North Frisian belongs, together with the other two Frisian languages Sater Frisian (East Frisian) and West Frisian, to the Frisian language group of the West-Germanic languages. This is a branch of the Germanic group of the Indo-European language family.
The North Frisians are living on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Also the islands of Sylt, Föhr, Amrum and Helgoland and some smaller islands (Halligen) belong to the North-Frisian-speaking area. Frisian is the second official language in the district of North Friesland and on the island of Helgoland (part of the district of Pinneberg). There are still 9 different dialects of North Frisian nowadays and about 8,000-10,000 speakers. A differentiation is made between the mainland- and the island-dialects.
According to UNESCO, North Frisian is “severely endangered” or in other words: threatened with extinction.
Hello - moin, mojn
Thank you - toonk, tunk
Use your tongue not just for kissing - E tung as ai bloot toocht deerfor än mak!
It is never too late... make your language famous! - Et as uler tu lääs... et snååken foon mån ån änkelten spräke as en krunkhäid, wat hiild wårde koon!
The North Frisian dialects are different from High German especially because of their more extensive system of vowels and consonants. In all the dialects the consonants have an additional palatalisation (sound produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate), which is uncommon for Germanic languages.
North Frisians in Germany (10.000 Speaker)