Dutch is the official language in Belgium. French-speakers often pejoratively call the Dutch language used by Flemings Flemish but it is Dutch nevertheless. The Flemish tend to use it to refer to the various dialects of Dutch spoken in Flanders.
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What is the official language of Belgium?
Official Languages: French, Dutch and German. Wallon, the local variant of French, is used by 33% of population. Flemish is used by more than 60% of the population, and is spoken in the northern part of the country. The languages learned at school are officially labelled French and Dutch.
Are Dutch and Flemish the same language?
Many believe that these two languages are one in the same, or that their only difference is their geographical location.The Dutch language spoken in the Netherlands has more of an English influence, whilst the language in the Flander region, the Flemish speaking region of Belgium, has a stronger French manifestation.
Why is the Belgian language called Flemish?
Flemish as a name for the language was first used by the French (Flameng) around 1500, when the Flemish people called their language Diets. In Italian and Spanish, Flemish was referred to as Flamenco, which also referred to the Dutch language in the Netherlands.
How many official language are there in Belgium?
three official languages
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.
What country speaks Flemish?
Belgium
Flemish is a West Germanic language most closely related to Dutch and generally regarded as the Belgian variant of Dutch. Flemish is spoken by approximately 5.5 million people in Belgium and by a few thousand people in France.
What percentage of people speak Flemish in Belgium?
60%
Flemish (Dutch)
They comprise about 60% (6.5 million) of the population. The language this community speaks, while largely identical to the Dutch spoken in the Netherlands, is called “Belgian-Dutch” by academics and “Flemish” by everyone else.
Is Flemish still spoken?
Official languages of Belgium: Dutch, French, and German. Brussels is a bilingual area where both Dutch and French have an official status.
| Flemish | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Belgium, Netherlands, France |
| Region | Flanders, Zeelandic Flanders, French Flanders |
| Ethnicity | Flemings |
| Native speakers | 6.5 million (2016) |
While both originating from the language family of Proto-Germanic, Dutch and English have evolved in close proximity to one another for hundreds of years. In the Low countries, five major mutually intelligible Dutch dialects existed.
Are Belgians Dutch?
Belgium is one of those special countries that have three official languages: Dutch, French and German. That’s right, Dutch (and not Flemish) is one of the official Belgian languages!So, the terms ‘Flemish’ and ‘Belgian Dutch’ actually refer to the same language.
Is Afrikaans closer to Dutch or Flemish?
Comments. Lizelle is closer to the truth: Afrikaans is closer to the Dutch spoken during the Dutch Republic (1581-1795) as the Cape was colonised in 1652. Modern Dutch is syntactically very different and Afrikaans verbs are not conjugated.
What language does Kevin De Bruyne speak?
EnglishFrenchGermanDutchHis hometown Drongen, a submunicipality of the city of Ghent, is situated in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Aside from his mother tongue Dutch, De Bruyne also speaks French, English and German.
Is Flemish similar to French?
Many Flemish people can also speak French as a second language. Like the Dutch spoken in Flanders, Belgian French is mostly similar to the dialect spoken in France, but there are small differences in vocabulary and pronunciation.
Is English an official language 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.
Which of the following language is not spoken in Belgium?
German is the language which is not spoken by most of the people in Belgium.
Can I live in Belgium speaking English?
Belgium has three official languages – English, Dutch, and French. English, however, is not the primary language they speak in the country. But even if it is not, a large percentage of the population speaks English. As such, you can speak the language in many situations all over Belgium.
Is Flanders in France or Belgium?
Flanders
| Flanders Vlaanderen (Dutch) Flandre (French) Flandern (German) | |
|---|---|
| Country | Belgium |
| County of Flanders | 862–1795 |
| Community in Belgium | 1970 |
| Region in Belgium | 1980 |
Is Frisian Dutch?
Frisian (Frysk) is a Germanic language, spoken by an ethnic minority known as the Frisians in the northern regions of the Netherlands and Germany. It is similar to Dutch, German, Danish and most similar to English. In fact, Frisian is, along with Scottish, the closest living language to English.
Belgians are made up of two main linguistic and ethnic groups; the Dutch-speakers (called the Flemish) and the French-speakers (mostly Walloons), as well as a third tiny but constitutionally recognized group from two small German-speaking areas.
How do you say hello in Belgium?
Most people in Belgium speak French, with a small portion of the Belgian population speaking Dutch (Flemish).
Belgian Phrases.
| Hello: Salut | Pronounced: Sal oo |
|---|---|
| Good Evening: Bonsoir | Pronounced: Bon swar |
| Good Morning/Afternoon: Bonjor | Pronounced: Bon jor |
| Thank You: Merci | Pronounced: Mer see |
What is the German-speaking people in Belgium?
The German-speaking Community is the smallest of the three federal communities in Belgium. On a territory of 854 square kilometre it has a population of 73 000 inhabitants. These are predominantly German-speaking Belgian nationals, but also Walloon, Flemish and foreign citizens.
