Sint Maarten Languages

The island of Sint Maarten is under the Dutch Kingdom and a significant part of the population speaks Dutch and English. Most of the people on the island nation can converse in the Standard English, which is the official language together with Dutch. Although not official, the language used by the some of the population is an English-based Creole, which is the island’s local vernacular. With many other different nationalities living on the Island, there are different vernacular languages used on the island as well.

More than 67.5% of the population has a working knowledge of Standard English while more than 12.9% of the population can converse in Spanish. 8.2% of the population can converse in the island local vernacular which is the English-based Creole. About 4.2% of the population can converse in Dutch while more than 6.6% of the population can converse in French. 1.5% has a working knowledge of Papiamento.

The majority of the population on the island can converse in Standard English. Other spoken languages include French creoles, Spanish, and Papiamento.

Other than the two major languages spoken on the island, which are English and Dutch, there are other languages spoken by the minority groups on the island. Spanish is one of these languages. The Papiamento used in Sint Maarten is a blend of English, French, Dutch and various West African languages.