The closest language to English that is still used today is Frisian, spoken by about 500,000 people living in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. It is much like English, and many words are the same. The two languages were even closer before Old English changed to Middle English. Today, speakers of the two languages would not be able to understand each other. Dutch is spoken by over 20 million people, and is more distant from English. The number of speakers of German is even greater, and even more distant. All these languages belong to the same West Germanic family as English.
ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY k l oʊ s ɪ s t WORD_BOUNDARY l æ ŋ ɡ w ɪ d̠ʒ WORD_BOUNDARY t ʊ WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ ŋ ɡ l ɪ ʃ WORD_BOUNDARY ð æ t WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY s t ɪ l WORD_BOUNDARY j uː z d WORD_BOUNDARY t ə d eɪ WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY f ɹ ɪ ʒ ə n WORD_BOUNDARY s p oʊ k ə n WORD_BOUNDARY b aɪ WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ b aʊ t WORD_BOUNDARY f aɪ v h ʌ n d ɹ ɪ d WORD_BOUNDARY z iə ɹ oʊ z iə ɹ oʊ WORD_BOUNDARY z iə ɹ oʊ WORD_BOUNDARY p iː p ə l WORD_BOUNDARY l ɪ v ɪ ŋ WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ n ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY n ɛ ð ɜː l ə n d z WORD_BOUNDARY d̠ʒ ɜː m ə n i WORD_BOUNDARY æ n d WORD_BOUNDARY d ɛ n m ɑ ɹ k WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ t WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY m ʌ t̠ʃ WORD_BOUNDARY l aɪ k WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ ŋ ɡ l ɪ ʃ WORD_BOUNDARY æ n d WORD_BOUNDARY m ɛ n i WORD_BOUNDARY w ɜː d z WORD_BOUNDARY ɑ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY s eɪ m WORD_BOUNDARY ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY t uː WORD_BOUNDARY l æ ŋ ɡ w ɪ d̠ʒ ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY w ɜː ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY iː v ə n WORD_BOUNDARY k l oʊ s ə ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY b ɪ f ɔ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY oʊ l d WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ ŋ ɡ l ɪ ʃ WORD_BOUNDARY t̠ʃ eɪ n d̠ʒ d WORD_BOUNDARY t ə WORD_BOUNDARY m ɪ d ə l WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ ŋ ɡ l ɪ ʃ WORD_BOUNDARY t ə d eɪ WORD_BOUNDARY s p iː k ə ɹ z WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY t uː WORD_BOUNDARY l æ ŋ ɡ w ɪ d̠ʒ ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY w ʊ d WORD_BOUNDARY n ɑ t WORD_BOUNDARY b iː WORD_BOUNDARY eɪ b ə l WORD_BOUNDARY t ʊ WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ n d ə ɹ s t æ n d WORD_BOUNDARY iː t̠ʃ WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ ð ə ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY d ʌ t̠ʃ WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY s p oʊ k ə n WORD_BOUNDARY b aɪ WORD_BOUNDARY oʊ v ə ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY t w ɛ n t i WORD_BOUNDARY m ɪ l iə n WORD_BOUNDARY p iː p ə l WORD_BOUNDARY æ n d WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY m ɔ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY d ɪ s t ə n t WORD_BOUNDARY f ɹ ʌ m WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ ŋ ɡ l ɪ ʃ WORD_BOUNDARY ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY n ʌ m b ə ɹ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY s p iː k ə ɹ z WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY d̠ʒ ɜː m ə n WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY iː v ə n WORD_BOUNDARY ɡ ɹ eɪ t ə ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY æ n d WORD_BOUNDARY iː v ə n WORD_BOUNDARY m ɔ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY d ɪ s t ə n t WORD_BOUNDARY ɔ l WORD_BOUNDARY ð iː z WORD_BOUNDARY l æ ŋ ɡ w ɪ d̠ʒ ɪ z WORD_BOUNDARY b ɪ l ɔ ŋ WORD_BOUNDARY t ə WORD_BOUNDARY ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY s eɪ m WORD_BOUNDARY w ɛ s t WORD_BOUNDARY d̠ʒ ɜː m æ n ɪ k WORD_BOUNDARY f æ m ɪ l i WORD_BOUNDARY æ z WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ ŋ ɡ l ɪ ʃ WORD_BOUNDARY