands. Quite often, however, the language used to write in the Netherlands was and is Dutch, as Dutch was named an official language at the end of the 15th century.
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