Flemish is part of the West Germanic group of the Indo-European Germanic languages. Widely considered the Belgian form of the Dutch language and not a distinct language itself, there are an estimated 5.5 million speakers of Flemish in Belgium where it is one of the official languages. Flemish is also spoken by several thousand people in France. Due to the close relationship between Flemish and Dutch, their differences have been likened to the differences between the American and British varieties of English. Despite such closeness, some scholars assert that the two have diverged to a sufficient extent since the 16th century to be considered separate languages.