Languages in Suriname

Despite its being a multi-lingual country, Suriname maintains Dutch as its sole official language spoken by about 60% of its population, and two-thirds of households in Paramaribo, its biggest city. For making Dutch as the language of education, the government, business and media, the country has become as associate member of the Dutch Language Union. The Dutch language was introduced to the country at the time of its colonization by the Dutch. Later it was used as a medium of communication among the native Surinamese until it became the official language of the country’s educational system. Some features of the spoken Dutch were also later added by the immigrants from British India and Java while it continued to be heavily influenced by other languages, especially slang, spoken by residents on the streets.  

The other languages include Sranan Tongo, a major Creole language widely used on the streets, which was developed at the plantations when it was spoken between the masters and their slaves; Hindi or Samani, the third most-used language spoken by children of British Asian contract employees; Javanese, which is spoken by offspring of Javanese contract workers; Maroon, spoken by Amerindians, Caribs and Arawak; Hakka or Cantonese, a language of the descendants of Chinese contract workers; Mandarin, spoken by Chinese immigrants; and English, Spanish and Portuguese, which are the languages spoken by Latin American locals and their descendants and which are sometimes taught in some schools in the country. To improve links to the Caribbean and North America, current proposals have been made to alter the national language to English or Spanish, to fit the country’s location in South America.