Which language?????

[kit146]

Well I am from the United States and have lived here my whole life and now me and my husband will be moving to Brussells, Belgium in November. I am a little nervous but very, very excited. So here comes my question, every book i have read says that they speak German, French, and Dutch.I would like to learn a new language so does anyone know which one is more prominent?

[konner]

Dutch, French, English and German are spoken in Belgium, though only Dutch, French and German are official. English is spoken by most (young) people in Belgium especially in Flanders, and by the large numbers of foreigners in Brussels because of the EU institutions and NATO.

Dutch (Nederlands) is the official language of the northern half of Belgium (Flanders / Vlanderen) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. You may hear it refered to as Flemish (Vlaams) in Belgium, but that is only a dialect of Dutch. The differences are similar to those between European and American English!

French is spoken in the southern half of Belgium (Wallonia). There are negligable differences between that and the French spoken in France, though the numbers 70, 80 and 90 in Belgium are easier to learna as an English speaker: 'septante', 'octante' and 'nonante' instead of 'soixante-dix', 'quatre-vingts' and 'quatre-vingt-dix'!

In the capital, Bussels both Dutch and French are official languages, though 80-85% speak French.

German is spoken only by about 70,000 people in eastern Wallonia, near the German border. There are approx. 6 million Dutch speakers and 4million French speakers in Belgium.

Because of these language divisions Belgiumis now a federal country. The divisions are interesting, but a bit complicated. They are best explained by the federal govt website (www.fgov.be) at the page: http://belgium.fgov.be/abtb/en_federal_3.htm

I hope this answers your question.

Hi!
I am originally from Belgium and learned English when I came to live in the USA. I only spoke French at the time, and my suggestion to you is this:
Flemish may be a nice language, spoken by millions of people, but French is not only spoken in Belgium. If you count the people who speak French troughout the world, they are a larger number. While in Europe, you will be able to travel to France, parts of Switzerland, Luxembourg and other places where you will enjoy speaking French with the natives. Learn Flemish as a second language, or German which is one of the 10 languages most in demand according to msn.com business section.
After I got the hang of English, I went to Spanish and now am learning German. Learn as much as you can while you are young, you will not be sorry.

[Johan_Meyer]

Hi!

I am a South African Student that will be studying in Brussels for two years starting in October. I can relate to your problem, but luckily my mother tongue is Afrkaans, which is very similar to Dutch. So I actually don't have to learn Dutch, since I can understand it quite well and most Flemish speakers can understand Afrikaans. Although French is spoken mostly in Brussels (yes, I am learning French as well), it will be a good idea to learn some Dutch as well. Most Flemish speakers take offence (I know a lot of Flemish people) if you can only speak French to them. And from experience in South Africa, where all the native languages are neglegted, because English is a world languages, people are much friendlier if you greet them in their own language. So, learn french (the best option for Brussels), but also try to learn some Dutch/Flemish phrases as well. Enjoy Brussels (I know I will).

P.S. Although English and French are world languages, in the defence of Dutch, it is spoken by 14 million in Europe as a first language. It is also spoken as a second language in Suriname, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. Afrikaans is spoken by about 6 million people in South Africa and Namibia (and thousands of immigrants in Cananda, Australia, New Zealand and the UK), and it is so near Dutch that speakers of both languages can understand each other. So, more than 20 million people can speak it or understand both languages.

[TomGreenUK]

I can give you the official statistics:

Language of Belgium: Dutch (Flemish) 59% (official), French 33% (official), German under 1% (official), Italian 2%. Note that a large minority of the population also speak English as third language.

You might want to decide that which is more important. More people speak Dutch and it would be beneficial if you were to visit the Netherlands and a couple of other countries in the world (which also speak it). French is less widely spoken in Beglium itself but is useful for visits to the African nations and parts of the Carribean, as well as France itself.

I've found French easy to learn, I cannot speak for Dutch.

[imported_Gareth]

Just for your information...Frehcn-speakers in Belgium do not use the word "octante", they use the word "qautre-vingt" like French-speakers in France. The word "octante" does not actually exist in French, the word used is "huitante" and this is primarily found in French-speaking Switzerland.

[imported_papillon]

konner ,

French is spoken in the southern half of Belgium (Wallonia). There are negligable differences between that and the French spoken in France, though the numbers 70, 80 and 90 in Belgium are easier to learna as an English speaker: 'septante', 'octante' and 'nonante' instead of 'soixante-dix', 'quatre-vingts' and 'quatre-vingt-dix'!

Octante , in Wallonia doen't exist !! it's the swiss people who use this term

Papillon

[Proud_Belgian]

OMG ponchita...You piss me off. The majority of the people in Belgium speak Dutch, and now you're telling me you lived in belgium and don't even know it?! Of course you should know both languages! Especially since the Flemish are richer and better organized! It's people like you I cannot stand. I despise you.

[justam]

Originally posted by Proud_Belgian
OMG ponchita...You piss me off. The majority of the people in Belgium speak Dutch, and now you're telling me you lived in belgium and don't even know it?!
Of course you should know both languages! Especially since the Flemish are richer and better organized! It's people like you I cannot stand. I despise you.

'Especially since the Flemish are richer and better organized!' Ha Ha Ha, you make me laugh!!!

Don't forget there are a lot of Flemish who don't speak a word of French ( I know a lot of them), so why do you DEMAND others to speak your language.
French is also a national language of Belgium.

Have some empathy for others and perhaps they will learn your language. But 'despise' them and you're selling your language and your people short.

By the way, just for the record, I am not Flemish or French, and I am learning both.

It amazes me how easily some people can 'despise' and criticise non-Flemish speakers, but all hell breaks loose if someone dares to say something negative about the Flemish.

Just an observer!

:-}

[Empereur_Croix]

In Switzerland:

German - 60%
French - 30%
Italien and romeno - 10%


In Fribourg the peaple speak German and Frence.

[Dennis_VD]

I advise you to learn Dutch. Dutch is spoken in Flanders, the prosperous part of Belgium. All interesting things happen in Flanders (like festivals and concerts), the highways are well-maintained, the cities are very beautiful and clean (Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Leuven,...).

I'm an expat myself in Belgium and live in Flanders. Sorry to say this, but I don't like Wallonia: they have dirty cities (Charleroi, Liège,...), bad roads, and they speak only french, ...

Also the Flemish TV and radio-stations are great and up-to-date. When I see the French-speaking TV (RTBF), it's all very low-budget and boring. It seems like TV of 50 years ago...!
Also the movies in Wallonia are dubbed in French: terrible! In Flanders you get the original version with subtitles.