Dutch Language Union

From Free net encyclopedia

**Nederlandse Taalunie**
Template:Border Flag of the NTU
Official languages	Dutch
Executive Secretariat	Linde van den Bosch (since 2004)
Established	1980
Member states	2 (plus 1 associate member)
Headquarters	The Hague, the Netherlands
Official site	Official site of NTU

The Nederlandse Taalunie or Dutch Language Union is an international institution for discussing issues relating to the Dutch language. It was founded in 1980 by the Netherlands and Belgium. Surinam has been an associate member of the Taalunie since 2004. An important accomplishment of the Union has been the modification of the Dutch orthography in 1995.

Among the publications of the Union is the well-known Woordenlijst Nederlandse taal, commonly known as the Groene boekje ("little green book"), because of its distinctive green colour. The green book is the official orthographic and grammatical reference of the Dutch language. It is laid out like a dictionary, including plural forms and spelling, but without the actual definitions of the words. The Van Dale dictionary is commonly accepted as the official Dutch dictionary (much like the Oxford English Dictionary for Anglophones). The Van Dale Groot woordenboek der Nederlandse taal, often called dikke Van Dale ("fat Van Dale") is split into three tomes (A-I, J-R, S-Z) and is usually updated every 7-8 years. The most recent version is the 14th edition from 2005.

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