The Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. A number of non-official, minority languages and dialects are spoken as well.
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Where do they speak German in Belgium?
Belgium is officially home to three regions: the northern Flemish Region, the southern Walloon Region and the Brussels Capital Region. The German-speaking community is located in the eastern part of the Walloon Region.
Why is German spoken in Belgium?
In the east of Wallonia, next to the German border, are nine communities that used to belong to Germany. Belgium was given them in 1919, as a compensation for the damages suffered during the First World War. The inhabitants here speak German.
Is German spoken in Brussels?
Laguages spoken in Brussels
Brussels capital region is officially bilingual so all road sides and documents are written in French and Dutch. German is only spoken in the Ardennes area by 1% of the population. Currently around 80% of the population in Brussels speak French as their first language.
Is Belgium more French or German?
The Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. A number of non-official, minority languages and dialects are spoken as well.
| Languages of Belgium | |
|---|---|
| Official | Dutch (1st: ~55%, 2nd: 16%, total: ~71%) French (1st: ~39%, 2nd: ~49%, total: ~88%) German (1st: 0.4%, 2nd: 22%, total: 22.4%) |
Why do the German-speaking people stay on the eastern borders of Belgium?
Answer: Occasionally, the nine German-speaking communities, together with the communities of Malmedy and Weismes, are historically called East Belgium or East Cantons because of their common political past, formerly also as Eupen-Malmedy-St. Vith.
Do Belgians speak French?
In Belgium you can speak any language you want. For contacts with the authorities three official languages can be used: Dutch, French and German. These languages are not spoken everywhere, because Belgium is subdivided into federated states. Each federated state has its own official language.
Does Belgium speak Flemish?
Flemish is spoken by approximately 5.5 million people in Belgium and by a few thousand people in France. Flemish is spoken by about 55% of the population of Belgium. There are also several thousand Flemish speakers in France. Flemish uses the Latin alphabet.
What are Germans in Belgium called?
German-speaking Community of Belgium
| German-speaking Community Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft (German) Communauté germanophone (French) Duitstalige Gemeenschap (Dutch) | |
|---|---|
| Community of Belgium | |
| Flag Coat of arms | |
| Country | Belgium |
| Region | Wallonia |
Does Austria speak German?
Languages of Austria. Although Croatian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Turkish, and other languages are spoken by the various minority groups, nearly all people in Austria speak German. The dialect of German spoken in Austria, except in the west, is Bavarian, sometimes called Austro-Bavarian.
Why does Belgium speak 3 languages?
Historically speaking, the country has had quite a wide variety of rulers, influencing how multilingual and multicultural Belgians are today. Due to their close proximity to these three countries, they have three official languages that divide Belgium into three main regions.
Are Belgians Dutch?
The majority of Belgians, however, belong to two distinct ethnic groups or communities (Dutch: gemeenschap or French: communauté) native to the country, i.e. its historical regions: Flemings in Flanders, who speak Dutch, and Walloons in Wallonia, who speak French or Walloon.
Why does Belgium speak two languages?
Why do Belgium have two languages? DESPITE being a relatively small country, two major languages are spoken around Belgium.The diversity is due to the countries chequered history, with it constantly changing hands between various nations until independence from the Dutch in 1830.
Is English widely spoken in Belgium?
Even though English isn’t an official language of Belgium, it is still spoken by 55% of its people. When visiting Brussels, you can see by their bilingual street signs that both Dutch and French are widely used, therefore there is no risk of offending someone when opening a conversation in either language.
What percentage of people in Belgium speak German?
Less than one percent of the German-speaking people live in Belgium. German is one of the least common languages in Belgium, and only 1% of the population speaks German. It is confined only to the East cantons part of Belgium, where mainly german-speaking people reside.
Which countries speak German language?
In addition to Germany, German is the official language of Austria, Belgium, parts of Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, and Switzerland. German is the most widely spoken language of the European Union after English.
Do they speak German in Switzerland?
Switzerland’s four languages
German (both High German and Swiss German) is spoken by about 63% of the population, French by about 23%, and Italian by about 8%. Romansh is spoken by less than 1% of the total population.
Is German and Dutch the same?
Dutch is a unique language with a lot of interesting features. It’s most notable for being within the same language family as German but closely similar to the English language. In other words, it’s the link between the two languages. Dutch, however, can’t be described as the mixture of German and English.
Is Flemish a Germanic language?
Dutch language, also called Netherlandic or Dutch Nederlands, in Belgium called Flemish or Flemish Vlaams, a West Germanic language that is the national language of the Netherlands and, with French and German, one of the three official languages of Belgium.
What language is spoken by 80 cents in Brussels?
French
French is the language spoken by 80 percent of the population in Brussels and consider it to be their first language.
Can Dutch understand Flemish?
In essence, a Dutch speaker will be able to understand a Flemish speaker and respond back, and the same goes for the opposite.Dutch people also often mention that the Flemish dialect sounds softer. This is because the Dutch language makes use of stronger tones.
