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Language code: fy

Technical information about ISO 639 language code fy

Documentation

The table below provides technical details for the Western Frisian language, designated by the fy code from the ISO 639-1 standard.

Code

fy

Name

Official

Western Frisian

Native

Frysk

Family
Germanic
Text direction

Left-to-Right

Language varieties
Clay FrisianWood FrisianSouthwest FrisianHindeloopen FrisianSchiermonnikoog Frisian
Related languages
Saterland FrisianNorth FrisianEnglishDutch
Key facts
Often cited as the closest continental language to EnglishDistinctive use of double vowels and the digraph “ij” to show vowel lengthPersonal pronouns still mark two cases (nominative vs. oblique)Possesses a lively modern literary scene spanning novels, poetry and children’s booksOnce functioned as a coastal trade language around the North Sea.
Sample phrase

Hallo, hoe giet it mei dy?

Character encodings

UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32

Supported in Localizely

West Frisian belongs to the Indo-European language family, specifically to the Germanic subgroup. It is officially used in Friesland, the Netherlands, and is written using the Latin script. It is estimated that there are more than 470,000 speakers worldwide.

Language presence globally

Speakers

Netherlands

470K

*The graph shows a rough estimate of Western Frisian speakers in countries where it is an official or minority language.

Related locale codes

fy-NL – Western Frisian (Netherlands)

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