Brussels.
French is one of the three official languages of Belgium alongside Dutch and German. It is spoken natively by around 45% of the population, primarily in the southern region of Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region.
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Where do the French live in Belgium?
Wallonia is home to 80% of all Francophone Belgians, with the remaining 20% residing in Brussels, which is the seat of parliament of the French Community.
Why is French spoke in Belgium?
Simply said, the divide was a result of the Walloon region in the South of modern-day Belgium being run by the Gauls during the Roman Empire while the Flanders Region in the North was being infiltrated by Gothic Germans.French immediately became the official language in Belgium which upset the Flemish Speakers.
Do they speak French in Brussels?
Brussels is bilingual: French and Dutch are the official languages there. Yet Brussels is home to only a minority of Flemish people.For centuries, Brussels was a Dutch-speaking city and today it is still the capital of Flanders.
Do all people in Belgium speak French?
In fact, Belgium doesn’t have a single ‘Belgian’ language, but rather three official languages: Flemish Dutch, French and German.French is spoken by around 40% of Belgians as their primary tongue, while just 1% of the population speaks German as their first language.
Is Belgian French different from France French?
The French language spoken in Belgium differs very little from that of France or Switzerland. It is characterized by the use of some terms that are considered archaic in France, as well as loanwords from languages such as Walloon, Picard and Dutch.
When did Belgium start speaking French?
In 1830, the Belgians had enough of the Dutch king Willem I and his malarky, and declared themselves independent. The inhabitants of Wallonia, the region that is called ‘Wallonie’, speak French.
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.
Is Belgium in French masculine or feminine?
The general rule is that country names that end in silent “e” are feminine. Hence, the feminine country names la France (France), la Belgique (Belgium), l’Allemagne (Germany), l’Algérie (Algeria), la Chine (China), la Guyane (Guiana), la Russie (Russia), la Corée (Korea).
Do the Flemish speak French?
The official language of the Flemish Region is Dutch, while the institutions in the Walloon Region (minus the German-speaking Community) speak French.Green denotes the Flemish region and the Dutch-speaking area. In its heart, in grey, lies bilingual Brussels.
Where is Flemish spoken?
Belgium
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.
Do they speak Dutch or French in Belgium?
Dutch is the most spoken primary language of Belgium and the official language of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region (merged to Flanders). Along with French, it is an official language of the Brussels-Capital Region.
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.
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.
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 |
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Good Evening: Bonsoir | Pronounced: Bon swar |
Good Morning/Afternoon: Bonjor | Pronounced: Bon jor |
Thank You: Merci | Pronounced: Mer see |
Who is Belgian but speaks French?
Belgium is divided into three regions: Flanders in the north, the Brussels-Capital Region in the middle, and Wallonia in the south. To make matters a little more confusing, the Flemish speak Dutch but do not consider themselves Dutch, and the Walloons speak French but do not consider themselves French.
Does Belgium speak Flemish?
Official languages of Belgium: Dutch, French, and German. Brussels is a bilingual area where both Dutch and French have an official status.
Flemish | |
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Native to | Belgium, Netherlands, France |
Region | Flanders, Zeelandic Flanders, French Flanders |
Ethnicity | Flemings |
Native speakers | 6.5 million (2016) |
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.
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.
Is Netherlands French?
The official language of the Netherlands is Dutch, spoken by almost all people in the Netherlands.
Languages of the Netherlands.
Languages of Netherlands | |
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Foreign | English (90-93%) (excluding the BES Islands) German (71%), French (29%), Spanish (5%) |
Signed | Dutch Sign Language |
Is it LA or le Belgique?
In French, we precede names of countries and continents with a definite article (le, la, l’, les). This is unlike English, which rarely uses articles before countries (the United States). La Grèce (Greece), la France (France), la Chine (China), l’Allemagne (Germany), la Bolivie (Bolivia), la Belgique (Belgium), etc.