How many languages are spoken in Belgium?
Belgium
Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French and German. A number of non-official minority languages are spoken as well.
As no census exists, there are no official statistical data regarding the distribution or usage of Belgium's three official languages or their dialects. However, various criteria, including the language(s) of parents, of education, or the second-language status of foreign born, may provide suggested figures. An estimated 60% of the Belgian population are native speakers of Dutch (often referred to as Flemish), and 40% of the population speaks French natively. French-speaking Belgians are often referred to as Walloons, although the French speakers in Brussels are not Walloons.
French Belgian Sign Language
The French Belgian Sign Language (; LSFB) is the deaf sign language of the French Community of Belgium, a country in Western Europe. It and Flemish Sign Language are varieties of the same language.
German-speaking Community of Belgium
Bordering the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg, the area has its own parliament and government at Eupen. Although in the Belgian province of Luxembourg many of the inhabitants in the border region next to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg speak Luxembourgish, a West Central German language, they are not considered part of the German-speaking Community. The German-speaking Community of Belgium is composed of the German-speaking parts of the lands that were annexed in 1920 from Germany. In addition, in contemporary Belgium there are also some other areas where German is or has been spoken (the difference line between German, Dutch, Luxembourgish and Limburgish is very slight since they are all part of the same dialect continuum) that belonged to Belgium even before 1920, but they are not currently officially considered part of the German-speaking Community of Belgium: Bleiberg-Welkenraedt-Baelen in northeastern province of Liège and Arelerland (city of Arlon and some of its nearby villages in southeastern province of Belgian Luxembourg). However, in these localities, the German language is declining due to the expansion of French.
Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium
The official languages are French and, only in the nine eastern municipalities that form the German-speaking Community near the German border, German. Dutch however, may be used for administrative purposes in the four "municipalities with language facilities" at the border with Flanders, and German in two such municipalities near the German-speaking Community.
Language Management
in Belgium (Dutch, French, German)
Languages of the Netherlands
The official language of the Netherlands is Dutch, spoken by almost all people in the Netherlands. Dutch is also spoken and official in Aruba, Bonaire, Belgium, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Maarten and Suriname. It is a West Germanic, Low Franconian language that originated in the Early Middle Ages (c. 470) and was standardised in the 16th century.
French Community of Belgium
Historically, this community spoke variants of Walloon, Dutch, Picard, Luxembourgish or Moselle Franconian German, but nowadays, the dominant language is overwhelmingly Belgian French, except for some areas alongside the border to the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg (mainly the district called Land of Arlon or Arelerland), where Luxembourgish is still widely spoken.
Dutch language
In Europe, Dutch is the majority language in the Netherlands (96%) and Belgium (59%) as well as a minority language in Germany and northern France's French Flanders, where it is in the ultimate stage of language death. Though Belgium as a whole is multilingual, the two regions into which the country is divided (Flanders, francophone Wallonia, bilingual Brussels and small "facility" zones) are largely monolingual. The Netherlands and Belgium produce the vast majority of music, films, books and other media written or spoken in Dutch. Dutch is a monocentric language, with all speakers using the same standard form (authorized by the Dutch Language Union) based on a Dutch orthography employing the Latin alphabet when writing. In stark contrast to its written uniformity, Dutch lacks a prestige dialect and has a large dialectal continuum consisting of 28 main dialects, which can themselves be further divided into at least 600 distinguishable varieties.
SaarLorLux
French is the official language in most municipalities. German (with facilities for speakers of French) is the official language in nine eastern municipalities which belonged to Germany until 1918 and now form the German-speaking Community of Belgium. Several French-speaking municipalities have facilities in Dutch or German (or both). In a survey conducted by the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Louvain-La-Neuve and published in June 2006, only 19% of Walloons stated that they were able to speak Dutch. In contrast, 59% of respondents from the Flemish Community claimed to speak French. During the seventies the number of jobs in coal mines and steelworks was reduced from 135,000 to 35,000 today. Therefore, the region partially depends upon federal subsidies, including from Flanders, Belgium's most inhabited region. Steelwork is today still important in the region.
Belgians
Belgians (, , ) are people identified with the Kingdom of Belgium, a federal state in Western Europe. As Belgium is a multinational state, this connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural rather than ethnic. The majority of Belgians, however, belong to two distinct ethnic groups or "communities" ( or ) native to the country, i.e. its historical regions: Flemings in Flanders, who speak Dutch and Walloons in Wallonia who speak French or Walloon. There is also a substantial Belgian diaspora, which has settled primarily in the United States, Canada, France and Netherlands.
Ancient Belgian language
Ancient Belgian is a hypothetical extinct Indo-European language, spoken in Belgica (northern Gaul) in late prehistory. It is often identified with the hypothetical Nordwestblock. While it remains a matter of controversy, the linguist Maurits Gysseling, who attributed the term to SJ De Laet, hypothesised a Belgian that was distinct from the later Celtic and Germanic languages. According to the theory, which was further elaborated by Hans Kuhn and others, traces of Belgian can be found in certain toponyms such as South-East-Flemish Bevere, Eine, Mater and Melden.
Elections in Belgium
Inhabitants of the six municipalities with language facilities in the Brussels Periphery (Drogenbos, Kraainem, Linkebeek, Sint-Genesius-Rode, Wemmel and Wezembeek-Oppem) can opt to vote for French-speaking lists despite being in the Dutch language area, per article 168bis of the Belgian Constitution.
Languages of Belgium
Also all official correspondence and communication with the government (e.g. tax papers, local politics, ID/passport requests, building permits etc.) must be in the official language of the region or community. Inhabitants of a few municipalities are granted an exception to these rules.
French Belgian Sign Language
By decree of 22 October 2003, the Parliament of the French Community recognised the Sign Language of French-speaking Belgium.
Languages of Belgium
Champenois was also legally recognized in 1990. It is mainly spoken in Champagne, France, and a small part of Wallonia.
Languages of Belgium
The Belgium Constitution guarantees, since the country's independence, freedom of language in the private sphere. Article 30 specifies that "the use of languages spoken in Belgium is optional; only the law can rule on this matter, and only for acts of the public authorities and for legal matters." For those public authorities, there is extensive language legislation concerning Dutch, French and German, even though the Belgian Constitution does not explicitly mention which languages enjoy official status. Article 4 does however divide the country into linguistic areas, which form the basis of the federal structure: "Belgium has four linguistic areas: The French-speaking area, the Dutch-speaking area, the bilingual area of Brussels Capital and the German-speaking area."
List of companies of Belgium
Belgium is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of and has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups: the Dutch-speaking, mostly Flemish community, which constitutes about 59% of the population, and the French-speaking, mostly Walloon population, which comprises 41% of all Belgians. Additionally, there is a small group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area, and bordering Germany.
Electronic voting in Belgium
In 1994 the electronic voting experiment was extended to around 22% of the Belgian population. Every kind of voting area was tested: big cities, small villages, French speaking, Dutch speaking or legally speaking both languages.
Partition of Belgium
The partition of Belgium is a hypothetical situation which has been discussed by both Belgian and international media envisioning a split of the country along linguistic divisions, with each of the Flemish Community (Flanders) and the French-speaking Community (Wallonia) either becoming independent states or joining, respectively, The Netherlands and France. Both communities currently have a large degree of autonomy within the Belgian federation.
Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde
In 1921 Belgium was divided into two monolingual entities (French-speaking Wallonia and Dutch-speaking Flanders). Both languages could be used in Brussels (16 municipalities at that time). A special status was established wherever a large minority used the other language along the linguistic border.
Belgians
Belgians are primarily a nationality or citizen group, by "jus soli" (Latin: right of the soil), also known as birthright citizenship, and are not a homogeneous ethnic group. 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. These sometimes competing ethnic and linguistic priorities are governed by constitutionally designated "regions or communities", depending on the constitutional realm of the topic, a complex and uniquely Belgian political construct. Since many Belgians are at least bilingual, or even trilingual, it is common for business, social and family networks to include members of the various ethnic groups composing Belgium.
Languages of Europe
Dutch is spoken throughout the Netherlands, northern Belgium, as well as the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France, and around Düsseldorf in Germany. In Belgian and French contexts, Dutch is sometimes referred to as Flemish. Dutch dialects are varied and cut across national borders.The Anglo-Frisian language family is now mostly represented by English (Anglic), descended from the Old English language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons:
The Frisian languages are spoken by about 500,000 Frisians, who live on the southern coast of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. These languages include West Frisian, Saterlandic, and North Frisian.
Dutch in Belgium
Dutch is the majority language in northern Belgium, being spoken natively by three-fifths of the population of Belgium. It is one of the three national languages of Belgium, together with French and German, and is the only official language of the Flemish Region.
Belgium in &quot;the long nineteenth century&quot;
At the start of the period, French was the dominant language, and was the only one approved for use in legal and government business, however Belgium become officially bilingual in 1870 and Dutch was officially recognized as an equal language to French in legal matters in 1898.
Sint-Genesius-Rode
The Dutch language, previously the majority language spoken by the inhabitants is the official language in the area. However, Sint-Genesius-Rode is in severe linguistic flux, as it is one of the most evenly divided between the two languages. There is no linguistic census in Belgium, but based on the support Francophone parties receive, the French-speaking population of Sint-Genesius-Rode is estimated at 64%.
Flemish Sign Language
Flemish Sign Language (, VGT) is the deaf sign language of Belgium, a country in Western Europe. It and French Belgian Sign Language are varieties of the same language. The Flemish deaf community is estimated to include approximately 6,000 sign-language users (Loots et al., 2003).
Belgians
The German-speaking Community of Belgium is one of the three constitutionally recognized federal communities of Belgium. Covering an area of less than 1,000 km within the province of Liège in Wallonia, it includes nine of the eleven municipalities of the so-called East Cantons and the local population numbers over 73,000 — less than 1% of the national total. Bordering the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg, the area has its own parliament and government at Eupen.
Army officer ranks
¹ Belgium has three official languages, French, Dutch and German.
² Canada has two official languages, English and French.
³ Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish.
Jordan recognizes the English titles listed above as official.
Pluricentric language
Minor standards can also be found in Belgium and Switzerland, with a particular influence of Germanic languages on grammar and vocabulary, sometimes through the influence of local dialects. In Belgium, for example, various Germanic influences in spoken French are evident in Wallonia (for example, to "blink" in English, and "blinken" in German and Dutch, "blinquer" in Walloon and local French, "cligner" in standard French). "Ring" ("rocade" or "périphérique" in standard French) is a common word in the three national languages for beltway or ring road. Also, in Belgium and Switzerland, there are noted differences in the number system when compared to standard Parisian or Canadian French, notably in the use of "septante", "octante/huitante" and "nonante" for the numbers "seventy", "eighty", and "ninety". In other standards of French, these numbers are usually denoted "soixante-dix" (sixty-ten), "quatre-vingts" (four-twenties) and "quatre-vingt-dix" (four-twenties-and-ten).
French varieties spoken in Oceania are also influenced by local languages. New Caledonian French is influenced by Kanak languages in its vocabulary and grammatical structure.
African French is another variety.
History of Belgium
Until the establishment of the Consulate in 1799, Catholics were heavily repressed by the French. The first University of Leuven was closed in 1797 and churches were plundered. During this early period of the French rule, the Belgian economy was completely paralyzed as taxes had to be paid in gold and silver coin while goods bought by the French were paid for with worthless assignats. During this period of systematic exploitation, about 800,000 Belgians fled the Southern Netherlands. The French occupation in Belgium led to further suppression of the Dutch language across the country, including its abolition as an administrative language. With the motto "one nation, one language", French became the only accepted language in public life as well as in economic, political, and social affairs.
Municipalities with language facilities
In addition, the Decree of the Belgian French-speaking Community of 13 July 1998 and subsequent decrees and circulars on the organisation of education authorise schools which are funded by the French-speaking Community to offer language immersion education. In 2011, the French-speaking Community finances 152 nursery and primary schools and 101 secondary schools providing such type of education in Wallonia and Brussels. Out of them, 118 nursery and primary schools and 76 secondary schools use Dutch as language of immersion and 16 are located in municipalities with language facilities for Dutch speakers:
Geographical distribution of French speakers
In Belgium, French is an official language in Wallonia and Brussels. French is the primary language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons, which are German-speaking) and in the Brussels-Capital Region, where it is spoken by the majority of the population often as their primary language. In the Flemish Region French is not an official language, with the exception of a dozen municipalities with language facilities for French speakers along borders with the Walloon and Brussels-Capital regions.
Belgian national identity card
All fields on the card are bilingual (English in combination with either Dutch, French or German) and the heading "Belgium / Identity card" in all four languages. The used language (and the one used first in the heading) depends on the official language of the place of residence (per the Belgian language areas), unless the residence is a Brussels municipality, in which case the holder may choose between French or Dutch, or a municipality with language facilities, in which case the holder may choose between French or Dutch, or French or German, depending on the local language facilities.
Dutch in Belgium
Despite its name, Brabantian is the dominant contributor to the Flemish Dutch "tussentaal". The combined region, culture, and people of Dutch-speaking Belgium has come to be known as "Flemish". Flemish is also used to refer to one of the historical languages spoken in the former County of Flanders.
Belgium–Netherlands relations
Thanks to their shared history and the Dutch language, the Netherlands and Belgium have strong cultural ties. In 1980, the two countries set up the Dutch Language Union to encourage greater cooperation in the field of Dutch language and literature. The Union offers services including language tools like dictionaries and a language advice service, education in and about Dutch, literature and reading skills, and activities promoting the Dutch language in Europe and the rest of the world. The Union also works to showcase the two countries’ shared cultural heritage.
Dutch in Belgium
The knowledge of French as a second language among Dutch speakers in Flanders decreases, especially for the benefit of English. In French education, French is no longer a compulsory second language. Such a situation already existed in French-speaking Belgium with regard to Dutch. In schools in Wallonia, Dutch is often taught as an elective, and as such it must compete against English. There are also Walloon educational institutions where several subjects are taught in Dutch as a form of Language immersion.
Belgium in &quot;the long nineteenth century&quot;
In Brussels, situated in a predominantly Dutch-speaking area, 38 percent spoke French in 1842 while 61 percent spoke Dutch; many residents spoke dialects such as Marols instead of the standard languages. By the end of the period, social change and internal immigration from Wallonia contributed to the growing importance of French in Brussels.
Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)
The Representatives are divided into two so-called "language groups". Of the total of 150 representatives, 88 are part of the Dutch-language group, which consists of representatives from the Dutch-language area, and 62 are part of the French-language group, which consists of representatives from the French-language area and the German-language area. For the representatives from the Brussels region, the language in which they take their oath as a representative determines which language group they belong to. Following the 2007 federal election, the Chamber has a German-speaking member (Kattrin Jadin) for the first time since 1999.
Language legislation in Belgium
Dutch became the major language in Flanders, but oral testimony and penal action were still permitted in French.
History of Belgium
Politically the country was once polarized on matters of religion and, in recent decades, it has faced new divisions over differences of language and unequal economic development. This ongoing antagonism has caused far-reaching reforms since the 1970s, changing the formerly unitary Belgian state into a federal state, and repeated governmental crises. It is now divided into three regions: Flanders (Dutch-speaking) in the north, Wallonia (French-speaking) in the south, and bilingual Brussels in the middle. There is also a German-speaking population along the border with Germany that was granted to Prussia in the Congress of Vienna in 1815 but added to Belgium following the 1919 Treaty of Versailles following World War I. German is the third official language of Belgium.
Belgian French
French is one of the three official languages of Belgium alongside Dutch and German. It is spoken natively by around 39% of the population, primarily in the southern region of Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region.
Language legislation in Belgium
The second law on the use of languages in 1878 regulated the use of language in the administrations of Flanders and Brussels. Announcements to the public by government officials had to be made in either Dutch or in both languages. Correspondence with municipalities or persons would be in Dutch unless a person expressed a wish to be engaged in French but in reality the law in daily life was hardly applied: Flemish citizens were still obliged to speak French in their communications with the administration because most civil servants were monoglots who either spoke only French or refused to use the Dutch language.
Romance Belgium
In dialectology, Romance Belgium ("Belgique romane" in French), once called Wallonia ("Wallonie" in French) before the federalization of Belgium, is the part of Belgium where people traditionally speak one of the regional romance languages, all from the "Langues d'oïl" group. Romance Belgium includes almost all of Dialectal Wallonia where Walloon and French are spoken, a picardic zone corresponding to the major part of the Province of Hainaut, the Pays gaumais (district of Virton) with the Lorrain language and a Champenois zone (Sugny, Bohan, Bagimont, Pussemange, Membre et Cul-des-Sarts). Romance Belgium is entirely in Wallonia.
Municipalities of Belgium
Article 4 of the constitution states that each municipality must belong to only one of the four official language areas that were established in 1962–63. In the three officially unilingual language areas, a couple of dozen municipalities in the vicinity of another language area must provide limited facilities for speakers of that other language. As only a law carried by special majorities can change the language status of any municipality, these arrangements have prevented some small municipalities with facilities to be merged in the 1970s, and thus the most minute Belgian municipalities are still found in this group, notably Herstappe with only 84 inhabitants (in 2006).
Football in Belgium
A Belgian club's name usually includes the name of the town where the club plays as well as a prefix and/or suffix. Since Belgians speak three languages, French and Dutch being the main ones and German being the third official language, Belgian teams may use either language as the basis for their names. For historical reasons, many Flemish clubs changed their names from French to Dutch between the beginning of the 20th century and the late 1960s. Additionally, many clubs have experienced frequent name changes. Reasons for these include a language change, a merger, an anniversary, etc. Because of the numerous mergers between Belgian clubs, team names sometimes combine several town names (such as K. Beringen-Heusden-Zolder or Sporting West Ingelmunster-Harelbeke) which reflect mergers. In recent history, clubs representing immigrant communities have come into existence and sometimes use names that are in neither of Belgium's official languages (the now defunct clubs Türkgucun Ozburun and Türkiyemspor Zaventem, or the still-existing Agrupación Oviedo-Asturiana, existing only in a league outside the Belgian FA now, from Brussels, being examples).
Flemish Movement
Upon Belgium becoming an independent state from the Netherlands, there was an (administrative) reaction against the Dutch and their language. In an attempt to remove Dutch from the new country, Belgian officials declared that the only official language in Belgium now was French. The Administration, Justice System, and higher education (apart from elementary schools in Flanders) all functioned in the French language. Even Brussels, the capital where more than 95% of the population spoke Dutch, lacked a formal, state-sanctioned Flemish school of higher education. The consequence was that every contact with the government and justice was conducted in French. This led to a number of erroneous legal judgements where innocent people received the death penalty because they were not able to verbally defend themselves at trials.
Dutch language
Dutch is an official language of the Netherlands proper, Belgium, Suriname, the Dutch Caribbean municipal (St. Eustatius Saba & Bonaire), Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. Dutch is also an official language of several international organisations, such as the European Union, Union of South American Nations and the Caribbean Community. At an academic level, Dutch is taught in about 175 universities in 40 countries. About 15,000 students worldwide study Dutch at university.
Languages of Belgium
LSFB, or French Belgian Sign Language, is used primarily in Wallonia and Brussels and is related to LSF and other Francosign languages. It developed from Old Belgian Sign Language which came about as a result of contact between Lyons Sign Language and LSF.
Flanders
All of these events led to a silent uprising in Flanders against the French-speaking domination. But it was not until 1878 that Dutch was allowed to be used for official purposes in Flanders (see language legislation in Belgium), although French remained the only official language in Belgium.
Languages of Belgium
In 2006, the Université Catholique de Louvain, the country's largest French-speaking university, published a report with the introduction (translated):
Brabantian dialect
In Belgium, dialects are still the common spoken language and are still spoken in most large cities, particularly in Antwerp, where Antwerpian, a dialect in the city that is rather distinct from that of the surrounding area, remains common. In Brussels-Capital Region, French largely replaced Dutch in the mid-20th century, but there are many cultural activities that use the Brussels dialect, such as the Mass in a church in Jette. Moreover, the use of Dutch is reviving because of young Dutch-speaking families moving back from the suburbs to the old city centre, the City of Brussels.
Languages of Belgium
Walloon is the historical language of southern Belgium, and most of the areas where French is now spoken were Walloon-speaking. It is also the traditional national language of the Walloons. Though it has been recognized, like other vernaculars in Belgium, since 1990, it is mainly spoken by older people, though younger Walloons may claim some knowledge. It is mainly used in rural regions, and is used in theaters and literature, though not in schools.
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
Belgium has two broadcast stations VRT (Dutch speaking region) & RTBF (French speaking region). Both broadcast the event and over the years VRT and RTBF commentary has been provided by several experienced radio and television presenters, including Nand Baert, Jacques Mercier, Luc Appermont and Paule Herreman. However, since the 1991 Contest, André Vermeulen has provided the Dutch language commentary every year, with the exception of the 1996 Contest. Whilst Jean-Pierre Hautier has provided the French language commentary every year since the 1994 Contest. In 1962 VRT used the commentary from NOS (The Netherlands broadcast), the reason for that was unknown.
Postage stamps and postal history of Belgium
Initially, all Belgian stamps were issued with the French name "Belgique" only, as the French was the original language of government. Under the government of Auguste Beernaert, however, stamps began to be issued with the Dutch language "België" too from 1889.
Demographics of Belgium
The exact number of French-speakers in Brussels is hard to determine, but it is estimated that 80% of the people living in Brussels use French and 20% use Dutch in their households, as the sole language or secondary language, while Arabic is also largely spoken. See the Brussels article for more details.
In the table are the top 10 countries by origin of the population of Belgium in 2017
Franco-Belgian comics
Belgium is actually and officially a tri-lingual country as there is also a small, yet sizable, officially recognized German-speaking minority, though Belgian comic home market first print releases, be it in Dutch or in French, are rarely translated into that language with German-speaking Belgians having to wait for internationally released editions for reading in their native tongue, typically those from licensed publishers stemming from neighboring Germany. Though Dutch and German are Germanic-language cousins, German-Belgium is encapsulated by French-Belgium, resulting in that French is the most utilized (second) language in that territory and has caused the handful of comic artist originating from there, such as Hermann and Didier Comès, to create their comics in French. Born Dieter Hermann Comès, Comès has actually "frenchified" his given name to this end, whereas Hermann has dispensed with his (Germanic) family name "Huppen" for his comics credits, though he maintained the Germanic spelling for his first name. Due to its relative modesty, both in size and in scope, and despite the close historical and cultural ties, no German-Belgian artists are as of 2018 known to have created comics specifically for the German comics world, when discounting commercial translations of their original Francophone creations.
Municipalities with language facilities
There are 27 municipalities with language facilities in Belgium which must offer linguistic services to residents in either Dutch, French or German, in addition to their official languages. All other municipalities – with the exception of those in the Brussels region which is bilingual – are unilingual and only offer services in their official languages, either Dutch or French.
Language legislation in Belgium
In 1898, the Law on Equality was introduced. Dutch and French were now to be regarded as co-equal official languages but native French speakers in parliament, unwilling to learn or use Dutch, were either unable or unwilling to read the Dutch texts they were supposed to vote on. The reverse was not the case: Dutch speakers were obliged to learn French.)
Belgium
The total number of native Dutch speakers is estimated to be about 6.23 million, concentrated in the northern Flanders region, while native French speakers number 3.32 million in Wallonia and an estimated 870,000 (or 85%) in the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region. The German-speaking Community is made up of 73,000 people in the east of the Walloon Region; around 10,000 German and 60,000 Belgian nationals are speakers of German. Roughly 23,000 more German speakers live in municipalities near the official Community.
French language
In Belgium, French is the official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons, which are German-speaking) and one of the two official languages—along with Dutch—of the Brussels-Capital Region, where it is spoken by the majority of the population often as their primary language.
Languages of Belgium
Another language related to French, and a historic language of the region, Picard, was recognized by the government of the French Community in 1990. Western Belgium has its core area in France, stretching into the western part of Wallonia.
List of number-one hits (Belgium)
This is a list of number-one singles in Belgium from VRT Top 30 (1970-1995) and Ultratop (1995-present). In Belgium there are two parallel industry standard ("official") hit music charts, one for the Dutch-speaking and another for the French-speaking community.
Languages of Belgium
The second-most spoken primary (Belgian) language, used natively by almost 40% of the population, is French. It is the official language of the French Community (which, like the Flemish Community, is a political entity), the dominant language in Wallonia (having also a small German-speaking Community) as well as the Brussels-Capital Region. Almost all of the inhabitants of the Capital region speak French as either their primary language (50%) or as a lingua franca (45%). There are also many Flemish people who speak French as a second language. Belgian French is in most respects identical to standard, Parisian French, but differs in some points of vocabulary, pronunciation, and semantics.
Cinema of Belgium
Cinema of Belgium refers to the film industry based in Belgium. Belgium is essentially a bi-lingual country divided into the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) north and the French-speaking south. There is also a small community of German speakers in the border region with Germany. Belgium is further a federal country made up of three regions (the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region) and three language communities (the Flemish Community (Dutch-speaking), the French (i.e., French-speaking) Community and the German-speaking Community).
Due to these linguistic and political divisions it is difficult to speak of a national, unified Cinema of Belgium. It would be more appropriate to talk about Flemish or Dutch-language cinema of Belgium and Walloon or French-language cinema of Belgium.
Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)
Article 62 of the Belgian Constitution fixes the number of seats in the Chamber of Representatives at 150. There are 11 electoral districts, which correspond with the ten Provinces (five Dutch- and five French-speaking) and the Brussels-Capital Region. Prior to the sixth Belgian state reform, the province of Flemish Brabant was divided into two electoral districts: one for Leuven and the other, named Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (BHV), which encompassed both the 19 bilingual municipalities from the Brussels-Capital Region and the 35 Dutch-speaking municipalities of Halle-Vilvoorde in Flemish Brabant, including seven municipalities with linguistic facilities for French-speaking inhabitants.
Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium
The Brussels-Capital Region (, , ) or Brussels Region is centrally located and completely surrounded by the province of Flemish Brabant and thus by the Flemish Region. With a surface area of , or 0.53% of Belgium, it is the smallest of the three regions. It contains the City of Brussels, which acts both as federal and regional capital, and 18 other municipalities. Its official languages are both Dutch and French. In the region ±78% speak French at home and ±22% speak Dutch, although a significant number of people combine these two languages. The Brussels Capital Region contains only one administrative arrondissement, the Arrondissement of Brussels-Capital. However, for juridical purposes, it forms an arrondissement with surrounding Flemish areas, the arrondissement of Brussels (equivalent in area to the former electoral district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde).
Belgium in &quot;the long nineteenth century&quot;
As the independent state of Belgium consolidated after the Revolution, the issue of a consensus language in the country became an increasingly important political question. At the start of the period, French was the dominant language, and was the only language that was approved for use in legal and government business anywhere in the country. It was also the language of the economic and social elite, even in Flanders. By the 1860s, with Flemish dialects in decline, increasing numbers of Flemish people of all social classes were bilingual, paralleling a similar decline in northern France. However, partly inspired by a resurgence in Flemish literature and culture, the "Flamingant" political movement began to develop, with their first political parties formed in the 1860s and 70s. Political agitation by "Flamingant" groups, often directed by local priests, led to Belgium becoming officially bilingual in 1870. Teaching Dutch in all secondary schools in Flanders became compulsory, reinforcing the language's presence. By 1898, Dutch was officially recognized as an equal language to French in legal matters. During the first decades of the 20th century, the Flemish Movement became increasingly radicalized and began to develop as a mass political movement (although not a united one), fully emerging during the First World War.
Demographics of Belgium
Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1%
Meuse–Rhine Euroregion
The Meuse–Rhine Euregion comprises:The official languages of the three countries involved in the Euregion are Dutch (in Belgium and the Netherlands), French (in Belgium) and German (in Belgium and Germany). Regional languages are also spoken namely Limburgish (which is recognised as a regional language in Dutch Limburg), Ripuarian and Walloon. The intra-cultural aspect of the Limburgish and Ripuarian is that they are spoken on both sides of the border. Limburgish, although only recognised as such in The Netherlands, is also spoken in Belgian Limburg and North Rhine-Westphalia. Ripuarian is also spoken on both sides of the Dutch/German-border, but with the extra trait of having the same variant spoken on both sides of the border.
Demographics of Belgium
Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant and other Christian 2.5%, Muslim 5%, Jewish 0.4%, Buddhist 0.3%, atheist 9.2%, none 32.6% (2009 est.)
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2003 est.)noun: Belgian(s)
adjective: Belgian
Partition of Belgium
Prior to the 20th century, this language border did not merely distinguish speakers of Belgian French, standard Dutch and standard German, as today, but between Romance and Germanic dialect continua. The Germanic "Sprachraum" was made of different components such as West Flemish, East Flemish, Brabantic, Limburgish, Ripuarian (transitional dialects between Limbourgish and Ripuarian are called Low Dietsch), Moselle Franconian dialect of Trier and Luxembourgish. The Romance sprachraum was made of Picard, Walloon (with four distinct dialects around the cities of Charleroi, Namur, Liège and Bastogne), Lorrain and Champenois. Due to mass education and the expansion of modern media such as television, the mid-20th century saw a uniformization of the different language regions, leading to the domination of the standard languages in their respective domains. In Wallonia, French became the dominant, priority language (local dialects being seldom used). Elsewhere in the Low Countries, the local dialects survived better, at least in private use.
Dutch in Belgium
The Dutch language used in Belgium can also be referred to as Flemish Dutch ("Vlaams-Nederlands"), Belgian Dutch ("Belgisch-Nederlands" ), or Southern Dutch ("Zuid-Nederlands"). Dutch is the mother tongue of about 60% of the population in Belgium, or by approximately 6.5 million people.(over 11 million inhabitants). It is the only official language in the Flemish Region (Flanders) (which consists of the provinces of West Flanders, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Antwerp, and Limburg) and, in addition to French, the official language in Brussels. However, in the Brussels Capital Region and in the adjacent Flemish-Brabant municipalities, Dutch was largely displaced by French as an everyday language.
Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium
Flanders contains five provinces: West Flanders, East Flanders, Antwerp, Flemish Brabant and Limburg.
Partition of Belgium
The main reason for Brussels being mainly French-speaking was the low social prestige of the Dutch language in Belgium during the 19th century and the severe discrimination of both Dutch as a language and of the Flemings. French was, at that time, the language of the administration, government, culture, law and education. From 1880 onwards, more and more Dutch-speaking people became bilingual and passed only French on to their children, resulting in a rise of monolingual French-speakers after 1910. Halfway through the 20th century, the number of monolingual French-speakers carried the day over the (mostly) bilingual Flemish inhabitants. Only since the 1960s, after the fixation of the Belgian language border and the socio-economic development of Flanders was in full effect, could Dutch stem the tide of increasing French use.
Belgians
The German-speaking community is composed of the German-speaking parts of the lands that were annexed in 1920 from Germany. In addition, in contemporary Belgium there are also some other German-speaking areas that belonged to Belgium even before 1920, but they are not currently considered officially part of the German-speaking community in Belgium: Bleiberg-Welkenraat-Baelen in Northeastern province of Liège and Arelerland (city of Arlon and some of its nearby villages in Southeastern province of Belgian Luxembourg). However, in these localities, the German language is highly endangered due to the adoption of French.
Languages of Belgium
Limburgish is a language spoken mainly in north-eastern Belgium and the south-eastern Netherlands, in the Belgian and Dutch provinces of Limburg. It is closely related to Dutch but has more German influences.
Partition of Belgium
Since the 1960s, Belgian political parties and civic organizations have witnessed bifurcation of membership and organizations between Walloon and Flanders. Ethnic tensions affect the working of local governments, which often pass laws prohibiting the use of the language of the respective minority populations in official functions. For example, municipal council meetings in Flanders must take place in Dutch, even if a majority of the council is French-speaking. On the other hand, Dutch-speaking citizens of the Flemish municipalities close to Brussels claim their position is being undermined by the minority rights of French-speaking settlers. Significant pressures in living conditions have kept the two main communities separate and confined to their majority regions; stark ethnic and linguistic segregation has emerged in Brussels, the capital and largest city of the country. Ethnic tensions have affected some of the city's surrounding municipalities, which are situated in Flanders, but have had a great influx of monolingual French-speakers as a result of suburbanisation. These Dutch-speaking "facility municipalities" are obliged to offer local government services in French, meaning health-care and public amenities are divided on linguistic lines, and in some municipalities the original French-speaking minority is believed to have become a majority.
History of Belgium
The majority of those in the north of the country spoke Dutch and other Low Franconian languages while those in the south spoke Langues d'oïl such as French, Walloon and Picard. French became the official language of government after the separation from the Netherlands in 1830 and Belgian cultural life was especially dominated by the French influence, reinforced by economic domination of the industrial south. Flemish was "reduced to the tongue of a second-class culture." Parts of the Flemish population reacted against this, agitating for the equality of their language with French. This was partly due to a sense of growing Flemish identity, made possible through greater awareness of Flemish culture and history from the 1840s. Flemish victories, like the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302 were celebrated and a Flemish cultural movement, led by figures like Hendrik Conscience was born. About the same time a Walloon Movement emerged, led by Jules Destrée (1863–1936) and based on loyalty to the French language. Universal suffrage meant the Francophones were a political minority, so the Walloon Movement concentrated on protecting French where it had a majority, and did not contest the expanded use of Dutch in Flemish areas.
Dutch in Belgium
To the east of the Flemish counties Voeren, in the Low Dietsch region in the Liège province, where a transitional dialect between Dutch and German is still being spoken. This regional language is closely related to that of Dutch South Limburgish, the dialect of Eupen and of the adjacent Aachen. These rural municipalities, which have been able to preserve their 'Platdietse' character despite two centuries of French-speaking administration, remained officially monolingual French after the establishment of the language border in 1963, although there is a legal possibility for facilities for Dutch or German. In the last three decades more and more Germans working in Aachen have settled in this region. They do not reinforce the Dutch language but a German language element.
Partition of Belgium
The historical language border in the Low Countries corresponds to the frontier between populations whose majorities spoke distinct languages. However, the ruling upper classes most often spoke French. As was the case in many European noble courts, French was historically the nobility's language. This was also the case most of the rest of the Low Countries. Several sovereigns of the region, notably including Maria Theresa of Austria, succeeded in making French not only the language of the court but also of their administrations. For instance, while the major part of the population of Luxembourg speaks Luxembourgish in a private context, the administrative language of Luxembourg is French. As another example, the motto of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is the French phrase: "Je maintiendrai", because the language of the Orange-Nassau reigning family was French until 1890. In Flanders, until the beginning of the 20th century, many upper class Flemish burghers, such as Maurice Maeterlinck or Suzanne Lilar, used French as their first language. Another example is the University of Ghent which was a French-speaking institution until 1930.
The language areas were established in 1963. The division into language areas was included into the Belgian Constitution in 1970. The border between the language areas is the so-called Belgian language or linguistic border. It is based on the actual language border between the sprachraums but is not utterly identical. Through constitutional reforms in the 1970s and 1980s, regionalisation of the unitary state led to a three-tiered federation: federal, regional, and community governments were created, a compromise designed to minimize linguistic, cultural, social and economic tensions. The authority of the Regions and Communities is limited to some language areas:
This territorial issue, in particular around Brussels, is a source of tension between the Belgian communities.
Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium
The official language is Dutch. French can be used for certain administrative purposes in a dozen particular "municipalities with language facilities" around the Brussels-Capital Region and at the border with the Walloon Region.
Limburg (Belgium)
As in all Flemish provinces, the official language is Dutch, but two municipalities, Herstappe and Voeren, are to a certain extent allowed to use French to communicate with their citizens. Such municipalities are called the municipalities with language facilities in Belgium.
Dutch in Belgium
The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual French-Dutch. This means that Dutch should be on an equal footing with French, which is often not the case at local Brussels level: in many municipal and regional services, hospitals, public transport, but also in shops and offices Dutch little used.
History of Flanders
The French-speaking bourgeoisie showed very little respect for the Flemish part of the population. French became the only official language in Belgium and all secondary and higher education in the Dutch language was abolished. Belgium's co-founder, Charles Rogier, wrote in 1832 to Jean-Joseph Raikem, the minister of justice:
Herbesthal railway station
Within Belgium the 1950s saw a growth in friction between Dutch speakers and French speakers over language usage. came into operation in 1962 that divided Belgium into four language areas. The largest two areas, and those with the greatest political muscle, were the Flemish speaking area centred on Ghent, Antwerp and Hasselt, and the French speaking area centred on Charleroi and Liege. The city of Brussels had language issues of its own. and was defined as a third language area, while there was a very small fourth language area in the extreme east of the country, made up essentially of the land confiscated from Germany in 1920, where the dominating language was still German. Herbesthal was in the small German speaking enclave, while 200 meters to the west Welkenraedt was in the French language area. Although passport and customs checks were by now increasingly conducted by officials as the train continued on its way, there remained a need for administrative offices on each side of the frontier. For the Liege/Aachen international line these were increasingly focused on Aachen itself on the German side of the frontier, while on the Belgian side, following the definition of more clearly delineated language zones, customs and passports offices were relocated a couple of hundred meters to the west to francophone Welkenraedt, which left the station at Herbesthal looking ever more unnecessary.
Languages of Belgium
Like the other indigenous languages closely related to French, Lorrain was recognized in 1990. It is mainly spoken in Gaume, a part of Belgian Lorraine.
Brussels
Historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels saw a language shift to French from the late 19th century. The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual in Dutch and French, even though French is now the "de facto" main language with over 90% of the population speaking it. Brussels is also increasingly becoming multilingual. English is spoken as a second language by nearly a third of the population and a large number of migrants and expatriates speak other languages.
Languages of Belgium
Languages spoken by immigrants from recent decades and their descendants include Berber (Riffian), Arabic (Maghrebi), Spanish, Turkish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Polish and English.
Politics of Wallonia
Since 23 April 1993, Belgium has been a federal state, divided into three geographical regions and three linguistic communities. The Walloon Region is one of the three regions, almost totally French-speaking. The other two geographical regions are the Flemish Region, a mainly Dutch-speaking region in the north and west, and the Brussels-Capital, bilingual French-Dutch administering the city of Brussels. Some governmental competencies are exercised by the linguistic communities, of which the French community of Belgium is the largest in Wallonia, while the German-speaking community of Belgium's responsibilities are for an area within Wallonia.
Multilingualism
In Europe, as the domestic market is generally quite restricted, international trade is a norm. But there is no predominant language in Europe (with German spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Belgium; French in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland; and English in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Malta). Most of the time, English is used as a communication language, but in multilingual countries such as Belgium (Dutch, French and German), Switzerland (German, French, Italian and Romanche), Luxembourg (Luxembourgish, French and German) or Spain (Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician), it is common to see employees mastering two or even three of those languages. Some languages such as Danish, Swedish and Norwegian or Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian and Bosnian are so close to each other that it is generally more common for meeting to use their mother tongue rather than English.
History of the Jews in Belgium
Today, there are around 42,000 Jews in Belgium. The Jewish Community of Antwerp (about 20,000 people) is one of the largest single communities in Europe, and one of the last places in the world where Yiddish is its primary language (mirroring certain Orthodox and Hassidic communities in New York and Israel). In addition a very high percentage (95%) of Jewish children in Antwerp receive a Jewish education. In contemporary Belgium, five Jewish newspapers and more than 45 active synagogues exist, 30 of which are in Antwerp.
Senate (Belgium)
In the past, French was the sole language of government in Belgium, and it was not until 1913 that Dutch was used in Parliament, by the liberal senator Emmanuel De Cloedt, which the French-speaking pro-Catholic newspaper "La Libre Belgique" described as "séparatisme parlementaire" ("parliamentary separatism").
Dutch in Belgium
The last official census count in Brussels dates from 1947. At that time, the proportions were 24.24% Dutch-speaking and 70.61% French-speaking. Since then no official census have been carried out (these were abolished under Flemish political pressure because they were often performed unreliable and could not be an argument for further 'minorizing' Dutch). Since then, it has been necessary to rely on other sources to get an idea of the number of Dutch and French speakers in Brussels.
Provinces of Belgium
Most of the provinces take their name from earlier duchies and counties of similar location, while their territory is mostly based on the departments installed during French annexation. At the time of the creation of Belgium in 1830, only nine provinces existed, including the province of Brabant, which held the city of Brussels. In 1995, Brabant was split into three areas: Flemish Brabant, which became a part of the region of Flanders; Walloon Brabant, which became part of the region of Wallonia; and the Brussels-Capital Region, which became a third region. These divisions reflected political tensions between the French-speaking Walloons and the Dutch-speaking Flemish; the Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual.
Telephone numbers in Belgium
"112" is an emergency number for contacting the fire brigade, ambulance and police in all 28 countries of the European Union.
Operators will help you in the native language, in English, or the language of any neighbouring country.
Calls to this number for contacting the police are forwarded to "101", losing response time.
Federal Government of Belgium
The number of ministers is limited to 15, equally divided between French-speaking and Dutch-speaking ministers, according to Article 99 of the Constitution. Although the Prime Minister is officially exempt from this quota, no francophones held the post from 1979 to 2011. Government meetings are conducted through simultaneous interpreters.
German-speaking Community of Belgium
In the early 1960s, Belgium was divided into four linguistic areas, the Dutch-speaking Flemish area, the French-speaking area, the bilingual capital of Brussels, and the German-speaking area of the east cantons. In 1973, three communities and three regions were established and granted internal autonomy. The legislative Parliament of the German-speaking Community, ", was set up. Today the German-speaking Community has a fair degree of autonomy, especially in language and cultural matters, but it still remains part of the region of predominantly French-speaking Wallonia. There has been much argument in the past few years that the German-speaking Community should also become its own region, which is an ongoing process with the permanent transfer with the previous accord of some competences concerning social policy, conservation of sites and monuments, environment protection policy, transport, the financing of municipalities, among other things from the Walloon Region. One of the proponents of full regional autonomy for the German-speaking Community is Karl-Heinz Lambertz, the minister-president from 1999 to 2014. Especially regional autonomy for spatial planning, city building and housing should be considered, according to the government of the German-speaking Community.
Dutch in Belgium
Based on differences sources, the number of Dutch speakers in the Brussels-Capital Region can currently be estimated at 5 to 8 percent.
In 2011, on average 7% of the Brussels customers of the largest Brussels telecom operator Belgacom received their invoices in Dutch, 91% in French and 2% in another language. 
The number of Dutch-language invoices turned out to be considerably higher in the northeast of the region than in the southwest (8 to 12% versus 3 to 5%).
Dutch is the official language in Flanders, but there are a number of Flemish municipalities in the Brussels Periphery with a French-speaking majority, which are officially Dutch-speaking with French-language facilities.
Partition of Belgium
As no census exists, there are no official statistics on Belgium's three official languages or their dialects. Various criteria, including the language(s) of parents, of education, or the second-language status of foreign born, may affect suggested figures. An estimated 59% of the Belgian population speaks Dutch (often colloquially referred to as "Flemish"), and French is spoken by 40%. Total Dutch speakers number 6.23 million, concentrated in the northern Flanders region, while French speakers comprise 3.32 million in Wallonia and an estimated 870,000 (85%) of the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region. The German-speaking Community is made up of 73,000 people in the east of Wallonia; around 10,000 German and 60,000 Belgian nationals are speakers of German. Roughly 23,000 more German speakers live in municipalities near the official Community.
The Capital Region having bilingual status obliges its authorities to attend to people and organisations in French or Dutch language as these prefer, and to show street names in both languages on the plates, but does not allow a bilingual school as education belongs to either the French Community or the Flemish one. Geographically, it is an enclave in the Flemish Region, though near Wallonia. Constitutionally, it is a politically distinct Region, while within its boundaries both the Flemish and French Communities exercise their authority. Historically, the local language of Brussels was Dutch, and Dutch remained the vernacular language of a majority of inhabitants until around 1950.
Liège Province
Nine municipalities of Liège form the German-speaking Community of Belgium. From north to south they are: Kelmis (43), Lontzen (48), Raeren (60), Eupen (27), Bütgenbach (17), Büllingen (14), Amel (2), Sankt Vith (64), and Burg-Reuland (16) municipalities. Malmedy (49) and Waimes (80) are municipalities with language facilities for German speakers. The other municipalities of Liège are part of the French Community of Belgium.
Belgian military ranks
The ranks are given in English, Dutch, and French (the two main official languages of Belgium).