Papiamento (or Papiamentu) is the language spoken on the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao (the so-called "ABC islands").
Papiamento is a creole language with roots in primarily African, Portuguese and Dutch and to a lesser[citation needed] extent Spanish, and native languages. The biggest menace to the existence and further development of Papiamento is that native speakers tend to deviate from its origins by replacing original African, Portuguese and Dutch words with Spanish and/or English equivalents, due mainly to the cultural influences of the United States, as well as nearby Venezuela.
Many Papiamento speakers are also able to speak Dutch, English and Spanish. Venezuelan Spanish is a constant influence today, especially in Aruba. In the Netherlands Antilles, Papiamento was made an official language on March 7, 2007.