The Netherlands is known under various terms both in English and other languages. These are used to describe the different overlapping geographical, linguistic and political areas of the Netherlands. This is often a source of confusion for people from other parts of the world. In English the country is called 'the Netherlands' (or frequently 'Holland'), while the people and the language are called 'Dutch'. Note that in Dutch the official (and predominant) terms for these are 'Nederland', 'Nederlanders' and 'Nederlands', although they are occasionally (colloquially) called 'Holland', 'Hollanders' and 'Hollands'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_%28terminology%29

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