The languages of Belgium?

Question

Dear Belgian fellows:
I know Belgium has three official languages - Dutch, French and German.

1. In Belgium, if a Dutch speaker(Flemish) and French speaker(Walloon) meet in the street, which language would they communicate in?
Would it be Dutch, French or English?

2. From what I've heard, Flemish(Dutch speakers) speak both English and French quite well while Walloons(French speakers) only speak French.
Is that true? If so, why is that?
Are Walloons not smart or diligent enough to learn a foreign language?

3. If you are a Dutch speaker(Flemish) in Belgium, which foreign language is more popular and more important to learn at school?
English or French??

4. If you are a French speaker(Walloon) in Belgium, which foreign language is more popular and more important to learn at school?
English or Dutch??

I'll be waiting for Belgians' answers.

Answer 1

Hello, I think your remarks are fairly right. I'm a Dutch speaker myself.

1) From a professional experience, I can say that if there is a meeting of 6 people (say 5 Flemish, and one Walloon), the laguage spoken will be -almost certainly- French. On the other hand, I've noticed that younger people tend to switch to English as well.

2) The knowledge of French among younger Flemish is getting worse. We have to be honnest about that. But is is still way better than the average knowledge of Dutch among our French speaking counterparts.

I think there are two reasons for this:
first of all, In Flanders, French is a compulsary school course from the age of 10 in, whereas in French Community schools, there are more possibilities to chose. In some cases you could take English instead of Dutch for example.

second: French is a 'big' language. It is not only interesting to communicate with our fellow countrymen, but it's also good for travelling and doing business, whereas Dutch is a much 'smaller' language.

3) I think English. For us Dutch speakers (>germanic language), the English vocabulary and grammar is much easier. Besides, English is everywhere on TV, on the radio and on the internet.

4) You should ask a French speaker. I'm sure that 25 years ago, Dutch would have been the answer. Now , it must be English I guess.

Answer 2

1. French or English, I think. When a French speaker tries to speak Flemish with a Fleming, usually the Fleming understands quickly he is a French speaker ^^ And Flemings speak better French than Walloons speak Flemish.

2. French speakers learn English at school too but they are maybe less motivated because we can do lots of things with only the French language.

4. I think it's important to learn the most used language of my country (Flemish) but English is essential. I'm a student in Civil Engineering and all of my books are in English. In my future work, I'll probably speak English every day and not Flemish. But I think the French speakers who live in Flanders most learn and speak Flemish.

Answer 3

I am Dutch but travel a lot and go to meetings where Flemish, Dutch, French and English people come together.
I see the same as the first answerer noticed.

One more point.
People speaking French have a hard time to pronounce Dutch in the right way.
They also have difficulties pronouncing English, but are speaking that more and more.

English speakers on the other hand have the same amount of difficulties, if slightly different, pronouncing French (and Dutch) and very few English speakers learn a second language anymore.
Even English people living abroad often do not even try to speak the local language.

Answer 4

The two other answers are right.

Two little remarks...

Children are already starting to learn a little bit off French in kinder garden (age 5) as there is weekly a puppet show in French. Apparently they get French lessons on a play base until they are 10 and they will get real French lessons. (My sister told me this, she's a kinder garden teacher)

I feel that one off the reasons that Walloons speak poorly English is because they never see English and American movies and TV-shows in their original version...the English is always dubbed in French!
On the Flemish side, we only have the original version which has subtitles so as a child we learn English and we learn how to read just by watching TV...

Answer 5

Before starting a business, make sure you check out sites like unizo they offer services to people that want to start up a business. Off course it helps if you speak Dutch or French, but more important is that you have very excellent business sense : many businesses go bankrupt in Belgium because indeed administrative burden is high and many people loose out of sight that doing business is first of all "looking after your customers"! And indeed, the social security charges and VAT are extremely high, but if you are a good business man then don't worry. There are many foreigners that have a flourishing business and as an immigrant it's a lot easier to be a success full business man then to be a success full employee. VOKA, in Flanders have a program for foreign business people, if you come to Flanders, surely contact one of their offices and maybe they can help you with some coaching too!

Answer 6

Hi,years ago the people from Flanders spoke only in Flemish and speaking if they went to Brussels they would refuse to speak French,they did learn Flemish and spoke Netherlands at school and work,but spoke in there dialects in there homes and with friends and family's later on and now they learn to speak English and German,also Spanish,but French is there second language and this is compulsory?most Belgians do not understand the Walloons as again is a different dialect hope this helps you happy new year

Answer 7

I like german too but I prefer English coz we can use in travel over the world . And I love travelling :p

I visited 20 countries already . I love Canada in Vancouver the best city of the world :)))

Answer 8

I am American, and have lived in Belgium for 17 years, and I am an English teacher. I live in Flanders and teach in Wallonia.

your questions:
1. FRENCH
2. Somewhat True. Not all flemish speak French well, but understand it. Walloons do not grow up with enough exposure to Dutch and English. ALL the TV channels are dubbed in French. All the music on radio is 90% French. The children just don't hear enough NL or ENG growing up.
3. ENGLISH by far. My children agree.
4. English. Especially for doing business in all of Europe.

For the last 10 years, there have been government funds available to help employees learn another language for business reasons. The government pays half, the employer pays half, and receives a tax break. This should improve the future of language skills in Wallonia.