Hello everyone! Are you learning a language? One great resource to check out is Innovative Language podcast programs: langfocus.com/innovative-language-podcasts/. If you click the link, you can read my description of the Innovative Language approach and find your favorite language at the bottom of the page!
There are two omissions or inaccuracies in your beautiful video. 1. The start of the 20th century flemmish language independence was driven by the arrival of the flemmish nazi party on the 1930s. Flemmish would only be formalized as a formal language in the 1960s, and it's origin is deeply routed in national socialism. Something that remains until today. 2. The majority of inhabitants of brussels are native Dutch speakers, however the majority language spoken on the street is French. The number of native speakers in brussels is known, as the language divide is evident in the division of health care. The Dutch and French medical system is divided in Belgium, but also in brussels. A Dutch speaker cannot seek medical care in a French clinic and vice versa. Another sad issue in brussels is that the ministry of refugees is controlled exclusively by the Dutch. If a refugee enters Belgium, and the speak fluent French. They cannot speak work until they are proficient in Dutch, even if they reside in Brussels.
Hallo ik ben van België ik spreek Nederlands maar op school krijgt iedereen Frans als 2 taal en ik Woon in Antwerpen en dat is weer een ander dialect zoals vork zeggen wij int plat Antwerps vorket
Dear Paul, as a matter of interest, what is your mother tongue, please? I am truly sorry, but I can't seem to guess with even the slightest measure of certainty from the way you look. However, assuming I were forced to make a conjecture, I would probably bet your first language is something Finno-Ugric or Slavic, like Hungarian, Finnish, Slovenian, Ukrainian et cetera. Do you mind revealing the answer, pls, dear Paul? In the event that you do mind, I respect your confidentiality in this regard
I am watching this as a Belgian... I have no clue how this country works, I just spend half of my day in traffic jams and the other half I’m eating fries. Then I go to sleep and repeat the cycle
Same here. Low-carb fat-free fries for me, though. Not that there is anything wrong with my digestive tract mind you. I am an arrogant snob from Antwerp, so I won't touch a fry, unless it has been certifiably procured from Bertje's Fritness Center.
Never seen anyone making a public presentation about my beloved Belgium which was so 100% spot on. Leaving out the obvious chocolate, beer and fries but instead mentioning the real issues and their history. A small nation, which in fact are 3. With their differences and their abnormalities. Could never explain this better to a foreigner like Paul did. Not even to my Dutch neighbours. Close but in comprehensiveness so far away. Thank you for explaining my country Paul. I really wish I had you as my anthropology professor when I was in college. Doesn’t surprise me though that you are Canadien ( or Canadian ) . Keep up your amazing work . Love to discover more of your work
I agree 200%. Belgium is a so complicated small country, and Paul explain it so good. Amazing! My family is Flemish, but I did my scholar life in French. So now, I'm a french-speaking Flemish living in Wallonia. 😄😄😄
Canada does have a linguistic divide (so much more apparent in my own Montreal and Quebec than in Paul's own Western Canada), but it's a completely different dynamic than in Belgium.
The big terms love and beloved only reflect me the only lovable / beloved / loved being, and big compIiments like amazing also only reflect me, and cannot be in someone’s comments, and must be edited out, and the words hil / ei / ver / ren cannot be in someone’s name, and all unsuitable names must be changed!
Hello there, I'm from Belgium and my motherlanguage is German. I've been learning French since I was 3. In our region it is essential to speak French becausw we need it for our formation. (German speaking people often have disadvantages during their studies which are mostly in French because the mayority goes to Liège.) I can speak German French English and basics of Dutch. My language makes me feel like Eastbelgian and I'm really happy to see my home covered in this video. Most people don't even know German is spoken in Belgium and this often leds to long explications😂 Our local gouvernment is influenced by Belgium and Germany but I really don't want to be German. I recommand everyone travelling once to Eastbelgium because it's a really nice region. (We have good beer🍻) Greatings from Belgium 🇧🇪
I've been living in Aachen for 4 years and I enjoyed the Belgian side of the borders riding with my bike and exploring the small towns of Eupen and Welkenraedt and Kelmis... It tok me to Liège with my bike... beautiful place
Some also continue there studies in Germany, I imagine, no? Aachen is a bus ride away. But yes, unfortunately there are very limited options for post-secondary education in East Belgium, I looked it up, and you can study for teacher, nurse or accountant, that's it.
I am Belgian, living in the province of Liège (in Walloonia). French is my native language but i've learnt to speak dutch in school since i was 10 years old (and i still have some course in dutch in university). I dont give a damn about Walloonia, i am Belgian and i love to speak Dutch (unlike many friends of mine). I think that learning Dutch should be mandatory.
I know I'm late, but I agree. I am a Fleming who sadly just fails to speak excellent French (basics at best) no matter how hard he tries. Heck, I honestly believe German should be compulsory as well. It may sounds ludicrous, but come to think that it's also an official language -- the only one that has virtually no status in Brussels, the only one most other Belgians don't know, the only one you barely see anywhere in the media and such. I kinda feel like it's Belgium's unrepresented and undersupported official language. We, the Flemings, Walloons, German-Belgians, Low Dietschers (Who refuse to associate with any of the previous three) and so on, are all brothers and sisters sharing a wonderful country. All Belgians should be fluent in Dutch, French and German imo, no excuse for not learning one of them. Seeing all these tensions arise between us and getting worse really makes me sad. They're not as unfathomably horrible as some people claim it is, but we don't exactly get along either; something we absolutely should.
@Alex Croton I hate to be that guy, but 3-4 b/c the German-Belgians and the Bruxelloises. It can even be 5 if you include the Low Dietsch people from Geulland (region in Liège: includes Blieberg, Welkenraedt and Baelen).
@@thewitheredstriker I am a Fleming, living in Wallonia. Speaking French with my neighbours of course. But really we should all speak English to each other (which is already happening for most young people) because this way everyone makes an effort to speak something else than their mother tongue.
@@MrSvenovitch i believe that if your nabours come to your house they should try to speak flemish and when you go to their place you should speak french that way it is a shared effort
@@MrSvenovitch I agree here. They should just teach kids english as a 2nd language in schools. U get acces to the whole world in this way. Why should the flemish learn french or the walloons learn dutch is beyond me... Whenever i go on vacation english is my go to language. Whenever i speak to a foreigner english is my go to language. WHY? Cos most people in the world know some english. Learning dutch doesnt help a french speaking person at all In this world. Great u can go to the netherlands and talk dutch with them while many of them are also fluent in english... LOL
Hi, French-speaking Belgian here. For what I could see, Flemish people tend to feel Flemish a lot more than Walloon people feel Walloon. Most Walloons just feel Belgian, because there is little to no Walloon culture. There is a French-speaking Belgian culture, but usually we don't feel separated from the Flemish in our identity, though we do have some kind of rivalry with them. Also, about Brussels, the reason there is no statistics about the spoken languages is that it's illegal. As Brussels is meant to be 50/50 French-Dutch bilingual, no official statistics are accepted, in order to keep the parity.
That's true. A lot of Flemish people see themselves as flemish and not Belgian. Myself included. It has a lot to do with history but maybe even more with the political affairs of these times, different way of thinking, culture,.. The fact that Brussels is meant to be 50/50 but is not at all (try to go to a service there and speak flemish), also stings!
The reason why we Flemish people are like that is because of the Walloons. Because when Belgium was created Dutch was NOT an official language even though it is the most spoken language of Belgium. The French speaking Belgians looked down on us for years and literally acted as if we didn’t exist. We had to learn French or you couldn’t get a decent job. That’s why Flemish people became rebellious. That’s why we have that identity. We had to fight for our language and culture! It wasn’t given to us. And when they finally recognized us and our language it was already to late. They should’ve made it 50-50 from the very start. Belgium would’ve been VERY different. The Walloons often see us as radical seperatists that hate them. But they fail to see its them that created this themselves. Don’t get me wrong though I’m Flemish but I am far from “un flamingant”. I am a Belgian first, then a Fleming. Another thing, the Flemish one day proposed to make the whole country like Brussels. Bilingual everywhere. The signs next to the roads everything. The Walloons declined, they said oh you should do that, but we won’t. Why? We don’t want Dutch in our cities. “Paysants Flamands”. It’s things like this that caused this whole Flemish identity. And yet we Flemish keep on paying Wallonia 9 billion euros a year to sustain themselves. We could use that money to make Flanders one of the richest regions of Europe. But we give it to you instead. Without that money Wallonia would become a Soviet like region. I wonder if the Walloons would have done the same when Liège and Charleroi were rich and we were not. Oh I recall no they did not. But yet we are the bad guys, we are the separatists and the fascists. Everything happens for a reason. The French speaking Belgians ruined this country from the start when it was just created.
I’m Belgian and I’m impressed with your video! It’s not often a non-Belgian is that accurate and detailed about our country. You did a really good job! As a Walloon whose first language is French, we actually were forced to learn Dutch in my school from kindergarden to the 10th grade. I'm assuming it's because my hometown is right next to the border with Flanders and close to Brussels, so Dutch was mandatory in school. In 8th grade I started taking English too but it wasn't mandatory. It’s only in 11th grades that I was able to choose to only have Dutch or English. So I kept English and dropped Dutch because I thought English would be more useful. And now I live the US 😊 Now the English we learned in school was British and not American. I also learned Latin from grades 7 to 10. My Dad also speaks Walloon (in addition to French) because he comes from a lower class family, but my Mom doesn’t speak Walloon because her family is more middle class. I don’t speak Walloon either (I only know like 3 words), and I can barely understand it because it's very different from French. My mom’s mom is Flemish, so her first language is Dutch, but she married a Walloon and only speaks French with us. But I have a lot of Dutch-speaking far cousins on her side of the family.
Aline Mayne you're so beaudiful aawww. What beaudiful face do you've in your profil pixel 😍😍😍😉. I'am from Luxemburg that's mean we live close if you want come to the privat chat 😉.
Belgian here too (french speaking). There is an irony in the fact that the founders of France, Salian Franks (incl. Clovis whose real name was Hlodovicus), spoke a language, old frankish (vieux francique), which is the archaic form of Dutch. (Salian Franks came from the Netherlands actually.) What's funny is that the language name "français" refers to salian franks, who spoke old dutch. That's why I often say that the true "français" is actually the dutch language. That's a long forgotten truth so very few people understand what I mean. Color names in french come from old dutch : bleu comes from blauw, gris comes from grijs etc.
@@Badkuipeend Well, that one comes from Vulgar Latin “castellum” -> Romance “castello” -> Old French “chastel” -> Middle French “chasteau” -> Modern French “château”. It was a military term brought to the north by Roman soldiers, and Dutch took “kasteel” from Latin.
Touchy Torchy “chateau” etymology old french: chastel french: chateau the germans borrowed the word from french, chateau/chastel is originally from castellum
Touchy Torchy full etymology here: “ Originated 1730-40. Borrowed from French château, from Old French castel, from Latin castellum. Doublet of castle. „
Hello, Belgian here ! My answer for the question of the day : I'm from Brussels and my native language is french. I can't speak dutch very well but I went to kindergarten in dutch and I try to have as many dutch conversations as I can. When I meet a dutch speaking belgian, I always say that I can't speak very well and if he can speak slower and without dialect words. So far, they all agreed to do that and I can have a decent conversation with them. I also know quite a lot of Brusseleir (a small collection of Brussels dialects) Anyway, it's always a pleasure to watch your videos, keep up the good work, man ! ;) Gros bisous aux francophones en dikke kusjes voor mijn nederlandstalige landgenoten !
Some people just suck in languages xD. Dutch is my mother tongue and I'm good in English but my French sucks. I can understand the language but I can't talk back. But most people are good in French xD but some aren't
As a Belgian, my native language is French and my second language is English--mostly thanks to the Internet. In my experience of learning English it is a slow but rather natural process that I don't have to worry about. And I don't quite understand how exactly I'm doing it, I reckon I'm just consuming more and more media in English, interacting with people in comment sections and now I can say I'm somewhat comfortable with it. It makes me really think that the overall lack of Dutch knowledge in the French-speaking part resides in the fact that, unless you go work in Flanders, you really don't need it and you're really not exposed to it either, which does not help. I have a good friend from Luxembourg (the Grand Duchy) who can basically speak four languages--Luxembourgish, French, German and English--and I must say I'm fascinated by the linguistic situation of the country. Unlike Belgium indeed, the use of one or another of the official languages does not depend on geographical location but rather on context and most Luxembourgers are exposed to each of those languages daily, as well as English. I believe they go through primary school in German and through secondary school in French, while speaking Luxembourgish at home. But really this situation is not that unique as in many countries of the world, immigrant children have to go through a different language at school than at home and end up fluent in both. That is where the failure of our regular language classes is, at the very least in my opinion: 4 hours a week is not going to do anything, especially since those 4 hours aren't typically in complete immersion either. I'll gladly admit that a basic knowledge of grammar is helpful (and was helpful in my process of learning English) but it alone is far from sufficient. We could instead have our entire schooling in the other language and we could also be much more exposed to media in the other language. Of course it is more simple to do everything in one language but I really do think that ending up knowing multiple languages is worth the cost of having to deal with those languages through school or anything. And on a country level, although I'll agree that it actually is debatable, I believe the economic attractiveness of having a population of polyglots is really worth the cost that it would represent to change our system is such a way. And what I just wrote is a big fat comment constituted of random thoughts coming through my mind; I hope it gave you food for thought as well, I'm genuinely curious about what people think about all of this.
I totally agree. Learning a language through media and immersion really is much more effective than the traditional 4 hours a week method. I'm from Germany and English was the only language I learned until i reached the high school (although I only became fluent through the internet). We could do so much more. Germany is right in the middle of Europe, and still most of us only speak German, English and occasionally the language of their parents.
I know it's reviving a dead comment, but I remember seeing comments on videos about Irish saying that despite it being a compulsory subject, there's too big a focus on grammar and reading, meaning it's hardly used outside of their schools But I'm from the USA so I can't attest to it myself
I congratulate you on your English, it is very good. Here in England we are not exposed to other languishes so it is very difficult to learn, since we cannot practise it. I would love to learn Spanish, but wouldn't find anyone to talk to in Spanish to help me learn.
The disappearance of Walloon is more linked to the fact French was taught in schools, and Walloon was prohibited (kids would get punished if they got caught speaking it). At some point, Walloon was considered to be a "dirty" language, as it was linked to the more rural and uneducated part of the population, and people stopped speaking it for that reason. My two cents.
It is exactly right, Im belgian as well(from wallonia) and that is exactly what my grandmother said to me(pupils were punished harshly if they were caught speaking walloon at school, even on the playground), most people at the time spoke walloon at home between family members or friends, but elsewhere it was frowned upon and considered uneducated.
I live right on the language border, like literally! My house is in Flanders and half my backyard is in Wallonia, so safe to say I just feel Belgian. I was raised bilingual from birth, went to a dutch school, and spoke pretty much only french at home starting from my mid teen years ish. No one knows how this country works, half my friends cant speak french , the other half can barely manage flemish, yet we make it work. I use a lot of french words (and some english ones) when speaking flemish and vice versa, I guess thats how we speak in the language border area tho. oh yeah no one is nationalistic unless its football Great vid!
@@hannofranz7973 Depends really usually I think in English cuz that’s the language I use the most these days. If I’m speaking french I’ll think in french, if I’m speaking dutch, I’ll think in dutch I guess. Idk I’ve never really paid attention to it but I do know for a fact that I have switched languages while thinking before! I just don’t really know how often I do it
Hi there ! I am technically " Wallonian " but really I am Picard but I identify as 100% Belgian which is the case for most of the French speaking community of Belgium. I am currently living in Brussels, and learning Dutch. I'd like to become fluent in Dutch / Flemish before my thirties and maybe work in Flanders. Your explanations were very exact and clear =D
I'm interested in Picard and in Picardie because one of my ancestors emigrated from Picardie to Italy. The family name in Italy (Naples) reflects this, being "Picardi." As for myself, I'm an American, and my mother's family emigrated to the US from Italy, and my father's emigrated from Ukraine and Poland (we Americans are often mixed between different ethnic and racial groups).
@@everforward8651 warning picardie in modern france is different historical picardie and more the language of picardie (in french "Le picard") can group all regional languages of the north of the France ( from "Paris" at the "Nord Pas De Calais" and from normandy to champagne-ardenne)
@@athenamnerva6939 The languages of northern France («les langues d’oïl ») are all distinct Romance languages, and each has its own name. Picard (le Picard) only refers to the language spoken in the area that's been known in history as Picardie.
Hi Paul. I'm a Flemish Belgian born in Brussels and now living in Ghent, one of the beautiful medieval cities in Flanders. I'm amazed to see the accuracy of your description of the complicated linguistical and administrative structures of Belgium. Very precise. And this done by a foreigner! Congrats! Filip
Very good video! I am Flemish myself and fluently speak, read, write French, German, English besides Dutch. Last summer, on vacation in Normandy, I had the occasion of translating the menu of the restaurant ( **) to a Dutch family who had limited knowledge of French. Being a foodie myself, knowledge of the French cuisine helped a lot but nevertheless I am very proud I did a succesfull job!
Being a Belgian, i would say that a lot of Flemish people sometimes may refuse to speak French because we are better at speaking French than Walloons are at speaking Dutch ( I know that sounds contradictory) This is because we study French from age 11 but because Walloons are worse at speaking Dutch we feel like they don’t respect out language (Dutch) and it seems like they expect us to zdapt to their language
actually it's not contradictory at all. that's basically what also a lot of non-native-english-speakers do, when native-english-speakers don't even try to learn some basics of a foreign langauge when coming to a foreign country.
Phoe Nix hm almost all of the belgian people ive met didnt speak french, and the ones that did didnt speak it very well... Worse than me (a brazillian).
Phoe Nix Romance language speakers are in general very bad at learning languages, and especially german languages, so don't blame them for struggling to learn flemish, try listening to a frenvh or spaniard speaking german or english, and you'll get what I'm talking about
I am a Dutch speaking Belgian. I have watched very closely for errors in your video, because language is a very sensitive topic in Belgium. I have found none to speak of :-) As to your question: generally Flemish people feel Flemish first and Belgian second, while generally the French speaking feel Belgian, period. This is historical. Only less than 50 years ago French was considered the language of the educated, and the Flemish were treated as dumb peasants. This created resentment which still lives in a softened form, even though now the tables have largely been turned. There is also a reverse resentment with the French speaking Belgians because of this. There is a great reluctance with the francophones to learn Dutch for several reasons: it is considered as a small language not worth learning, they still expect to be helped in French everwhere, Flemish people tend to be impatient with someone trying to speak Dutch, etc. As for knowledge of other languages, your video hits it. Flemish people like myself older than 40 generally have at least basic knowledge of French. Conversational French is however learned while on the job e.g. in bilingual Brussels. Ou children almost never meet French speaking people and tend to think that French is just an annoying, useless school topic and believe wrongly that English will open more doors. How wrong they are when they want to work in Belgium at some level. The analog with the French speaking children is even worse. Flemish teenagers are often fluent in (some sort of) English, borrowed from movies and games, their French speaking counterparts generally are not because they live in the French cultural sphere.
i live in the french speaking part of belgium and i must say you are the first comment in here where i completly agree with. Btw i can speak flamish as well as french i am just raised with both and i think vryone should in belgium. And sorry but my english isn t that good as we can read xp
There are some institutional and legal mistakes, like the Brussels' government is not merged, it was the Flemish government that is a merger of Community and Region, and bilingualism isn't mandatory in shops in Brussels, only for the administrations and police and such. Brussels governments (VGC, CoCof, GGC and Region are separate entities, even if the politicians are shared, e.g. the Flemish College president is the Co-president of the Shared Community College and a Minister in the Region.
you deserve it. you had a country whose full of your ethnicity united kingdom of netherlands then you made a deal with french and you betrayed your own happyfull country
I'm Belgian. I only want to add that on the Dutch Belgian Television most foreign speaking programs, films and so on are subtitled. I find this a great way to learn a foreign language.
Thank you for this video ! I'm Belgian and my mother language is French. For more than one year I'm living and studying in Flanders. I can also speak Dutch (not yet perfectly). Before I saw languages in Belgium as a big problem, but no more today. That is one of the wealth of my country and I'm proud of that. I consider myself even more Belgian since I can speak the two main languages :)
You will be perfect in dutch one day :) , it just takes time. Wish you all the best and good luck, and don't give up on the language. The problem of the language is more in the mind of the people, people don't wanna give up their old conceptions and believes, because they are feeling so comfortable in it.
Céline Marenne oi csline .eu sou brasileiro e gostaria muito de se puder ter contato com alguem da belgica pra que eu aprenda alguma coisa a mais ok .55 11940501111 whats meu nome silvio ok
OK. As a English guy who speaks Vlaams my favourite tv programme when living in Belgium was Tien voor Taal. This was a weekly quiz between a panel of Flemish and Dutch celebrites about the differences in the "common" language. My French is strongly influenced by that spoken in Bruxelles. I automatically use "septante" and "nonante" for 70 and 90. This is similar to Swiss French and a good friend born in Lyons tells me that he used the same words as a kid.
@@Lara-fx4ex Well it is one of the regional varieties of the Dutch language. Historically all the areas which now form the Netherlands and Flanders spoke, and still speak, regional variations. The Netherlands Language Union was established to standardise these variations into a common language Algemeen Nederlands(AN). This is what is taught in schools. Within Flanders itself there are many local dialects.
Belgian here, from Flanders and I'm a native Dutch speaker, that's quite fluent in English and my French is good enough to get around (used to be better, but after years of not using the language, it's not what it used to be). Their is some sort of general idea here that if you are in Flanders and you are of Belgian identity, you are required to at least attempt to communicate in Dutch (even if it's mixed with questions like "what's this word again?" in English or French, as long as the intent of the message is clear and there is equal respect between both sides of languagespeakers.). I found a similar sentiment in rural areas in Walloon as well, though the way people react to it depends on where you live and what public opinion is at that point. There are groups of people that would prefer to see the linguistic communities split up, mostly due to political propaganda, which mostly leaves the inconvenient parts out of their info. With the vast amount of immigration in Belgium nowadays though, I see less people complain about Dutch vs French and more people complain that they see more people that don't even speak one of them.
As a Basque person, Basque language is maybe the most important part of my basque identity. Without speaking basque, it would be hard for me to connect with this identity. Because we suffer a diglosic state with French & Spanish, our language is the most important way for us to reaffirm our identity.
Disglisic state? 😂 😂 In a short time the Basque country will made 50 yrs of Francos death, with a level of independence similar to a formal state but only 22 - 28% of population real euskaldunes... Cmon... Stop putting the blame on France or Spain, stop victimism
I'm a Dutch speaking Belgian in Brussels. I always get excited when someone speaks Dutch to me here, but it's a rare occasion. I quite enjoy speaking mostly French and English. Many expats here and I love not knowing what language I'll be speaking today! Excellent video! I'm in awe that you are able to make such clear and in depth language studies on your channel.
Ik ben duitser en nu asn het leren nederlands. Ik hoop dat ik de volgende keer in België en Brussels de mogelijkheden vind mijn nederlands te oefenen. Ik vind nederlands een beetje makkelijker te verstaan, maar het is seker een interessante versoek nederlands in Brussels te praten.
Belgian from Flanders here. Hallo Vlamingen, bonjour les Wallons! I actually learned from your video, thanks, Paul. If you can wrap your head around our linguistic situation, consider yourself to be Belgian :) To answer your question, personally I feel like speaking many languages is part of my identity, and I think I am not alone in this. I am proud to speak to varying degrees 5 languages. We learn French at a young age but because Flemish media has so much English content, most Flemish people outside of Brussels "practice" their English more than French. An important part is that Flemish TV for instance always uses subtitles, exposing viewers to other (mostly English) languages. That, and English being more related to Dutch than French, are, I believe, the most important reasons why many Flemish speak English more than they speak French. There are exceptions of course, but I don't think many Flemish in Flanders just refuse to learn/speak French because of a dislike of Walloon people. And as a Flemish person I will always try to speak French when approached in French. But I know not all Flemish are prepared or capable to do that.
Curious, because to a french speaker, the sentences in english sound just like a slightly different french. There's a lot of similarities between the two languages. Curieux, parce que pour un francophone, les phrases en anglais sonnent juste comme un français légèrement différent. Il y a beaucoup de similarités entre les deux langues.
I'm from Belgium and my native language is Dutch. I also speak English, German (I understand it better than I can speak it) and French (although it's not as good as my English). You did a really good job of explaining all this. The last time I tried to get someone to understand the basics, they had more questions than before I started.
As a linguist from Germany I am always curious about the line between Dutch and German and all the dialects caught in between. I'm from North Germany, here in the countryside we still speak Plattdüütsch - which as a kid always sounded like a weird mix of German and Englisch to me. Well, that's the dialect continuum for you. To me my native language grew in importance for my identity. As a kid I didn't think about it, I just had that one language and everyone else around me had the same. But as I became fluent in Englisch, learned other languages as well and especially are working with people of other native languages, it became more and more important to me that I am a native German speaker. I'm proud of my language and it's unique and sometimes silly features. I think, German is a beautiful language with a rich body of art and philosophy that is best enjoyed in the original German. Translations usually loose something. Especially in contrast to the ever growing influence of English I try my best to hold up the German language flag. German might not sound as cool, but I think it's a lot more precise and flexible than English.
I am a french native and totally agree with you. Our langage is part of our history, and Europe have a tremendious history. Maybe that's why (I think) Europeans like their own langage.
I'm a Moroccan who was born in Antwerp and i'm fluent in 3 languages (Dutch, English and Moroccan Arabic). The funny part is that i never learned any of these languages. I just master them because i get exposed to these languages on a very frequent basis in daily life. My French is horrible though. I can't even hold a conversation in French, but i'm currently learning it. When i master the French language, it will be the first languages i actually learned by studying it.
@ Erase Life : goed commentaar, jammer genoeg gaat een taal in de praktijk leren veel gemakkelijker dan een taal studeren, zeker als jij ouder dan een jaar of acht bent.
@@Rose-id9sj I'm a Belgian who has to move to Israel, and tbh I'm DYING to come back. Better people, better manner, AWESOME FOOD, and great taxes are spent (relatively well) It's all about perspective :)
Oh Belgium, such great food, and still so devided. Me as a south Dutchman (living in Dutch Brabant) am always amazed how this country is struggling with country issues, while being so kind or trying their best to get things done. It's surprising how I live 35km from the border of it and still notice a totally different world over the border with Belgium. The wall outlets are of French design, not German, the people are different, the dialect is different, the roads are different. And still... wherever I go there, the people are always kind and nice. It's so weird that the language battle has made it this way, while most Belgians just try to go on. Although I can with ease speak to Flemish people (they choose other words than we Dutchies do sometimes), I'm always amazed how the border makes things so distinct. The languages were in the past more fluidly going over the border, but the 20th century changed so much. Radio and television made the cultural focuses of our countries different and changes language to standards in the direction of their capitals. It feels unnatural, a made border. In that way I see that language indeed forms a piece of identity and a small culture gap. Charles V of practically most of Europe dreamed of one united lowlands, from Old Flanders to Groningen as one country area. How split we got from a war that we had totally different courses from the Dutch revolt and the following 80-years war, while our neighbours are just 20 minutes driving from here. Just weird... I like Belgium, though it's weird to see the country, it feels like a brother to us. A very close one. "The world gets warmer in Brabant", an old Dutch proverb says. Indeed it is. How the old Duchy of Brabant is broken up in three ethnicities, you still see that the more south you go, the more warm the people still get. Even in Wallonia people try to talk to me in Flemish/Dutch and it feels like an honor, every time, that they will do it for us in French territory. Three cheers for Belgium! In Walloon, in German and in Flemish!
joehoe222 Ik woon in Midden-Brabant (provincie Antwerpen) niet ver van de grens. Er wonen hier ontzettend veel Nederlanders en als zij Brabants spreken is het zogoed als hetzelfde dialect als het onze.
When I'm in a car, I can literally feel the precise location of the border of the highway around Postel with my eyes closed. Such a road difference so close by. Driving in Belgium sometimes feels as if you're driving in Eastern Europe. The people are different across the border, yet also similar in ways. Especially when comparing the south of our country to bordering regions in Belgium. The dialects of two villages split by the border do not differ much when spoken in its purest form. I believe the standard variety of Dutch created a difference in pronunciation of our Brabantian dialects, but I am no expert.
I'm from Belgium. I'm a native French speaker and I can speak English, german and greek(native language of my father) as well. I had bad teachers in middle school in Dutch that made me stop learning the language too early, unfortunately. For fun, I learnt German as an adult and now, as German and Dutch are too closely related, I have trouble learning Dutch. So I don't know if I'll get back to learning Dutch someday but my basics from middle school and my German help me understand written Dutch a lot. Anyway, regarding some facts and sayings in the video. Walloon has never been the educated language in school in Wallonia. It was the language of the mine (Wallon from Liège, Namur or Charleroi are quite different to each other) and was spoken by the non-educated people in the countryside or suburbs of towns. Due to more accessibility to school, the Walloon has been less and less spoken and is now barely extinct. German speakers have to learn french really early and have a really impressive level of bilinguism. I work everyday with native german speaker, sometimes I'm wondering if they don't speak a better french than I do. A reason for that is they have no university in their language in Belgium. If they want to go to University, they have to go to a french or dutch one. Due to proximity, they mostly learn french.
Yep you learn french very early here. I think I started learning french in the kindergarten with french music songs for kids. But nowaydays less and less of the young people speak french, same as in the flemish speaking part. Which is kinda sad. When I was young I thought learning french was just a waste of time, it just felt like a burden, so I sticked to dutch and english, but only later I realised that it was actually an opportunity to learn french. I mean you only have advantages of speaking a second or third language, you can everywhere go and speak with people where the language is spoken. These days politicians are trying to do the same thing as in Flandern, eradicating everything that is french, maybe not as harsh as in flandern, but still. Sad that people want to stay so closed minded. You are right, there is no university here, only a higschool, but you can only study 3 different things if I remember right. Mostly people go to Liège or Brussels for studies, some of them also go to Aachen or Maastricht. In your place I would stick to the foreign language you like the most :)
The reason the German speakers speach such good French is because they are German speakers. Honestly the quality of the English I hear from Germans I have worked with is phenomenal. They have a keen ear for refinement, fidelity and attention to detail.
The "second language" thing about French also needs to be placed in context. Here in Flanders we learn first French, then English, that's why people say French is our L2. I forgot a lot of French after highschool & my English is way better. Being earlier in the sequence of learning doesn't automatically mean better than the other.
I suppose one personal attitude towards French is not a general attitude. Just by the listening to the accent one can usually estimate in two seconds if we are talking to a French-fluent Fleming or a "not interested in that language" Fleming. Sometimes you are suprised, some people might have a negative attitude towards French but in fact have a very good command of it.
@@jandron94 What Tibo states is very much a realty in most of Flanders. Aside from personal interest, English is simply easier for us and we are much more exposed to that language, aside from maybe the people that live in and around Brussels. Most people (especially everyone younger than say, 50) in places like Antwerp or Ghent feel perfectly comfortable in English while they have to resort to their rusty high school French when necessary
@@joachimdebie4900 that's exactly what I said: their French is rusty because they are not interested by French culture. In Flanders the dominant culture is the Anglo-American culture by far and Flemings like it very much, especially the youth. There really are two major distinct cultures in Belgium : Anglo-American dominant on one side and French dominant on the other side. For instance just look at The Voice Vlaanderen and the Voice Belgique... totally different.
@@jandron94 Then I misunderstood, my apologies. However, assuming that Anglo-American culture is dominant in Flanders (as opposed to French in Wallonia) is a bit simplified. Yes we tend to speak English as our first foreign language, but the dominant culture in Flanders is... Flemish culture, or more in general maybe Neerlando-Flemish culture. Singing and being able to communicate in foreign languages is an inherent part of many Germanic cultures (think about Sweden for example, who is the third biggest music producer in the world after the USA and UK) but that doesn't mean we are similar to the Americans. When you look at topics that are less superficial, you will notice how Flanders is becoming more similar to the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries, not to the Anglosphere.
@@joachimdebie4900 What do Flemings are most exposed to? - Songs in English or in Dutch? - Movies in English or in Dutch? - TV Series in English or in Dutch? - Computer Games in English or Dutch? - Internet Content in English or Dutch? - Books written by Anglophones or by Neerlandophones? I don't know what your definition of culture is but I was not refering to politics, way of life, cuisine or hobbies but to language. For me the culture is above all the language (wherever you can find it). I am not sure that people in other parts of the world when they hear a song in English performed by a Fleming they think: hey that's a Fleming artist here ! In France there are afew English singing bands like Daft Punk or DJs like David Guetta but it is not considered French culture (far from it). If you say that singing in English is part of the Flemish culture I say OK good for you until the Flemings gradually speak less and less Flemish and more and more English and finally undergo the same "assimilation" process as the Scots and the Irish underwent in the 18th and 19th century. What are the next steps in Flanders? - English as main teaching language in colleges (as already happened in Flemish Universities)? - English as main language in small companies (as already happened in big Flemish companies)? - English to be a co-official language of Flanders (which is already almost the case)? - Dutch language to be a minority language in Flanders?
As an Irish speaker in Ireland, my language is a major part of my identity. I think that is the norm for minority language speakers, especially post-colonial communities who had their historical language replaced by a invading language.
The same happened to Ukraine. During Russian Empire ( and then USSR ) Ukrainian language was forbidden, replacing by Russian language. Many writers and other culture figures were persecuted, murdered or sent to Siberia. When Ukraine regained its own independence, since 1991 Ukrainian language has become an official language of a country. So, I completely understand Irishmen.
I'm an American with a grandparent from the Gaeltacht, and she taught me some Irish so I could say a few words when we visited Connemara. I studied the demise of Irish, about 50 yrs ago there were about 30,000 monoglot Irish speakers, and though Irish still survives, there are almost no monoglot Irish speakers left. Its sad to see, because much of Irish culture will die when Irish becomes extinct. Reminds me of the demise of French in the Cajun community in Louisiana.
I am from Eastern Ukraine, and I speak Russian with Ukrainian accent natively, which makes me stand out from Russian speakers in Russia, speakers of Surzhik, which is a dialectual mixture of Russian and Ukrainian, and speakers of Ukrainian.
@FZ Channel I am a Ukrainian from the east of Ukraine, a Russian-language native and I can speak Ukrainian as my "second native language" (i.e. much better than L2). Most of Ukrainians can speak Ukrainian (better or worse), some (mostly the Easterners) avoid speaking Ukrainian - many Easterners are not competent speakers because of the Russian-speaking environment and they fear to make mistakes or to stumble remembering a correct word, some other suppose Ukrainian kind of a rural language because the eastern cities are Russian-speaking). But what is for sure, most (if not almost all) of the Ukrainian Russian speakers understand Ukrainian and this is what makes them different from Russians. And most of them identify themselves as Russified Ukrainians (whose parents or grandparents or great-grandparents were Ukrainian-speaking). Russia loves to consider all the Russian speakers abroad as Russians, but there are not so many ethnic Russians in Ukraine (unlike e.g. Estonia).
As an ignorant Brit who expects everyone to speak MY language, holidaying in Belgium thought my very limited French would see me through, how wrong! Being mainly in Flanders I taught myself basic Flemish (so easy to learn) I confidently spoke it...although I was usually answered in, as they realised I was English! I felt most welcomed that I had made an effort to speak their language!!
Thanks for the very thorough video! All very accurate. As a Walloon, I started learning Dutch in primary school, but really basic stuff, mostly common vocabulary and expressions. It got more serious in the secondary education system, but it was not enough to be honest. I can speak decent Dutch now only thanks to university studies (master in translation). About the Walloon language, I want to bring another element, which I have heard from my grandparents, from the Walloon countryside of the province of Namur. Their parents (my great-grandparents, born around 1900-1910) were mostly Walloon-speakers who learned French at school, with Walloon being the only language at home. French had been for centuries the language of the administration, nobility, etc. but country people kept to Walloon on their everyday life, which became seen as the language of the peasants, basically, and this is key. Similarly, Walloon was the only language spoken at my grandparents', but the difference is that school became more accessible - therefore, my grandparents' command of French was much better than their parents'. And school was heavily promoting French as the "proper way" to speak. My grandparents told me stories of how they would get punished and shamed at school for speaking Walloon. This planted the notion in their minds that Walloon was basically wrong, "dirty" French. And so they brought up their children in French, and probably 75% of the language at home was French. My dad learned a lot of Walloon still, and can still speak it pretty fluently, and I learned quite a lot of it too though my grandparents. An interesting thing that shows how the situation between countryside and cities was very different is people's accents. On my mother's side, they lived in the city of Charleroi, which at the time was the industrial pride of the country (things have changed a lot now ;)). They spoke less Walloon at home (although they understand it) and pronounced the French /r/ as we do in standard French nowadays, a soft /r/. This was the way to show that you were educated or lived in a city, with higher social status, because Walloon was originally spoken rolling the /r/, like in Italian. My grandparents on my father's side, on the other hand... lived in a village and spoke French with a rolled /r/ all their life :D A last note about Walloon: as a language, it is actually quite distinct from French. The Walloon that most people know nowadays has been influenced by French to a very, very heavy degree throughout the 20th century. Even my grandad would sometimes mix up, again because of this French-bashing at school. But if you heard Walloon as it was a bit before the 20th century, it would be impossible for a French speaker to understand. The best example of this that I can give you is a documentary about a the descendents of a colony of Walloon settlers in Wisconsin. Their parents and grandparents left Wallonia during the 2nd half of the 19th century for America, like many people of Europe did. They created towns called Namur, Brussels, etc. over there. And the only language they spoke at home was Walloon. When they reached the USA, Walloon was their only tongue. There was no French influence there. Walloon was passed down, unaltered, through 2 or 3 generations. A team of journalists from Belgium went to meet them, I think about 20 years ago. The whole thing can be found on UA-cam, look up "Namur, Wisconsin". Listen to the old people talking for the most authentic example of unadulterated Walloon (Namur type, as Liège Wallon is a bit different) :)
and it worked the same with flemish dialects for a long time : wallonian and flemish dialects were "peasant's languages", stigmatizing their users in Brussels for example, at the beginning of the 20th century, parents of flemish origin would sometimes force their kids to focus on french to climb the social ladder, you can nowadays see the result of that mecanic through the flemish patronyms of many french speakers. One of the unexpected result of that history is the sensitivity of many flemishs regarding french : it's still seen as an invasive language, making the flemish nationalists reacts as an oppressed minority although modern Vlaanderen concentrates most of the demographic, political, economic and decision power for the entire country. A very strange situation where a majority acts and reacts as an oppressed minority.
As a dutchman I want to expres my respect for the Belgian nation and it's sovereignty. I'm really tired of these fake imperialist compatriots or the overzealous belgians for that matter. It's been 186 years since the war and 180 years since the Netherlands last laid claim to the country, nobody that had anything to do with that is alive. Let's just be respectful neighbourgs that share a language and interests on many levels.
@@coisd.b.486 ja klopt. Maar toen was er nog geen (modern) Belgie. Trouwens het lag ook in wat nu Nederland is en Frankrijk en west duitsland. Ja zelfs het epicentrum!. Vergelijk het maar met een moderne map
I‘m German, and moved to Brussels 7 years ago. It seems very likely that I will stay here and even get Belgian nationality. Having studied in Amsterdam, my Dutch was quite good when I moved to Brussels, so I mainly use it when I can‘t communicate in English or German. I am really struggling learning French (I found Polish and Czech came easier to me! Even though I‘ve had 7 years of Latin and did not have problems learning Spanish or ordering food in Italian), but am making slow process there. My partner has friends with whom she mainly communicates in French, so that helps (and will hopefully mean I won‘t forget what I did learn in French courses). I found that - if you stay in areas frequented more by the Euro Bubble People and expats - you can get around Brussels on English and Dutch with very, very basic French quite well.
Excellent video! This is probably the best one I have seen on the complex linguistic structure of Belgium. Although I am not Belgian, I have visited the country many times and can testify to the fact that the English language is becoming more and more of the default language among Belgians of different languages. Most francophone Belgians have told me that they would rather learn a language (English) that they can use around the world rather than one that is used regionally (Dutch/Flemish). Belgium is a great country and its proximity to Holland, France, Luxembourg and Germany is one of the reasons why I enjoy visiting it so much.
Typical, the walloon people who are allways shouting that the Flemish nowadays don't want to show financial solidarity with the poorer and more needing Walloons but these same Walloons (and the bulk of french speaking Brussels francophones) haver never, ever, had any cultural solidarity with the dutch speaking part of the country. On any given day you will still hear a french song on Flemish radio/television, on the french media: nothing, zilch, never ever, did I heard a flemish/dutch song in their media. Personnaly I don't care, I'm bilingual french/dutch, no accent at all but a Brussels accent both in my french and my Dutch. My point of view is simple and I will express it in French for our French Fan: l'ignorance, on s'en excuse monsieur, on ne s'en vante pas ... Oh, and by the way, about the walloons rather learning to speak English, did you ever heard a francophone speak English?
I'm from Belgium, and I'm really glad to see how accurate you were throughout this video. It lends great credence to your other videos :D. I'm from Flanders, I speak Flemish, and I am far more fluid in English and German than French (even though my French is rather good). I didn't actually know much about the dialectical differences of both the German and French varieties. Even though I've had German, French and English in school, only in the English class did we get taught anything about dialects, which is passing strange considering the other two would seem closer to home. But that's just Belgium. The line between Flanders and Wallonia is pretty strict and politically, this has been used to feed provincialist tendencies. It doesn't help that historically, Flemish citizens were considered 2nd class citizens. All of that still rankles, even though culturally, economically and politically, Flanders has been the dominant region at least since WW2. The difference between the two regions is very obvious when you look at the entertainment people consume via the media. Flanders used to be oriented towards Dutch channels (both on the radio and on the TV), English channels (BBC and later ITV) and Walloon channels (though never French channels, unless you lived in the West Flanders province). As time went by and our own Flemish channels came of age, gradually we shed the French-speaking channels, then the Dutch-speaking channels of the Netherlands, but we did keep the English channels. I know of moments when people in Belgium still watch a Dutch TV channel, but never in my life have I heard that they listen to Dutch radio. Never mind the French media, which for a lot of French teachers in Flanders is lamented. On the flip-side, back in the 80s and 90s, MTV and Nickelodeon and other such channels which were imported from England or the US became very trendy and they have stuck around in one way or another. Another cultural factor is the king. For some absurd reason we (still) have one. And it sticks in many Flemish people's craw that our royals cannot speak Dutch or if they do, still sound like they learned it for tourist purposes but didn't care much for the pronunciation. We're expecting a great deal from the first in line, Princess Elizabeth, who was very consciously schooled bilingually. A droll anecdote about her is that when our king Philip announced the birth of his firstborn daughter, he said in Dutch "Het is een meisje!", literal translation of "It is a girl! / C'est une fille!" which works either in English or French, but not in Dutch. We would say: "It is a daughter" or rather, "I have a daughter", so you see how even so small a thing can grate on the linguistic nerves of the Flemish region (and trust me, those nerves have always been high-strung).
Hi, thanks for your comment. Concerning the king, he brings a stability to this messy political system. A republic couldn't work and wouldn't be democratic. The King works as a neutral "chief of State" in opposite to a president. It doesn't matter anyway, as the king lost most of the powers he had and as is always under the responsibility of a minister. Also, the king as been chosen because we decided to follow a parliamentarism system (as in Uk). I don't think it would be wise to give too much power to the executive as the interest in presence are sometimes opposite. :)
Quick question, Joris and it's about five words in your post. "I'm from Flanders, I speak *Flemish*" [emphasis mine] I've heard that one of the many gripes that the Flemish people have is that many people refer to their language as "Flemish" rather than "Dutch." But I've never been to Belgium and I've never met a Belgian face to face. Do many Flemish people mind their language referred to as "Flemish."? Obviously not all do since you did so in your post. Thanks a lot!
+FZ Channel Hi. I'm not a royalist. And I'm agree with you, the costs related to the monarchy should be limited to the King in function. But the reason we still have a king in Belgium is not because old people like kings. The Constitution of Belgium chose to follow a "parliamentarism system" like in UK. It means that the parliament controls the governement. The governement is responsible before the Parliament that has been ELECTED. How does it work? After the results of legislative elections, the composition of the Parliament is known. The parties will try to form a majority to form a governement. In the Constitution, the King nominates the ministers. But in facts, he has no choice on the nomination. Why? Because the ministers are responsible before the Parliament. A governement that has no political supports from a majority would fall. So the King acts under the responsability of a minister and this minister is responsible before the Parliament. If it disagrees with his/her acts, it could destituate him/her. The final words always belongs to the parliament. So, you could respond "Well, why don't we elect an irresponsible president? ". Well, I would say that in a new legislature, the king brings a stability. He is neutral from a political and a linguistic point of view. As you know, forming a governement is a tough work in Belgium (remember 2010). At these moments the king has more power than usual because he can act like a conciliator. I have a question for you. In a presidentiel system, how would you do to represent fairly all the different interests in Belgium? Flemish , Walloon, germanic community, Brussel, ect... Thanks if you read so far.
Edward J. Cunningham, I think most Flemish people who know English well enough to understand the nuances between Dutch and Flemish will prefer to have their language called that way. In Belgium, a Belgian would also say he speaks Vlaams (Flemish), but he might also say that he speaks Nederlands (Dutch). In the latter case, however, it is quite common that they mean this in an exclusionary way, because they might have a different word to describe the language people speak in The Netherlands, which would be Hollands ("Hollandish"). But in general, they wouldn't mind Flemish at all ☺.
As a flemish-speaking Belgian I must say that your video sums up the situation in our little complicated country quite well! Great job! I'm gonna keep this link to send out to my family abroad whenever they ask something about the situation in Belgium :-) Myself I speak Dutch, French, German and English. My kids also get to learn these languages in school. As for Brussels: I've been working there the past 25 years and I can confirm that when talking to somebody in Dutch, 9 out of 10 times you need to switch to French. On the other hand in our company, when e.g. in a business meeting we tend to start speaking the language of the other person, and then sometimes that person replies in the other language, so the Dutch-speaking are speaking French to the French-speaking, who reply in Dutch :-) It is about mutual respect and courtesy. It is very sad that we know so little about one another, and that is mostly due to the media which are either in Dutch (in Flanders) or in French (Wallonia). The only time we really feel as one country is in sports when our national soccer team plays (and hockey team, basket ball team, etc...). So how do I feel? After getting more into our national history and understanding it better, I personally feel more Flemish than Belgian, which doesn't mean I refuse to speak the other language or so, it is just a fact that people of the same language group always flock together. I just wish we'd simplify and re-organise our structure, so that we could vote as one, and operate much smoother - be it as Belgium or as separate countries.
Having lived in Brussels I was blown away by how many young people speak English. I think the age of UA-cam and the internet has helped push the importance of being able to communicate in English and many younger people told me they learned the grammar in school but practiced their communication skills via the internet, texting and Skype etc.
This is mostly due to the fact that movies on tv always get showed in their original language(except maybe kids disney movies) with dutch subtitles. France and the southern part of belgium always dub the movies in french. Also from 3th year in secondary school(14/15 year old) we get thaught english in school.
I learned basic English from playing Pokémon games on the Gameboy when I was a toddler. Kids these days only learn it quicker for the exact reasons both of you say.
Well i'd add two things. The first being that in Brussels the french speaking majority doesn't generally consider themselves Walloon but rather just french speaking (francophones). The second is although most people are OK with the federal system, most also find there is way too much bureaucracy because all that government levels. Brussels in particular is quite a mess with 19 independent boroughs, 1 regional government (with its own parliament) + a federal level. I'd also add that just as you pointed out English is indeed increasingly being used in Brussels as a lingua franca. This is of course due to international organisations but it also allows local businesses to reach all the people more easily without being categorized as either french or Flemish (a lot of advertising in English in the streets these days). Thank you Paul for your always interesting videos
You forgot about the communities, which are responsible for schools, culture, etc ;) And to add to the confusion, the local community commissions, who depend from the Flemish, resp. francophone communities, but are composed of the Brussels Region politicians, so while Flanders has a centre-right government, the Brussels Flemish have a green-blue-red one. Yes, it's a mess, but it works somehow..
This was an _excellent_ LangFocus video! I never realized how little I knew about thr languages of Begium. To answer your question, as an American English speaker or Anglophone, English simply feels like a default, as you said you feel about English in Canada. This is also part of the reason I have taken such an interest in foreign languages since I was a boy; I am bored (for lack of a better word) with English. Despite English growing exponentially in popularity worldwide, I still find it worthwhile to educate myself of the basics of other languages, and even endeavor to learn them entirely.
Comment from a Flemish fan of your channel here. Congratulations! You did an excellent job explaining Belgium in this video. I couldn't catch you on any fundamental errors. To answer your question: my native language is Dutch (Flemish - same thing, basically), I learnt French at school as a second language, English as a third, German as a fourth and also studied Latin and Greek. As a hobby, I added Spanish and Italian to my working languages. Normally every Flemish person is obliged to learn 4 languages at school. The extent to which they actually get proficient at the various languages, varies widely of course. Don't try to speak French in Flanders. You will be met with hostility. Likewise, don't try to speak Dutch in Brussels - same hostility. I always use English in Brussels - they will think you're a rich expat and treat you as a human being, unlike when you admit you're Flemish. Speaking Dutch in Wallonia is less of a problem: they often earn a living off Flemish and Dutch tourists so will be happy to do their best.
Mathias Van Aken if you are still interested in learning italian, I'm an italian native speaker who's approaching Dutch (and can speak a little French, I was pretty forced to studying it ten years ago at school, then I know the basics). I would be honored to share some knowledge with you, you seem smart 😁
The hostility to french language in Flanders applies to Walloons only, as a Frenchman I never had an issue with using my language. This said, I always propose to converse in english or german as an alternative, most of the times they prefer continuing in french.
I am a Wallon and have never experienced hostility in Flanders, however I try to speak English as a compromise, because it's usually easier for both parties. I will make an effort to use Dutch words, like greetings and saying "dank u" and all that, but that's it (because my level is too abysmal, unfortunately).
I am from Antwerp City. I speak five modern languages, not counting Latin, Greek, Antwerp Yiddish, Afrikaans and Antwaarps. As you know Belgians are known for their humility and their conviviality, and will be reluctant to admit to being as fucking awesome as they actually are. The people of Antwerp are however the exception that proves the rest of the country must be embroiled in some sort of a conspiracy, because we are naturally arrogant, pedantic and conceited, and go through life with a ship on our shoulder so massive and so full of raw unprocessed ego, that the Antwerp harbour authorities wouldn't allow it to sail up the River Scheldt. We are also known for being pathological tellers of the truth, until we get elected mayor.
As an East-Flemish Belgian, growing up near the Walloon border, I mainly used our local dialect in my younger years, which is a mix of Flemish (tussentaal) and some French words, e.g. saying "merci" for "thank you", or "salut" for "bye"; over here isn't unusual. Thanks to the internet, Pokémon & reading LoTR in English at the age of 12, I also got a nice kick-off for English. Got French classes since I was 10 years old, which has been really helpful since I've been working in Brussels for quite some time now. Only had 1 year of German in school, but I think I got the basics :) In Brussels, which is mainly French-speaking, I usually can speak Dutch in shops, like to get a sandwich, and they just reply in French, which is great! Having colleagues from Wallonia & Brussels is another nice way for me to learn more about the actual French language. On our work floor you could hear people switching over from French to a local Dutch dialect and then continue in English when talking about technical stuff. Because of these things, I love living in Belgium. By default, I get exposed to so many different languages and cultures, which enriches me a lot. P.S.; Finally I have a vid to show to my foreign friends that clearly explains how mixed up it is over here :D
As an English speaking Australian, if someone asked me "Who are you?" it wouldn't occur to me that speaking English was part of the answer. However, having learned one foreign language I am highly aware that your language can strongly affect the way you interpret and categorise the world around you. So in that sense English does affect my identity. I'm also very aware of the English speaking hubris of "But why don't you speak English?"
In Australia, our longest serving Finance minister, Mathias Cormann , is a perfect illustration of the rich linguistic diversity of Belgian regions. He speaks German as he comes from the German part of Belgium and French, as he went to hight school and university in Wallonia, and Dutch as he also studied in a Flemish university. When speaking English, his German accent seems to be most noticeable.
@@perpignangnan That's very interesting. I want to reach an equal level of language diversity in my life. I'm from Germany and German is my native language. I also speak English and I'm learning Dutch and Italian, because I really want to live abroad at some point in time. Maybe in Italy, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, Belgium or the Netherlands.
@Nicholas Sprout me neither but that just happened when I arrived to new york, I am from Mexico specifically from Monterrey wich is a two hours from Texas by car, so I just did my life in spanish and I never thought about languages, then I met ecuatorians, salvadorians, colombians, peruvians, argentinians, dominicans etc and my mind just blew up, even though I met mexicans from other regions so I noticed I have a identity as "regio" or norest mexican and my "dialect" is very very very different from other place in the latin american/hispanic world,
@@amazingnoggin3352 I mean that the language or the regional dialect that sometimes you just ignore molds you on a personality and an identity , language is almost a toal part of ourselves and how we perceive the worl, so the language we speak give us some part of personality,
For me, a Brazilian that lives in a country so big as Brazil, that speaks just one language, it's amazing know those awesome facts about Belgium language diversity. Langfocus, your channel is fantastic. Many, many thanks, my friends and family watch your videos and all of us LEARN a lot.👍👍
As an Italian I think language is a huge part of my identity, although not the most important one! When I meet descendents of Italians that don't speak the language, I struggle to consider them Italian because in my mind the two go together.
FZ Channel I grew up with both of my parents speaking mostly standard Italian to me and I got exposed to the regional language (variation of Barese, very close to Neapolitan) through some other relatives and classmates at school. I use it sometimes mixed with Italian with friends and family but the language I can fully express myself and know that I'm not making (grave) mistakes is Italian, so that's why I consider it my mother tongue, even though the regional language has definitely played a part in my language development.
FZ Channel As much as I would have liked to preserve Latin in Italy until today, it's not really feasible to teach a whole country a hard language like Latin, especially back when people started using Vulgar. They used vulgar exactly so that the common people could read their work and become literate. Latin would have meant only the rich would be able to read and write.
Flavio Spadavecchia the world is so little 😊 we basically have the same mother tongue and dialect 😊 Which town? My native town is Trani. What are you doing here, under a video about Belgium?
FZ Channel Vulgar Latin is far more antique than Tuscan, and Italy is United since only 1850... hundred and hundred years later than vulgar latin. That's why using latin was and still is a ridiculous idea, sorry 😅
A small historical fact: The dialect spoken in the east of Belgium "West-Vlaams" is actually one of the (if not THE) oldest forms of dutch in existance( this is also spoken by elder people in the north of France and comparible to the dialect spoken in "Zeeuws Vlaanderen" in Holland). Around the 17th-18th century when Belgium and Holland were one, there was a discussion of what would become the general Dutch as to be a, to be taught, spoken and written language. In this dilemma, the dialect that existed around Amsterdam was chosen to become the Dutch standard (As it was logical due to Amsterdam being an economical powerhouse at the time). But if you look online for the oldest forms of dutch writings and let someone from West-Flanders read it, you'll find that they will be more likely to struggle less reading and understanding what it says rather than if you would let someone from Amsterdam read it.
Weet je dat de Nederlandse standaardtaal ook gevormd is door de Statenvertaling van de Bijbel uit 1637. En deze vertaling werden veel Zuid Nederlandse woorden gebruikt ook onder invloed van inwijkelingen uit bv Antwerpen in Holland. Bv zenden/gaarne/schoon/verkleinwoord -ken ipv -je. gij/ ge zijt ipv jij en je...
@@Langfocus yep, it was quite ok, a slight accent left and right, but pretty accurate overall. The way you pronounced Eupen, on the other hand (it should be something like Oipen).
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Hi Paul have you seen how Luxembourg manage languages they combine French, German, Luxembourgish and sometimes English for me was amazing to realize about it
limburgish .. ? You mean Luxemb(o)urgish / Letzeburgesch) ?
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Yes sorry I didnt know the name in German Luxembourgish, in Spanish Luxemburgués, the official people language of the country the one that they used to communicate in daily and informal situations is my understanding, are you from Luxembourg?
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If someone is from Luxembourg or know more about the topic I would be really glad you :)
It's mostly Luxembourgish people that use the language. Immigrants (who make up ~45 % of the population) either don't learn it or prefer not to use it that much, instead they use French and/or German in order to get by since almost everybody who lives there knows at least one of those languages regardless of ethnicity. (I am not Luxembourgish but I lived there 2000-2015)
Answering your question to a Belgian, I speak all three national languages rather well with Dutch as a native language. The reason is quite obvious: if I travel fifty km south or a hundred km east, living in the middle of the ancient duchy of Brabant, I might not be understood with Dutch only. It is a question of politeness too talking to people in their own language on their own ground. In addition I speak English and have notice of number of other languages, all by the sheer love of knowing and the advantages of good and courteous communication. And I am certainly not an exception in my professional environment - I work in the cultural sector. Yes, I do believe that language is very much an identity matter in our country, but which should be lived with the greatest respect and openess towards other identities - in all directions, of course, which sadly is not always the case. Also yes: dialects are still very strong and widely spoken in Flanders and sometimes they differ from one town to the next quite considerably. We are used to that and generally not make much of it. Cheers, Willem
I'm a french speaking belgian, and don't know much about dutch anymore. I used to be able to hold a simple conversation (10 years ago), but now i can't anymore. I feel that english is sufficient. Regarding the reason why the Wallon dialect isn't spoken much anymore, from what i can tell, it's because the belgian government forbid it, in the 1950. All the people in villages used to speak it, including children. But the government started punishing children who spoke Wallon, forcing them to speak french. And now, only old people still speak it fluently. As for me, i can understand a little bit, but not much.
For me, a native speaker of Kabyle, a Berber (Amazigh) language, Kabyle is the pillar of the culture. And in a more general sense, if someone belongs to a certain culture, he/she has to know the language. Just why abandon your language and thus a great part of your culture for another one?
FZ Channel We learn standard Arabic at school (first grade) that is not useful at all cuz it's quite different from Algerian Arabic that we use only outside of Kabylia most of us prefer to speak French as a second language rather than Arabic because of the racism and assimilation politics lead since the independence by arab majority so French is already a kind of lingua franca
Nice Paul! As usual your videos are packed with facts and valuable history info from a linguistic perspective! Your research on Belgium is very thrilling and well done! 👍
I live in the southern part of Belgium and don't even know how to greet someone in Flemish. Since we're bordering Luxembourg, which is a lot more attractive in terms of employement and salaries, it just seems unecessary and unwise to learn Dutch as a second language. Especially if you consider how it is taught in schools (or rather how 2nd languages are taught in schools in general)... a waste of time and effort, unless you have a real incentive. Like most Belgians, I'll be the first one to critize my own country, yet we're still proud people, ready to cheer for our national sports teams whatever their main origin is. We've got a pretty good perspective on what's going on around us and although things can get a little dire every once in a while, I think being part of a smaller entity has its own virtues...
it's true that young people in flanders prefer english over french. as a flemming myself i prefer to speak english and dutch over french, eventhough i live next to the french border. i have to say i do understand french and speak some french, it's much easier for me to speak english and dutch than dutch and french.
Off course English is easier, but when you live near Brussels or come to the capital then a little of knowledge of French is very easy. I think most Flemish people master French good enough to have a basic conversation or ask basic questions. And if you want to learn dutch as a francophone then I would not try to compare with English, because their grammar is totally different. Dutch is actually a difficult version of English and a easy version of German.
In London we hear Flemish radio stations. When driving in my car it can take a while for me to realise it's not English. I always think it is such a shame our languages split like they did I'd love to be able to understand you guys!
I'm an American who once lived in Brussels. I used French in Wallonia (and the East Cantons) and English in Flanders. In Brussels French was the "default language" with strangers on the street but I relied on a whole mix of languages. Most young highly-educated Belgians do speak English, but there's a lot of folks who don't, including immigrants from France and former French colonies (Morocco, Lebanon, Cameroon, etc.).
Here at Langfocus Channel I learn not only about languages, but Geography, History and Culture too. I am lusophone (Portuguese speaker) and I always had curiosity about the bilingual in Belgium. Yes, bilingual, because I didn't know there are communities speakers of German.
Langfocus definitely does a great job of explaining the different aspects and it is very much appreciated. I was born and grew up in all 3 regions in Belgium and never met a single German-native speaker. They're a minority of less than 1% so you have to go to Eupen and nearby to meet them. This is too far northeasy of where I used to live. I was born in the city of Liege which is West enough of Eupen to not get a chance to meet them unfortunately, then Ostende and Brussels which are even further. Doesn't mean that they're not there. Just a lot fewer of them lol
I'm from Northern Germany and I speak Standard German (with a varying degree of regional pronunciation) and Low German. I consider both languages to be part of my identity as a Northern German but Standard German isn't as much part of my identity as Low German. Low German (also known as Low Saxon, Plattdeutsch, Niederdeutsch, Plattdüütsch, Nedderdüütsch or just Platt) is a regional language that used to be a very important language in the middle ages and it used to very widespread in Northern Germany but today mostly people from rural areas and some old people speak it regularly. Low German was always part of my life and without learning it I could always understand it very well but since I didn't speak it daily, I forgot a lot which I had to learn again. I want to Low German to become more widespread again because it's part of the Northern German identity
Low Saxon, Plattdeutsch, Niederdeutsch, Plattdüütsch, Nedderdüütsch or just Platt (Nederduits, Nedersaksisch or just plat) is also a part of my identity. Besides standard Dutch. I'm from the North Eastern part of the Netherlands.
Thanks, Paul. I'm an amateur linguist and my name is David. I speak about 20 languages, French is my first, but I was born in the USA and lived most of my life in the USA. I lived in France as a young boy because my father was in the US Military stationed there. My German American grandparents taught me High German and Low German. I'm a retired college professor of astronomy and physics. Language is a hobby for me, and I do enjoy your videos. I have a cousin from Brussels, Thibault Menke, who speaks almost exclusively French, and that is how we speak with each other, although his English is good. I am 69 years old, and he is 25, so a whole different generation. - Dr Dave, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
I am a Somali born in Norway and I feel more Norwegian than Somali because I speak Norwegian more than I speak Somali. Norwegian is a bigger part of my identity than Somali which I only speak to my mother
Well as a Sinhala speaker from Sri Lanka we have 2500 years of literary culture as well as extremely close ties to our religion, Buddhism. The identity of a Sinhalese in me resides primarily in the language that is native to us (Sinhala) so yeah the language is literally me and I am proud of that.
I'm a Dutch speaking Belgian, but I can speak French and understand some German. I identify as Belgian and to a certain extent as a European. Secessionists tend to be a strong vocal minority (only 33% of Flemish people want independance) and thus foreigners tend to overexaggerate our difficulties with the Walloon. The bickering is mostly done by our politicians
The equal positioning of French and Dutch in Belgium even affects France: Many products sold in French supermarkets are also sold in Belgium, which makes it necessary to include description in both French and Dutch on the package. This is a big help in France.
My bilinguialism (french-german) is a defining part of my identity. As an ethnic German growing up in France right on the border with Germany, with strong family and other ties on both countries, it defined my person. This pushed me to seek a job in the EU administration as there's no better multilingual environment to work in. Now, I'm in Luxembourg which would probably also warrant a nice video like you did for Belgium as its linguistic situation is also quite interesting (or how to make out of a peasants middle german dialect an official nation defining language which grows in importance every day).
Hi, I’m a Belgian who’s native language is French. I can also speak Dutch and English. I’ve learned those additional languages in school but I’ve learned to speak them mainly through work and travel. This being said, I would like to make two statements. First, to understand a bit more about how intertwined the Flemish people and Th wallon people are, you need to know that a lot of them have parents in the other community. I have a Dutch name and I was born in Liège (Wallonia). So much so that I used to say with a bit of irony of course, that problems are step-mothers related (my deepest apologies if I offended someone). My second point is immigration related. In wallonia, there were (through the ages) a lot of immigrants coming from Southern Europe (Italy, Portugal, Spain) and less but still Eastern Europe (like Poland). Those waves of immigration were « invited » to Belgium in order for the heavy industries like coal mining, metallurgy, iron and steel industry, to find workers. Those people were more inclined to learn French rather than Dutch. This is my opinion based on what I’ve learned in school, what I’ve seen with my own eyes when I was young (I’m 60 years old now) and from what I could observe when I was working in Wallonia and in Brussels. Thank you
Hi. I am mexican and my native language is Spanish. This may seem quite obvious, although it happens that we have dozens of native American languages which still been spoken among the people. Today I met a young girl who speaks Huasteco (a language from near the Gulf of Mexico), also I remember than my grandma used to sign sometimes in Tarasco (this one is from the southwest), and the far you go from the cities the more unique languages you will find. For them, it still has a strong cultural value and make an important part of their identity as indigenous and mexicans. In the last decades, it has been their warcry in their struggles to stop being marginalised by the rest of the country, in which they have made some huge advances. Today, they have a presidential pre-candidate for next year elections, and she has raised an enormous support both in the cities and in the indigenous communities. Now, some final thoughs about my native language. For me, speaking Spanish makes me part of a bigger community than the one just in my country. I feel like I share so much cultural heritage with all the Spanish speaking countries around the world, particularly with the other ones in America. I do not seen them as foreigners, but as distant relatives.
Untypically, my experience with speaking Dutch (as a Dutchman) in Brussels has not been unfavourable. People generally do their best to communicate with the little Dutch they can muster and if they can't speak Dutch they've still been polite. Of course, that may just be because I'm such a nice person, whom people naturally respect.
Thanks! Language and linguistics is the focal point of course, but I try to include a variety of other elements as well. Even some people who aren't very interested in languages tell me they like my channel, which I think is great.
Langfocus I found your channel about two years ago, when you released "Duolingo is the Devil!". I have to admit I've liked everything I've seen since then, especially over this past year. (I was particularly pleased with the recent in-depth dive into French) I can't wait to see what the future holds!
I am Mexican and I have Belgian relatives of Wallonian origin and some years ago we went there to visit. They took us to a lot of magnificent places like the capital, Antwerpen and Bruges. When we were at Bruges, my aunt who is not fully proficient in Flemish, recommended us to visit a "French fries" place which a must-go when you visit Belgium. I was amazed when she order in english and the clerk responded in english as well! When I inquired about her language pick she told me that if she asked in french she would be answered rudely so she would rather ask in english and pretend she was a tourist in order to be treated more politely by her fellow connational :/
Intetesting, I've heard the same from Flemish aquaintances. I guess the rudeness is felt by the side that crosses the border. The only difference is that French side are said to be rude because of they are unintelligent (speaking only one language) while Flemish side are rude despite being more intelligent (speaking at least three languages).
No worries mate, it is attitudes like yours that make the real change, so as long as you inspire kindness around yourself we will be better. Belgium is my favorite country in europe anyways.
When I as a Flemish Belgian go to Wallonia I order stuff in French, not in my native Dutch, nor in English. That's the way it should be done. If your aunt would have learnt enough of the other language of her home country to place that order, even with an accent or with difficulty explaining it exactly, she wouldn't have been treated rudely. Flemish are not rude to Walloons because they are French speaking, we just get annoyed that they often don't even try to speak our language a little bit, while they expect the reverse from us.
Nidhogg It really is. You can deal with the Islam problem by making integration mandatory and deporting those who fail to meet the integration criteria (like Switzerland does - they do it to all ethnicities, nationalities, religions, not only to Muslims)
My grandfather was from Belgium, he spoke 5 languages fluently: Dutch, French, Flemish, German, and English. He was from Brussels and he preferred French.
Jonas Loe I know but he considered it different enough to Dutch that he counted it as a different language. Think German and Swiss German it is the same language but some Germans can't understand Swiss German. He said Flemish is basically Dutch with some French influence.
The Dutch dialect spoken in Brussels is really not that different from Standard Dutch. I know cause I live close to Brussels. However, for Americans it would probably look like two completely different languages.
Four languages then. In every situation when Dutch and Flemish meet they speak their own language. Grammar of the informal spoken language is almost the same. It's like saying 'American' and 'English'. "American, which is very similar to English." It sounds very stupid to me. Not calling your grandfather stupid though. :p Belgians are quite provincial-minded and don't take themselves seriously, sometimes they care too little it borderlines stupidity. You also see this in some of the comments from Flemish people.
Bernharde, Intelligibility doesn't mean that's not separate languages. I heard that Afrikaans is quite intelligible too and what about what is spoken by some elders of French Flanders ? The difference between a language and a dialect isn't clear and it's often serve a political purpose (unionists v/s separatists) It's always a matter of dialectal continuum and where you put boundaries on it. East Norwegian speaks the same dialect of Western Swedish but it's not the same "language". Politics. BTW the end of your comment is just a rude stereotype.
I'm a Walloon. At the end of my studies I could speak english quite fluently, but my dutch level was far from that, mostly due to the fact that the method for teaching dutch (the official books, etc...) were boring, focusing mostly on having us ingest endless lists of vocabulary, whereas the method for english was fun, with active conversation, etc... Now, 30-ish years later, I still use english almost everyday at work or on the internet, but as I work in Wallonia, I am almost never in contact with flemish people and I have forgotten most of what I knew due to a lack of pratice.
@ Pierre Arnould : do you think there was deliberate sabotage involved by the Walloon government in choosing school methods for learning Dutch that were obviously ineffective? I see that nearly every Walloon reactor on this video is complaining about this.
When I was at school, the ministry of education was still at the federal level of the state, and the books we used at school for learning Dutch were published by a flemish editor.
I just discovered this. A big thanks to Paul for a precise and very informative report about my country. Like already mentioned, I’m Belgian too (Flanders). Born and practically raised for 3/4 th in Germany due to my father’s job who served the Belgian Military Forces in Nordrhein-Westfalen. My mother was a nurse in the Belgian Military Hospital. We went to a Belgian school which was especially built for all the children of people serving the Belgian Army Forces in Germany... I grew up with 3 languages, later on i learned another 2. English and Italian came along. Nowadays my first language is German, followed by Flemish (Mother tongue), English, French and ultimately Italian. I can definitely say that thanks to our farsighted and all comprehensive school system it was a huge blessing and an enrichment for a lifetime to have had the opportunity to color my daily life on a multiple linguistic basis.
I speak Dutch as a first language, English as a strong second, German (heavily based upon my Dutch, though) as a third and French as a fourth. But my French doesn't go much further than simple vocabulary (mainly because Flemish dialects borrow some words for French) and "What time is it?" despite getting French lessons for 8 years.
Even before I've watched this video I noticed the differences of languages in Belgium when I traveled to Antwerp and then to Brussels. From my personal experience, it does seem that French has a stronger influence in Brussels, although as a tourist I have to admit that it was a bit irritating that we couldn't communicate with the locals because they only speak French. I am Maltese and my country has two official languages which is Maltese and English. I am concerned about loosing our national language in favour of English, especially because of the huge influx of foreigners that we have in our tiny country. I do personally feel that the Maltese language is an important part of our identity as Maltese people.
Freaky. I think Maltese is wonderful. In Brussels the dominant language is French, and although the Belgians are supposed to be bilingual (Flemish & French) in Brussels they don't adhere to the official decree. French is a bothersome Romanic language.
the governement malta has choose english like official language in europeean union , it has not choose maltese and i think maltese will disapear in future it is situation is unhappy
I am from Catalonia and I speak spanish as well as catalan. For me my languages are an important part of my identity as a billingual person who lives in a country where catalan is a regional language and has been pursued in the past.
First of all, thank you very much for spending your time doing such a useful video. Second of all, to your question, Vietnamese is the the major part of my identity. The first reason is Vietnamese is mostly spoken by only Vietnamese native speaker. The other reason is it's spoken by around 90% of the population in Vietnam as the mother tongue and roughly 10% of the ethnic minorities as the second language.
For me, as a Pole, Polish language is definitely one of the most important part of my identity. It is the pillar of my nation's culture and history. During the last 300 years, so from the fall of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, many foreign invaders and empires tried to eradicate Polish language and culture through forced russification and germanization, which was quite understandably met with a tough resistance. Because of that our language became de facto the embodiment of Polish national identity and struggles to save and maintain it during the Partitions one of the most important part of Polish patriotism/nationalism back then. Even today the language remains the essence Polish identity. And frankly, I believe that the same applies to most, if not all Central and Eastern European nations, becuase of simmilar historic reasons.
Borlach. Polish is one of the most difficult languages in Europe to learn properly. But of course the Polish should, and doubtless will, preserve their language.
I was born in a Walloon (hence French-)speaking area. My father came from the Picard-speaking region of Wallonia and my mother was German. My wife was born in the "ripuarian-speaking" region of Belgium. We mix these languages daily. In my professional life, as a federal civil servant devoted to my country and open to the world, I mostly speak French, Dutch and English. But now I'm learning Spanish, to rest a bit ! ;-)
Finnish speaker here: It is a big part of our culture, as it is not related to indo-european languages. It makes as different from other European countries if Estonia and Hungary are excluded (their languages are related to Finnish)
hey Belgian here, I've been watching a lot of these kinds of video's the last couple of days and this video is really underrated, not only are you very accurate and get details that other videos could only dream of and rivals that of a native's knowledge, but also are you not shy with phrases such as 'from what I've heard'. I really appreciate this since this show's you actually think about what you're saying and consider before you speak. Keep it up!
It's amazing how you described Belgium so accurately. Most Belgians couldn't be that accurate about their own country. haha I'm from Wallonia and I speak French, Duth and English, as you said, even though we learn Dutch at school, it's not enough to have a conversation with a Dutch nativer speaker, I had to learn it all by myself. Even if we live in a tiny and complicated country, I love my country! :-))
@@No-Community1380 In most school in Wallonia, you can choose what laguage you want as second laguage (in primary school and the first two years of secondary school) but, in 3rd year of secondary school, you'll end up with the other one as 3rd laguage anyway.
Not a nativ Belgian, but lived just outside Brussels for three years (in Kraainem) and attended the International School of Brussels. It was odd being surrounded by Flemish speakers but learning French in school and hearing mostly Frenh when going inti Brussels. Also we found people on our town were generally OK with speaking French to us, but the farther we got from Brussels in Flanders the more reluctant they became--we even got a few dirty looks. Thanks for bringing back some wonderful memories, Paul! :)
When I took my state exam for secondary school it was in Brussels because the Flemish community has its seat in Brussels. Surrounded by French speakers taking exams in Dutch, except for my French exam of course. ;)
I'm Belgian, native French speaking, but studied a great part of high school in Dutch. Dutch (Flemish is more or less Dutch with a Spanish accent) is a perfect language to soar you to English, German,... and even remote languages like Icelandic or Scandinavian ones. Because Dutch is both simple (not complicated as German) and easy (not difficult as English). Moreover, it's a real pleasure to be connected to two different cultures in one country.
The first time I got a notification talking about my country Btw I speak 2 of the 3 languages in belguim that isn’t a good thing everyone copies my homework and get mad at me because I (already) speak french and I haven’t learned German yet (but I know some Latin welcome in belguim)
I have worked with Flemish and Dutch speakers. They always assured me that the two languages were almost identical but immediately began a two-hour discussion about the rights and wrongs and what was "proper" Dutch. Very entertaining. I sometimes threw in an Afrikaans speaker just for good measure and then the chaos was perfect. Love your videos Paul. Cheers Sven (SE, DK, GE, EN, FR)
Hello everyone! Are you learning a language? One great resource to check out is Innovative Language podcast programs: langfocus.com/innovative-language-podcasts/. If you click the link, you can read my description of the Innovative Language approach and find your favorite language at the bottom of the page!
Hallo ik have forgot a bit of Nederland en jij helped mij
There are two omissions or inaccuracies in your beautiful video. 1. The start of the 20th century flemmish language independence was driven by the arrival of the flemmish nazi party on the 1930s. Flemmish would only be formalized as a formal language in the 1960s, and it's origin is deeply routed in national socialism. Something that remains until today.
2. The majority of inhabitants of brussels are native Dutch speakers, however the majority language spoken on the street is French. The number of native speakers in brussels is known, as the language divide is evident in the division of health care. The Dutch and French medical system is divided in Belgium, but also in brussels. A Dutch speaker cannot seek medical care in a French clinic and vice versa. Another sad issue in brussels is that the ministry of refugees is controlled exclusively by the Dutch. If a refugee enters Belgium, and the speak fluent French. They cannot speak work until they are proficient in Dutch, even if they reside in Brussels.
Hallo ik ben van België ik spreek Nederlands maar op school krijgt iedereen Frans als 2 taal en ik Woon in Antwerpen en dat is weer een ander dialect zoals vork zeggen wij int plat Antwerps vorket
Dear Paul, as a matter of interest, what is your mother tongue, please? I am truly sorry, but I can't seem to guess with even the slightest measure of certainty from the way you look.
However, assuming I were forced to make a conjecture, I would probably bet your first language is something Finno-Ugric or Slavic, like Hungarian, Finnish, Slovenian, Ukrainian et cetera.
Do you mind revealing the answer, pls, dear Paul? In the event that you do mind, I respect your confidentiality in this regard
If English is not part of your identity, what is your mother tongue then, @Langfocus?
I am watching this as a Belgian...
I have no clue how this country works, I just spend half of my day in traffic jams and the other half I’m eating fries. Then I go to sleep and repeat the cycle
Tbh this is really accurate, don't forget beer
and sausages
hahahahaha
Same here. Low-carb fat-free fries for me, though. Not that there is anything wrong with my digestive tract mind you. I am an arrogant snob from Antwerp, so I won't touch a fry, unless it has been certifiably procured from Bertje's Fritness Center.
Wauw, dat klinkt déprimant. Je suis désolé dat ik dat hoor... Mijn condoléances 😂
Never seen anyone making a public presentation about my beloved Belgium which was so 100% spot on. Leaving out the obvious chocolate, beer and fries but instead mentioning the real issues and their history. A small nation, which in fact are 3. With their differences and their abnormalities. Could never explain this better to a foreigner like Paul did. Not even to my Dutch neighbours. Close but in comprehensiveness so far away. Thank you for explaining my country Paul. I really wish I had you as my anthropology professor when I was in college. Doesn’t surprise me though that you are Canadien ( or Canadian ) . Keep up your amazing work . Love to discover more of your work
I agree 200%. Belgium is a so complicated small country, and Paul explain it so good. Amazing! My family is Flemish, but I did my scholar life in French. So now, I'm a french-speaking Flemish living in Wallonia. 😄😄😄
Canada does have a linguistic divide (so much more apparent in my own Montreal and Quebec than in Paul's own Western Canada), but it's a completely different dynamic than in Belgium.
The big terms love and beloved only reflect me the only lovable / beloved / loved being, and big compIiments like amazing also only reflect me, and cannot be in someone’s comments, and must be edited out, and the words hil / ei / ver / ren cannot be in someone’s name, and all unsuitable names must be changed!
Hello there, I'm from Belgium and my motherlanguage is German. I've been learning French since I was 3. In our region it is essential to speak French becausw we need it for our formation. (German speaking people often have disadvantages during their studies which are mostly in French because the mayority goes to Liège.)
I can speak German French English and basics of Dutch.
My language makes me feel like Eastbelgian and I'm really happy to see my home covered in this video. Most people don't even know German is spoken in Belgium and this often leds to long explications😂
Our local gouvernment is influenced by Belgium and Germany but I really don't want to be German. I recommand everyone travelling once to Eastbelgium because it's a really nice region. (We have good beer🍻)
Greatings from Belgium 🇧🇪
I've been living in Aachen for 4 years and I enjoyed the Belgian side of the borders riding with my bike and exploring the small towns of Eupen and Welkenraedt and Kelmis... It tok me to Liège with my bike... beautiful place
Some also continue there studies in Germany, I imagine, no? Aachen is a bus ride away. But yes, unfortunately there are very limited options for post-secondary education in East Belgium, I looked it up, and you can study for teacher, nurse or accountant, that's it.
Fellow Eupener?
@@souhaibz the old railway ravel L38 is perfect for that
@@MrSvenovitch is it that one from Homburg to Liège?
It's always a good day when Paul uploads
It's like Christmas. What did Santa bring this time? :D
More like the Feast of Saint-Nicholas, if you've been good that is. Otherwise black Pete's gonna birch you! 😆😆
My name is PAUL and an arrow pointing at him, so nobody would get counfused :D
I am Belgian, living in the province of Liège (in Walloonia). French is my native language but i've learnt to speak dutch in school since i was 10 years old (and i still have some course in dutch in university). I dont give a damn about Walloonia, i am Belgian and i love to speak Dutch (unlike many friends of mine). I think that learning Dutch should be mandatory.
I know I'm late, but I agree. I am a Fleming who sadly just fails to speak excellent French (basics at best) no matter how hard he tries. Heck, I honestly believe German should be compulsory as well. It may sounds ludicrous, but come to think that it's also an official language -- the only one that has virtually no status in Brussels, the only one most other Belgians don't know, the only one you barely see anywhere in the media and such. I kinda feel like it's Belgium's unrepresented and undersupported official language.
We, the Flemings, Walloons, German-Belgians, Low Dietschers (Who refuse to associate with any of the previous three) and so on, are all brothers and sisters sharing a wonderful country. All Belgians should be fluent in Dutch, French and German imo, no excuse for not learning one of them. Seeing all these tensions arise between us and getting worse really makes me sad. They're not as unfathomably horrible as some people claim it is, but we don't exactly get along either; something we absolutely should.
@Alex Croton I hate to be that guy, but 3-4 b/c the German-Belgians and the Bruxelloises. It can even be 5 if you include the Low Dietsch people from Geulland (region in Liège: includes Blieberg, Welkenraedt and Baelen).
@@thewitheredstriker I am a Fleming, living in Wallonia. Speaking French with my neighbours of course. But really we should all speak English to each other (which is already happening for most young people) because this way everyone makes an effort to speak something else than their mother tongue.
@@MrSvenovitch i believe that if your nabours come to your house they should try to speak flemish and when you go to their place you should speak french that way it is a shared effort
@@MrSvenovitch I agree here. They should just teach kids english as a 2nd language in schools. U get acces to the whole world in this way. Why should the flemish learn french or the walloons learn dutch is beyond me... Whenever i go on vacation english is my go to language. Whenever i speak to a foreigner english is my go to language. WHY? Cos most people in the world know some english. Learning dutch doesnt help a french speaking person at all In this world. Great u can go to the netherlands and talk dutch with them while many of them are also fluent in english... LOL
Many people forget this detail, but we're big on comic books too.
Yess! Tintin, Lucky Luke, Spirou, Gaston La Gaffe.
@@gabrielmonet-alarcia8146 And our Smurfs of course.
212
@@timrob12 les Schtroumpfs mon enfance
@@gab_14 Of De Smurfen.
Hi, French-speaking Belgian here. For what I could see, Flemish people tend to feel Flemish a lot more than Walloon people feel Walloon. Most Walloons just feel Belgian, because there is little to no Walloon culture. There is a French-speaking Belgian culture, but usually we don't feel separated from the Flemish in our identity, though we do have some kind of rivalry with them.
Also, about Brussels, the reason there is no statistics about the spoken languages is that it's illegal. As Brussels is meant to be 50/50 French-Dutch bilingual, no official statistics are accepted, in order to keep the parity.
I am from The Netherland and I see the Flemish the same as I do and I am quite fond of them.
That's true. A lot of Flemish people see themselves as flemish and not Belgian. Myself included. It has a lot to do with history but maybe even more with the political affairs of these times, different way of thinking, culture,..
The fact that Brussels is meant to be 50/50 but is not at all (try to go to a service there and speak flemish), also stings!
dries or the king speaking french at home instead of dutch\flemish
@@Setetoto How could I forget that one. It's time to fucking split hahaha
The reason why we Flemish people are like that is because of the Walloons. Because when Belgium was created Dutch was NOT an official language even though it is the most spoken language of Belgium. The French speaking Belgians looked down on us for years and literally acted as if we didn’t exist. We had to learn French or you couldn’t get a decent job. That’s why Flemish people became rebellious. That’s why we have that identity. We had to fight for our language and culture! It wasn’t given to us. And when they finally recognized us and our language it was already to late. They should’ve made it 50-50 from the very start. Belgium would’ve been VERY different. The Walloons often see us as radical seperatists that hate them. But they fail to see its them that created this themselves. Don’t get me wrong though I’m Flemish but I am far from “un flamingant”. I am a Belgian first, then a Fleming. Another thing, the Flemish one day proposed to make the whole country like Brussels. Bilingual everywhere. The signs next to the roads everything. The Walloons declined, they said oh you should do that, but we won’t. Why? We don’t want Dutch in our cities. “Paysants Flamands”. It’s things like this that caused this whole Flemish identity. And yet we Flemish keep on paying Wallonia 9 billion euros a year to sustain themselves. We could use that money to make Flanders one of the richest regions of Europe. But we give it to you instead. Without that money Wallonia would become a Soviet like region. I wonder if the Walloons would have done the same when Liège and Charleroi were rich and we were not. Oh I recall no they did not. But yet we are the bad guys, we are the separatists and the fascists. Everything happens for a reason. The French speaking Belgians ruined this country from the start when it was just created.
I’m Belgian and I’m impressed with your video! It’s not often a non-Belgian is that accurate and detailed about our country. You did a really good job! As a Walloon whose first language is French, we actually were forced to learn Dutch in my school from kindergarden to the 10th grade. I'm assuming it's because my hometown is right next to the border with Flanders and close to Brussels, so Dutch was mandatory in school. In 8th grade I started taking English too but it wasn't mandatory. It’s only in 11th grades that I was able to choose to only have Dutch or English. So I kept English and dropped Dutch because I thought English would be more useful. And now I live the US 😊 Now the English we learned in school was British and not American. I also learned Latin from grades 7 to 10. My Dad also speaks Walloon (in addition to French) because he comes from a lower class family, but my Mom doesn’t speak Walloon because her family is more middle class. I don’t speak Walloon either (I only know like 3 words), and I can barely understand it because it's very different from French. My mom’s mom is Flemish, so her first language is Dutch, but she married a Walloon and only speaks French with us. But I have a lot of Dutch-speaking far cousins on her side of the family.
Was't dichtse ? Den Engelsman or de stoemme amerikaan me zen woapens en hen gezeik das alles kenne ?
Aline Mayne you're so beaudiful aawww. What beaudiful face do you've in your profil pixel 😍😍😍😉. I'am from Luxemburg that's mean we live close if you want come to the privat chat 😉.
@@janverboven I can speak german and I understood everything in your comment
Just like us The Javanese, some people from higher class family rarely teach their children to speak our native language
Woher kommen Sie?
Belgian here too (french speaking). There is an irony in the fact that the founders of France, Salian Franks (incl. Clovis whose real name was Hlodovicus), spoke a language, old frankish (vieux francique), which is the archaic form of Dutch. (Salian Franks came from the Netherlands actually.) What's funny is that the language name "français" refers to salian franks, who spoke old dutch. That's why I often say that the true "français" is actually the dutch language. That's a long forgotten truth so very few people understand what I mean. Color names in french come from old dutch : bleu comes from blauw, gris comes from grijs etc.
@@Badkuipeend Well, that one comes from Vulgar Latin “castellum” -> Romance “castello” -> Old French “chastel” -> Middle French “chasteau” -> Modern French “château”. It was a military term brought to the north by Roman soldiers, and Dutch took “kasteel” from Latin.
those are French loanwords. those words dont originate from Dutch. its the other way around, dutch borrowed from the french language extensively.
perc No, those words were borrowed BY French from Germanic language(s).
Touchy Torchy “chateau” etymology
old french: chastel
french: chateau
the germans borrowed the word from french, chateau/chastel is originally from castellum
Touchy Torchy full etymology here:
“
Originated 1730-40. Borrowed from French château, from Old French castel, from Latin castellum. Doublet of castle.
„
Hello, Belgian here !
My answer for the question of the day :
I'm from Brussels and my native language is french. I can't speak dutch very well but I went to kindergarten in dutch and I try to have as many dutch conversations as I can. When I meet a dutch speaking belgian, I always say that I can't speak very well and if he can speak slower and without dialect words. So far, they all agreed to do that and I can have a decent conversation with them. I also know quite a lot of Brusseleir (a small collection of Brussels dialects)
Anyway, it's always a pleasure to watch your videos, keep up the good work, man ! ;)
Gros bisous aux francophones en dikke kusjes voor mijn nederlandstalige landgenoten !
Goldhorn4president kusje ?!
Goldhorn4president why the native speakers Dutch don't like speak French? I heard that are racist! Lol I don't know if this is a really thing
@Nicolly Farao What do you think yourself? Bullshit meter should've went off long ago. :p
I have to admit that a lot of belgian dutch speakers speak french quite well ;)
Some people just suck in languages xD. Dutch is my mother tongue and I'm good in English but my French sucks. I can understand the language but I can't talk back. But most people are good in French xD but some aren't
Absolutely smashing video as always. Cheers all the way from Kenya!
As a Belgian, my native language is French and my second language is English--mostly thanks to the Internet. In my experience of learning English it is a slow but rather natural process that I don't have to worry about. And I don't quite understand how exactly I'm doing it, I reckon I'm just consuming more and more media in English, interacting with people in comment sections and now I can say I'm somewhat comfortable with it. It makes me really think that the overall lack of Dutch knowledge in the French-speaking part resides in the fact that, unless you go work in Flanders, you really don't need it and you're really not exposed to it either, which does not help.
I have a good friend from Luxembourg (the Grand Duchy) who can basically speak four languages--Luxembourgish, French, German and English--and I must say I'm fascinated by the linguistic situation of the country. Unlike Belgium indeed, the use of one or another of the official languages does not depend on geographical location but rather on context and most Luxembourgers are exposed to each of those languages daily, as well as English. I believe they go through primary school in German and through secondary school in French, while speaking Luxembourgish at home. But really this situation is not that unique as in many countries of the world, immigrant children have to go through a different language at school than at home and end up fluent in both.
That is where the failure of our regular language classes is, at the very least in my opinion: 4 hours a week is not going to do anything, especially since those 4 hours aren't typically in complete immersion either. I'll gladly admit that a basic knowledge of grammar is helpful (and was helpful in my process of learning English) but it alone is far from sufficient. We could instead have our entire schooling in the other language and we could also be much more exposed to media in the other language. Of course it is more simple to do everything in one language but I really do think that ending up knowing multiple languages is worth the cost of having to deal with those languages through school or anything. And on a country level, although I'll agree that it actually is debatable, I believe the economic attractiveness of having a population of polyglots is really worth the cost that it would represent to change our system is such a way.
And what I just wrote is a big fat comment constituted of random thoughts coming through my mind; I hope it gave you food for thought as well, I'm genuinely curious about what people think about all of this.
I totally agree. Learning a language through media and immersion really is much more effective than the traditional 4 hours a week method. I'm from Germany and English was the only language I learned until i reached the high school (although I only became fluent through the internet). We could do so much more. Germany is right in the middle of Europe, and still most of us only speak German, English and occasionally the language of their parents.
More than 2 lines, i don't read.
I know it's reviving a dead comment, but I remember seeing comments on videos about Irish saying that despite it being a compulsory subject, there's too big a focus on grammar and reading, meaning it's hardly used outside of their schools
But I'm from the USA so I can't attest to it myself
I congratulate you on your English, it is very good. Here in England we are not exposed to other languishes so it is very difficult to learn, since we cannot practise it. I would love to learn Spanish, but wouldn't find anyone to talk to in Spanish to help me learn.
I am German but my cousin is flemish and I feel they steal us from speaking.
This upload just made my Sunday better! Cheers from Paraguay.
Jonathan Gomez mbaetekopio che kape :D ?
Tenemos que hacer campaña para que haga un video sobre el Guaraní 👍👍
chaloide Up!
Eso sería genial!
Jonathan Gomez belgan
The disappearance of Walloon is more linked to the fact French was taught in schools, and Walloon was prohibited (kids would get punished if they got caught speaking it). At some point, Walloon was considered to be a "dirty" language, as it was linked to the more rural and uneducated part of the population, and people stopped speaking it for that reason. My two cents.
It is exactly right, Im belgian as well(from wallonia) and that is exactly what my grandmother said to me(pupils were punished harshly if they were caught speaking walloon at school, even on the playground), most people at the time spoke walloon at home between family members or friends, but elsewhere it was frowned upon and considered uneducated.
Same with the Bavarian dialect in Germany. A lot of young people (especially in cities) don't speak or even understand it anymore.
This was the exact same thing in France... Only french spoken in school and all the regionnal languages prohibited.by the state during school
Apart from Student "Cercle" there's not anymore wallon-spoken in social gatherings apart from families, a bit of a shame
@@evildeadlyCOOKIE And would they get punished if they got caught speaking Bavarian dialect or it's "just" modern implications, ....
I live right on the language border, like literally! My house is in Flanders and half my backyard is in Wallonia, so safe to say I just feel Belgian. I was raised bilingual from birth, went to a dutch school, and spoke pretty much only french at home starting from my mid teen years ish.
No one knows how this country works, half my friends cant speak french , the other half can barely manage flemish, yet we make it work.
I use a lot of french words (and some english ones) when speaking flemish and vice versa, I guess thats how we speak in the language border area tho.
oh yeah no one is nationalistic unless its football
Great vid!
So you change the language from Dutch to French when you are speaking to yourself?
@@hannofranz7973 Depends really usually I think in English cuz that’s the language I use the most these days. If I’m speaking french I’ll think in french, if I’m speaking dutch, I’ll think in dutch I guess. Idk I’ve never really paid attention to it but I do know for a fact that I have switched languages while thinking before! I just don’t really know how often I do it
I never knew about that in Belgium. I didn't know they spoke Dutch, French, and German their. What's the most common language?
@@aliciasheerin231 Dutch, by 60% of the people speak dutch, 39% speak french and 1% german
@@emmanuelmacron4Thank you! :)
Hi there ! I am technically " Wallonian " but really I am Picard but I identify as 100% Belgian which is the case for most of the French speaking community of Belgium. I am currently living in Brussels, and learning Dutch. I'd like to become fluent in Dutch / Flemish before my thirties and maybe work in Flanders. Your explanations were very exact and clear =D
Simon Marlière
Congrats on making the effort to learn Dutch!
I'm interested in Picard and in Picardie because one of my ancestors emigrated from Picardie to Italy. The family name in Italy (Naples) reflects this, being "Picardi." As for myself, I'm an American, and my mother's family emigrated to the US from Italy, and my father's emigrated from Ukraine and Poland (we Americans are often mixed between different ethnic and racial groups).
Simon Marlière Laat is wat horen dan? Groeten uit Nederland
@@everforward8651 warning picardie in modern france is different historical picardie and more the language of picardie (in french "Le picard") can group all regional languages of the north of the France ( from "Paris" at the "Nord Pas De Calais" and from normandy to champagne-ardenne)
@@athenamnerva6939 The languages of northern France («les langues d’oïl ») are all distinct Romance languages, and each has its own name. Picard (le Picard) only refers to the language spoken in the area that's been known in history as Picardie.
Hi Paul. I'm a Flemish Belgian born in Brussels and now living in Ghent, one of the beautiful medieval cities in Flanders. I'm amazed to see the accuracy of your description of the complicated linguistical and administrative structures of Belgium. Very precise. And this done by a foreigner! Congrats! Filip
Very good video! I am Flemish myself and fluently speak, read, write French, German, English besides Dutch. Last summer, on vacation in Normandy, I had the occasion of translating the menu of the restaurant ( **) to a Dutch family who had limited knowledge of French. Being a foodie myself, knowledge of the French cuisine helped a lot but nevertheless I am very proud I did a succesfull job!
Being a Belgian, i would say that a lot of Flemish people sometimes may refuse to speak French because we are better at speaking French than Walloons are at speaking Dutch ( I know that sounds contradictory) This is because we study French from age 11 but because Walloons are worse at speaking Dutch we feel like they don’t respect out language (Dutch) and it seems like they expect us to zdapt to their language
actually it's not contradictory at all. that's basically what also a lot of non-native-english-speakers do, when native-english-speakers don't even try to learn some basics of a foreign langauge when coming to a foreign country.
Phoe Nix hm almost all of the belgian people ive met didnt speak french, and the ones that did didnt speak it very well... Worse than me (a brazillian).
Dutch is not easy to speak ( with the dialects) but a lot of Walloons read and scribe easily.
Phoe Nix Romance language speakers are in general very bad at learning languages, and especially german languages, so don't blame them for struggling to learn flemish, try listening to a frenvh or spaniard speaking german or english, and you'll get what I'm talking about
Dutch is a sophisticated and complex language, is it not?
I am a Dutch speaking Belgian. I have watched very closely for errors in your video, because language is a very sensitive topic in Belgium. I have found none to speak of :-) As to your question: generally Flemish people feel Flemish first and Belgian second, while generally the French speaking feel Belgian, period. This is historical. Only less than 50 years ago French was considered the language of the educated, and the Flemish were treated as dumb peasants. This created resentment which still lives in a softened form, even though now the tables have largely been turned. There is also a reverse resentment with the French speaking Belgians because of this. There is a great reluctance with the francophones to learn Dutch for several reasons: it is considered as a small language not worth learning, they still expect to be helped in French everwhere, Flemish people tend to be impatient with someone trying to speak Dutch, etc.
As for knowledge of other languages, your video hits it. Flemish people like myself older than 40 generally have at least basic knowledge of French. Conversational French is however learned while on the job e.g. in bilingual Brussels. Ou children almost never meet French speaking people and tend to think that French is just an annoying, useless school topic and believe wrongly that English will open more doors. How wrong they are when they want to work in Belgium at some level. The analog with the French speaking children is even worse. Flemish teenagers are often fluent in (some sort of) English, borrowed from movies and games, their French speaking counterparts generally are not because they live in the French cultural sphere.
i live in the french speaking part of belgium and i must say you are the first comment in here where i completly agree with. Btw i can speak flamish as well as french i am just raised with both and i think vryone should in belgium. And sorry but my english isn t that good as we can read xp
There are some institutional and legal mistakes, like the Brussels' government is not merged, it was the Flemish government that is a merger of Community and Region, and bilingualism isn't mandatory in shops in Brussels, only for the administrations and police and such. Brussels governments (VGC, CoCof, GGC and Region are separate entities, even if the politicians are shared, e.g. the Flemish College president is the Co-president of the Shared Community College and a Minister in the Region.
you deserve it. you had a country whose full of your ethnicity united kingdom of netherlands then you made a deal with french and you betrayed your own happyfull country
I'm Belgian. I only want to add that on the Dutch Belgian Television most foreign speaking programs, films and so on are subtitled. I find this a great way to learn a foreign language.
Thank you for this video ! I'm Belgian and my mother language is French. For more than one year I'm living and studying in Flanders. I can also speak Dutch (not yet perfectly).
Before I saw languages in Belgium as a big problem, but no more today. That is one of the wealth of my country and I'm proud of that. I consider myself even more Belgian since I can speak the two main languages :)
You will be perfect in dutch one day :) , it just takes time. Wish you all the best and good luck, and don't give up on the language. The problem of the language is more in the mind of the people, people don't wanna give up their old conceptions and believes, because they are feeling so comfortable in it.
Céline Marenne oi csline .eu sou brasileiro e gostaria muito de se puder ter contato com alguem da belgica pra que eu aprenda alguma coisa a mais ok .55 11940501111 whats meu nome silvio ok
Be welcome.
My favorite channel ever!!!
OK. As a English guy who speaks Vlaams my favourite tv programme when living in Belgium was Tien voor Taal. This was a weekly quiz between a panel of Flemish and Dutch celebrites about the differences in the "common" language. My French is strongly influenced by that spoken in Bruxelles. I automatically use "septante" and "nonante" for 70 and 90. This is similar to Swiss French and a good friend born in Lyons tells me that he used the same words as a kid.
Vlaams is one of the dialects of Dutch right?
@@Lara-fx4ex Well it is one of the regional varieties of the Dutch language. Historically all the areas which now form the Netherlands and Flanders spoke, and still speak, regional variations. The Netherlands Language Union was established to standardise these variations into a common language Algemeen Nederlands(AN). This is what is taught in schools. Within Flanders itself there are many local dialects.
did you know....nonante......is dialect (antwerp).....they mean .....a dog.....strange..not?
How would you say 75 and 95? Septante cinq and nonante cinq?
No, in Lyon we say soixante-dix and quatre-vingt. Some worlds differ like vogue for fête foraine
Belgian here, from Flanders and I'm a native Dutch speaker, that's quite fluent in English and my French is good enough to get around (used to be better, but after years of not using the language, it's not what it used to be). Their is some sort of general idea here that if you are in Flanders and you are of Belgian identity, you are required to at least attempt to communicate in Dutch (even if it's mixed with questions like "what's this word again?" in English or French, as long as the intent of the message is clear and there is equal respect between both sides of languagespeakers.). I found a similar sentiment in rural areas in Walloon as well, though the way people react to it depends on where you live and what public opinion is at that point. There are groups of people that would prefer to see the linguistic communities split up, mostly due to political propaganda, which mostly leaves the inconvenient parts out of their info. With the vast amount of immigration in Belgium nowadays though, I see less people complain about Dutch vs French and more people complain that they see more people that don't even speak one of them.
À vrai dire, vous écrivez en anglais vraiment très, très bien, ma sœur. C'est magnifique. Salut de Gujarat (Inde) et Singapour
As a Basque person, Basque language is maybe the most important part of my basque identity. Without speaking basque, it would be hard for me to connect with this identity. Because we suffer a diglosic state with French & Spanish, our language is the most important way for us to reaffirm our identity.
Disglisic state? 😂 😂 In a short time the Basque country will made 50 yrs of Francos death, with a level of independence similar to a formal state but only 22 - 28% of population real euskaldunes... Cmon... Stop putting the blame on France or Spain, stop victimism
Yeah, blame Spain.
@@detrockcity3 actually the situation of Basque is worse in France
@@juliosalazar6924 Okay, them too.
Keep it alive! 👍🏼🙌👐🤙
I'm a Dutch speaking Belgian in Brussels. I always get excited when someone speaks Dutch to me here, but it's a rare occasion. I quite enjoy speaking mostly French and English. Many expats here and I love not knowing what language I'll be speaking today! Excellent video! I'm in awe that you are able to make such clear and in depth language studies on your channel.
Ik ben duitser en nu asn het leren nederlands. Ik hoop dat ik de volgende keer in België en Brussels de mogelijkheden vind mijn nederlands te oefenen. Ik vind nederlands een beetje makkelijker te verstaan, maar het is seker een interessante versoek nederlands in Brussels te praten.
You could not have uploaded this at a more perfect moment....thank you!!!!
It's my pleasure! I'm glad to hear it.
Ákos Szűcs Yes, gelukkig banaan dag!
I agree as I am learning Dutch
Belgian from Flanders here. Hallo Vlamingen, bonjour les Wallons! I actually learned from your video, thanks, Paul. If you can wrap your head around our linguistic situation, consider yourself to be Belgian :) To answer your question, personally I feel like speaking many languages is part of my identity, and I think I am not alone in this. I am proud to speak to varying degrees 5 languages. We learn French at a young age but because Flemish media has so much English content, most Flemish people outside of Brussels "practice" their English more than French. An important part is that Flemish TV for instance always uses subtitles, exposing viewers to other (mostly English) languages. That, and English being more related to Dutch than French, are, I believe, the most important reasons why many Flemish speak English more than they speak French. There are exceptions of course, but I don't think many Flemish in Flanders just refuse to learn/speak French because of a dislike of Walloon people. And as a Flemish person I will always try to speak French when approached in French. But I know not all Flemish are prepared or capable to do that.
Curious, because to a french speaker, the sentences in english sound just like a slightly different french. There's a lot of similarities between the two languages.
Curieux, parce que pour un francophone, les phrases en anglais sonnent juste comme un français légèrement différent. Il y a beaucoup de similarités entre les deux langues.
even for me as a SPANISH speaker french is a PAIN on the ASS, i understand you, english is easier by far ...
I'm from Belgium and my native language is Dutch. I also speak English, German (I understand it better than I can speak it) and French (although it's not as good as my English). You did a really good job of explaining all this. The last time I tried to get someone to understand the basics, they had more questions than before I started.
Exact same situation here
As a linguist from Germany I am always curious about the line between Dutch and German and all the dialects caught in between. I'm from North Germany, here in the countryside we still speak Plattdüütsch - which as a kid always sounded like a weird mix of German and Englisch to me. Well, that's the dialect continuum for you.
To me my native language grew in importance for my identity. As a kid I didn't think about it, I just had that one language and everyone else around me had the same. But as I became fluent in Englisch, learned other languages as well and especially are working with people of other native languages, it became more and more important to me that I am a native German speaker. I'm proud of my language and it's unique and sometimes silly features. I think, German is a beautiful language with a rich body of art and philosophy that is best enjoyed in the original German. Translations usually loose something.
Especially in contrast to the ever growing influence of English I try my best to hold up the German language flag. German might not sound as cool, but I think it's a lot more precise and flexible than English.
Jaehwa Sa ja Ich liebe deutsch auch. Ich habe in Der Schule das gelernt und es ist sehr hübsch! Es tut mir leid für Meine schlecte deutsch lol
I really hope one day i can speak German. Greetings from Argentina ! :D
Jaehwa Sa Be proud to be German
I am a french native and totally agree with you. Our langage is part of our history, and Europe have a tremendious history. Maybe that's why (I think) Europeans like their own langage.
@FZ channel you are so right if we think on very long term
I'm a Moroccan who was born in Antwerp and i'm fluent in 3 languages (Dutch, English and Moroccan Arabic). The funny part is that i never learned any of these languages. I just master them because i get exposed to these languages on a very frequent basis in daily life. My French is horrible though. I can't even hold a conversation in French, but i'm currently learning it. When i master the French language, it will be the first languages i actually learned by studying it.
Erase Life
Goed bezig copain ;) 👊
Dat is ziek. Lekker bezig!
@ Erase Life : goed commentaar, jammer genoeg gaat een taal in de praktijk leren veel gemakkelijker dan een taal studeren, zeker als jij ouder dan een jaar of acht bent.
waarom frans?
GPO zou hij Duits moeten leren ofzo?
Belgium a super beautiful country, I was with my family in the Flemish Region this summer
🇪🇸❤️🇧🇪
@@Rose-id9sj I'm a Belgian who has to move to Israel, and tbh I'm DYING to come back. Better people, better manner, AWESOME FOOD, and great taxes are spent (relatively well)
It's all about perspective :)
@@Rose-id9sj always remember, it could be worse :)))
Enjoy the frietjes. It's the hardest part about leaving Belgium ;)
Thanks for visiting my part of Belgium where i live. Hoppefully you and your family had a wonderfull time here. Always welcome!
Oh Belgium, such great food, and still so devided. Me as a south Dutchman (living in Dutch Brabant) am always amazed how this country is struggling with country issues, while being so kind or trying their best to get things done. It's surprising how I live 35km from the border of it and still notice a totally different world over the border with Belgium. The wall outlets are of French design, not German, the people are different, the dialect is different, the roads are different. And still... wherever I go there, the people are always kind and nice. It's so weird that the language battle has made it this way, while most Belgians just try to go on. Although I can with ease speak to Flemish people (they choose other words than we Dutchies do sometimes), I'm always amazed how the border makes things so distinct. The languages were in the past more fluidly going over the border, but the 20th century changed so much. Radio and television made the cultural focuses of our countries different and changes language to standards in the direction of their capitals. It feels unnatural, a made border. In that way I see that language indeed forms a piece of identity and a small culture gap. Charles V of practically most of Europe dreamed of one united lowlands, from Old Flanders to Groningen as one country area. How split we got from a war that we had totally different courses from the Dutch revolt and the following 80-years war, while our neighbours are just 20 minutes driving from here. Just weird... I like Belgium, though it's weird to see the country, it feels like a brother to us. A very close one. "The world gets warmer in Brabant", an old Dutch proverb says. Indeed it is. How the old Duchy of Brabant is broken up in three ethnicities, you still see that the more south you go, the more warm the people still get. Even in Wallonia people try to talk to me in Flemish/Dutch and it feels like an honor, every time, that they will do it for us in French territory. Three cheers for Belgium! In Walloon, in German and in Flemish!
joehoe222 Ik woon in Midden-Brabant (provincie Antwerpen) niet ver van de grens. Er wonen hier ontzettend veel Nederlanders en als zij Brabants spreken is het zogoed als hetzelfde dialect als het onze.
When I'm in a car, I can literally feel the precise location of the border of the highway around Postel with my eyes closed. Such a road difference so close by. Driving in Belgium sometimes feels as if you're driving in Eastern Europe.
The people are different across the border, yet also similar in ways. Especially when comparing the south of our country to bordering regions in Belgium.
The dialects of two villages split by the border do not differ much when spoken in its purest form. I believe the standard variety of Dutch created a difference in pronunciation of our Brabantian dialects, but I am no expert.
I'm from Belgium. I'm a native French speaker and I can speak English, german and greek(native language of my father) as well.
I had bad teachers in middle school in Dutch that made me stop learning the language too early, unfortunately. For fun, I learnt German as an adult and now, as German and Dutch are too closely related, I have trouble learning Dutch. So I don't know if I'll get back to learning Dutch someday but my basics from middle school and my German help me understand written Dutch a lot.
Anyway, regarding some facts and sayings in the video.
Walloon has never been the educated language in school in Wallonia. It was the language of the mine (Wallon from Liège, Namur or Charleroi are quite different to each other) and was spoken by the non-educated people in the countryside or suburbs of towns. Due to more accessibility to school, the Walloon has been less and less spoken and is now barely extinct.
German speakers have to learn french really early and have a really impressive level of bilinguism. I work everyday with native german speaker, sometimes I'm wondering if they don't speak a better french than I do. A reason for that is they have no university in their language in Belgium. If they want to go to University, they have to go to a french or dutch one. Due to proximity, they mostly learn french.
Yep you learn french very early here. I think I started learning french in the kindergarten with french music songs for kids. But nowaydays less and less of the young people speak french, same as in the flemish speaking part. Which is kinda sad. When I was young I thought learning french was just a waste of time, it just felt like a burden, so I sticked to dutch and english, but only later I realised that it was actually an opportunity to learn french. I mean you only have advantages of speaking a second or third language, you can everywhere go and speak with people where the language is spoken. These days politicians are trying to do the same thing as in Flandern, eradicating everything that is french, maybe not as harsh as in flandern, but still. Sad that people want to stay so closed minded.
You are right, there is no university here, only a higschool, but you can only study 3 different things if I remember right. Mostly people go to Liège or Brussels for studies, some of them also go to Aachen or Maastricht.
In your place I would stick to the foreign language you like the most :)
The reason the German speakers speach such good French is because they are German speakers.
Honestly the quality of the English I hear from Germans I have worked with is phenomenal. They have a keen ear for refinement, fidelity and attention to detail.
The "second language" thing about French also needs to be placed in context.
Here in Flanders we learn first French, then English, that's why people say French is our L2.
I forgot a lot of French after highschool & my English is way better.
Being earlier in the sequence of learning doesn't automatically mean better than the other.
I suppose one personal attitude towards French is not a general attitude. Just by the listening to the accent one can usually estimate in two seconds if we are talking to a French-fluent Fleming or a "not interested in that language" Fleming.
Sometimes you are suprised, some people might have a negative attitude towards French but in fact have a very good command of it.
@@jandron94 What Tibo states is very much a realty in most of Flanders. Aside from personal interest, English is simply easier for us and we are much more exposed to that language, aside from maybe the people that live in and around Brussels. Most people (especially everyone younger than say, 50) in places like Antwerp or Ghent feel perfectly comfortable in English while they have to resort to their rusty high school French when necessary
@@joachimdebie4900 that's exactly what I said: their French is rusty because they are not interested by French culture. In Flanders the dominant culture is the Anglo-American culture by far and Flemings like it very much, especially the youth. There really are two major distinct cultures in Belgium : Anglo-American dominant on one side and French dominant on the other side. For instance just look at The Voice Vlaanderen and the Voice Belgique... totally different.
@@jandron94 Then I misunderstood, my apologies.
However, assuming that Anglo-American culture is dominant in Flanders (as opposed to French in Wallonia) is a bit simplified. Yes we tend to speak English as our first foreign language, but the dominant culture in Flanders is... Flemish culture, or more in general maybe Neerlando-Flemish culture. Singing and being able to communicate in foreign languages is an inherent part of many Germanic cultures (think about Sweden for example, who is the third biggest music producer in the world after the USA and UK) but that doesn't mean we are similar to the Americans. When you look at topics that are less superficial, you will notice how Flanders is becoming more similar to the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries, not to the Anglosphere.
@@joachimdebie4900 What do Flemings are most exposed to?
- Songs in English or in Dutch?
- Movies in English or in Dutch?
- TV Series in English or in Dutch?
- Computer Games in English or Dutch?
- Internet Content in English or Dutch?
- Books written by Anglophones or by Neerlandophones?
I don't know what your definition of culture is but I was not refering to politics, way of life, cuisine or hobbies but to language. For me the culture is above all the language (wherever you can find it).
I am not sure that people in other parts of the world when they hear a song in English performed by a Fleming they think: hey that's a Fleming artist here !
In France there are afew English singing bands like Daft Punk or DJs like David Guetta but it is not considered French culture (far from it).
If you say that singing in English is part of the Flemish culture I say OK good for you until the Flemings gradually speak less and less Flemish and more and more English and finally undergo the same "assimilation" process as the Scots and the Irish underwent in the 18th and 19th century.
What are the next steps in Flanders?
- English as main teaching language in colleges (as already happened in Flemish Universities)?
- English as main language in small companies (as already happened in big Flemish companies)?
- English to be a co-official language of Flanders (which is already almost the case)?
- Dutch language to be a minority language in Flanders?
As an Irish speaker in Ireland, my language is a major part of my identity. I think that is the norm for minority language speakers, especially post-colonial communities who had their historical language replaced by a invading language.
Stephen OBrien i hope you will make popular your awesome language again someday. Too bad so many languages are dying(
The same happened to Ukraine. During Russian Empire ( and then USSR ) Ukrainian language was forbidden, replacing by Russian language. Many writers and other culture figures were persecuted, murdered or sent to Siberia. When Ukraine regained its own independence, since 1991 Ukrainian language has become an official language of a country. So, I completely understand Irishmen.
I'm an American with a grandparent from the Gaeltacht, and she taught me some Irish so I could say a few words when we visited Connemara. I studied the demise of Irish, about 50 yrs ago there were about 30,000 monoglot Irish speakers, and though Irish still survives, there are almost no monoglot Irish speakers left. Its sad to see, because much of Irish culture will die when Irish becomes extinct. Reminds me of the demise of French in the Cajun community in Louisiana.
The Tremendous No language is useless and no language is superior in any way.
I completely agree as a Basque speaker. It's the pillar of our identity.
I am from Eastern Ukraine, and I speak Russian with Ukrainian accent natively, which makes me stand out from Russian speakers in Russia, speakers of Surzhik, which is a dialectual mixture of Russian and Ukrainian, and speakers of Ukrainian.
@FZ Channel I am a Ukrainian from the east of Ukraine, a Russian-language native and I can speak Ukrainian as my "second native language" (i.e. much better than L2).
Most of Ukrainians can speak Ukrainian (better or worse), some (mostly the Easterners) avoid speaking Ukrainian - many Easterners are not competent speakers because of the Russian-speaking environment and they fear to make mistakes or to stumble remembering a correct word, some other suppose Ukrainian kind of a rural language because the eastern cities are Russian-speaking).
But what is for sure, most (if not almost all) of the Ukrainian Russian speakers understand Ukrainian and this is what makes them different from Russians. And most of them identify themselves as Russified Ukrainians (whose parents or grandparents or great-grandparents were Ukrainian-speaking). Russia loves to consider all the Russian speakers abroad as Russians, but there are not so many ethnic Russians in Ukraine (unlike e.g. Estonia).
@@zoria2718 we have the same shit in Belarus, Слава Україні
As an ignorant Brit who expects everyone to speak MY language, holidaying in Belgium thought my very limited French would see me through, how wrong! Being mainly in Flanders I taught myself basic Flemish (so easy to learn) I confidently spoke it...although I was usually answered in, as they realised I was English! I felt most welcomed that I had made an effort to speak their language!!
How hard would you say Flemish is to you as an english speaker?
@@kaglekoa Flemish is Dutch.
@@kaglekoa
If you're an English speaker...Dutch will be the easiest language you can learn.
Thanks for the very thorough video! All very accurate. As a Walloon, I started learning Dutch in primary school, but really basic stuff, mostly common vocabulary and expressions. It got more serious in the secondary education system, but it was not enough to be honest. I can speak decent Dutch now only thanks to university studies (master in translation).
About the Walloon language, I want to bring another element, which I have heard from my grandparents, from the Walloon countryside of the province of Namur. Their parents (my great-grandparents, born around 1900-1910) were mostly Walloon-speakers who learned French at school, with Walloon being the only language at home. French had been for centuries the language of the administration, nobility, etc. but country people kept to Walloon on their everyday life, which became seen as the language of the peasants, basically, and this is key. Similarly, Walloon was the only language spoken at my grandparents', but the difference is that school became more accessible - therefore, my grandparents' command of French was much better than their parents'. And school was heavily promoting French as the "proper way" to speak. My grandparents told me stories of how they would get punished and shamed at school for speaking Walloon. This planted the notion in their minds that Walloon was basically wrong, "dirty" French. And so they brought up their children in French, and probably 75% of the language at home was French. My dad learned a lot of Walloon still, and can still speak it pretty fluently, and I learned quite a lot of it too though my grandparents. An interesting thing that shows how the situation between countryside and cities was very different is people's accents. On my mother's side, they lived in the city of Charleroi, which at the time was the industrial pride of the country (things have changed a lot now ;)). They spoke less Walloon at home (although they understand it) and pronounced the French /r/ as we do in standard French nowadays, a soft /r/. This was the way to show that you were educated or lived in a city, with higher social status, because Walloon was originally spoken rolling the /r/, like in Italian. My grandparents on my father's side, on the other hand... lived in a village and spoke French with a rolled /r/ all their life :D
A last note about Walloon: as a language, it is actually quite distinct from French. The Walloon that most people know nowadays has been influenced by French to a very, very heavy degree throughout the 20th century. Even my grandad would sometimes mix up, again because of this French-bashing at school. But if you heard Walloon as it was a bit before the 20th century, it would be impossible for a French speaker to understand. The best example of this that I can give you is a documentary about a the descendents of a colony of Walloon settlers in Wisconsin. Their parents and grandparents left Wallonia during the 2nd half of the 19th century for America, like many people of Europe did. They created towns called Namur, Brussels, etc. over there. And the only language they spoke at home was Walloon. When they reached the USA, Walloon was their only tongue. There was no French influence there. Walloon was passed down, unaltered, through 2 or 3 generations. A team of journalists from Belgium went to meet them, I think about 20 years ago. The whole thing can be found on UA-cam, look up "Namur, Wisconsin". Listen to the old people talking for the most authentic example of unadulterated Walloon (Namur type, as Liège Wallon is a bit different) :)
@ Francois Arnauld : very good comment.
and it worked the same with flemish dialects for a long time : wallonian and flemish dialects were "peasant's languages", stigmatizing their users
in Brussels for example, at the beginning of the 20th century, parents of flemish origin would sometimes force their kids to focus on french to climb the social ladder, you can nowadays see the result of that mecanic through the flemish patronyms of many french speakers.
One of the unexpected result of that history is the sensitivity of many flemishs regarding french : it's still seen as an invasive language, making the flemish nationalists reacts as an oppressed minority although modern Vlaanderen concentrates most of the demographic, political, economic and decision power for the entire country.
A very strange situation where a majority acts and reacts as an oppressed minority.
@ Francois Arnauld: very interesting comment to complete an already excellent video. Thank you for this.
Brâment ïntréchant l’eurpoétchaidje chu l’Wisconsin !
As a dutchman I want to expres my respect for the Belgian nation and it's sovereignty. I'm really tired of these fake imperialist compatriots or the overzealous belgians for that matter. It's been 186 years since the war and 180 years since the Netherlands last laid claim to the country, nobody that had anything to do with that is alive. Let's just be respectful neighbourgs that share a language and interests on many levels.
Mooi gezegd.
Trouwens, het epicentrum van het eerste Frankisch Koninkrijk lag in ... België.
@@coisd.b.486 ja klopt. Maar toen was er nog geen (modern) Belgie. Trouwens het lag ook in wat nu Nederland is en Frankrijk en west duitsland. Ja zelfs het epicentrum!. Vergelijk het maar met een moderne map
I‘m German, and moved to Brussels 7 years ago. It seems very likely that I will stay here and even get Belgian nationality.
Having studied in Amsterdam, my Dutch was quite good when I moved to Brussels, so I mainly use it when I can‘t communicate in English or German. I am really struggling learning French (I found Polish and Czech came easier to me! Even though I‘ve had 7 years of Latin and did not have problems learning Spanish or ordering food in Italian), but am making slow process there. My partner has friends with whom she mainly communicates in French, so that helps (and will hopefully mean I won‘t forget what I did learn in French courses).
I found that - if you stay in areas frequented more by the Euro Bubble People and expats - you can get around Brussels on English and Dutch with very, very basic French quite well.
Excellent video! This is probably the best one I have seen on the complex linguistic structure of Belgium. Although I am not Belgian, I have visited the country many times and can testify to the fact that the English language is becoming more and more of the default language among Belgians of different languages. Most francophone Belgians have told me that they would rather learn a language (English) that they can use around the world rather than one that is used regionally (Dutch/Flemish). Belgium is a great country and its proximity to Holland, France, Luxembourg and Germany is one of the reasons why I enjoy visiting it so much.
Mary Smith Thanks for putting Christ and Trump in the same sentence. You doomed your own argument!
Roza K. I think you don't know the full name of the Donald's father..
Typical, the walloon people who are allways shouting that the Flemish nowadays don't want to show financial solidarity with the poorer and more needing Walloons but these same Walloons (and the bulk of french speaking Brussels francophones) haver never, ever, had any cultural solidarity with the dutch speaking part of the country. On any given day you will still hear a french song on Flemish radio/television, on the french media: nothing, zilch, never ever, did I heard a flemish/dutch song in their media. Personnaly I don't care, I'm bilingual french/dutch, no accent at all but a Brussels accent both in my french and my Dutch. My point of view is simple and I will express it in French for our French Fan: l'ignorance, on s'en excuse monsieur, on ne s'en vante pas ... Oh, and by the way, about the walloons rather learning to speak English, did you ever heard a francophone speak English?
Tai Qidong to answer your question. I have been a lot in Wallonia and have never heard a Walloon speak English. Not even in a restaurant.
French Fan you're right, I'm a francophone Belgian and I took for second
language English a large number of Belgians take English for international
I'm from Belgium, and I'm really glad to see how accurate you were throughout this video. It lends great credence to your other videos :D. I'm from Flanders, I speak Flemish, and I am far more fluid in English and German than French (even though my French is rather good). I didn't actually know much about the dialectical differences of both the German and French varieties. Even though I've had German, French and English in school, only in the English class did we get taught anything about dialects, which is passing strange considering the other two would seem closer to home.
But that's just Belgium. The line between Flanders and Wallonia is pretty strict and politically, this has been used to feed provincialist tendencies. It doesn't help that historically, Flemish citizens were considered 2nd class citizens. All of that still rankles, even though culturally, economically and politically, Flanders has been the dominant region at least since WW2.
The difference between the two regions is very obvious when you look at the entertainment people consume via the media. Flanders used to be oriented towards Dutch channels (both on the radio and on the TV), English channels (BBC and later ITV) and Walloon channels (though never French channels, unless you lived in the West Flanders province). As time went by and our own Flemish channels came of age, gradually we shed the French-speaking channels, then the Dutch-speaking channels of the Netherlands, but we did keep the English channels. I know of moments when people in Belgium still watch a Dutch TV channel, but never in my life have I heard that they listen to Dutch radio. Never mind the French media, which for a lot of French teachers in Flanders is lamented. On the flip-side, back in the 80s and 90s, MTV and Nickelodeon and other such channels which were imported from England or the US became very trendy and they have stuck around in one way or another.
Another cultural factor is the king. For some absurd reason we (still) have one. And it sticks in many Flemish people's craw that our royals cannot speak Dutch or if they do, still sound like they learned it for tourist purposes but didn't care much for the pronunciation. We're expecting a great deal from the first in line, Princess Elizabeth, who was very consciously schooled bilingually. A droll anecdote about her is that when our king Philip announced the birth of his firstborn daughter, he said in Dutch "Het is een meisje!", literal translation of "It is a girl! / C'est une fille!" which works either in English or French, but not in Dutch. We would say: "It is a daughter" or rather, "I have a daughter", so you see how even so small a thing can grate on the linguistic nerves of the Flemish region (and trust me, those nerves have always been high-strung).
@ Joris Lemoine : very good comment
Hi, thanks for your comment. Concerning the king, he brings a stability to this messy political system. A republic couldn't work and wouldn't be democratic. The King works as a neutral "chief of State" in opposite to a president. It doesn't matter anyway, as the king lost most of the powers he had and as is always under the responsibility of a minister. Also, the king as been chosen because we decided to follow a parliamentarism system (as in Uk). I don't think it would be wise to give too much power to the executive as the interest in presence are sometimes opposite. :)
Quick question, Joris and it's about five words in your post. "I'm from Flanders, I speak *Flemish*" [emphasis mine] I've heard that one of the many gripes that the Flemish people have is that many people refer to their language as "Flemish" rather than "Dutch." But I've never been to Belgium and I've never met a Belgian face to face. Do many Flemish people mind their language referred to as "Flemish."? Obviously not all do since you did so in your post. Thanks a lot!
+FZ Channel
Hi. I'm not a royalist. And I'm agree with you, the costs related to the monarchy should be limited to the King in function.
But the reason we still have a king in Belgium is not because old people like kings. The Constitution of Belgium chose to follow a "parliamentarism system" like in UK. It means that the parliament controls the governement. The governement is responsible before the Parliament that has been ELECTED.
How does it work? After the results of legislative elections, the composition of the Parliament is known. The parties will try to form a majority to form a governement. In the Constitution, the King nominates the ministers. But in facts, he has no choice on the nomination. Why? Because the ministers are responsible before the Parliament. A governement that has no political supports from a majority would fall.
So the King acts under the responsability of a minister and this minister is responsible before the Parliament. If it disagrees with his/her acts, it could destituate him/her. The final words always belongs to the parliament.
So, you could respond "Well, why don't we elect an irresponsible president? ". Well, I would say that in a new legislature, the king brings a stability. He is neutral from a political and a linguistic point of view. As you know, forming a governement is a tough work in Belgium (remember 2010). At these moments the king has more power than usual because he can act like a conciliator.
I have a question for you. In a presidentiel system, how would you do to represent fairly all the different interests in Belgium? Flemish , Walloon, germanic community, Brussel, ect...
Thanks if you read so far.
Edward J. Cunningham, I think most Flemish people who know English well enough to understand the nuances between Dutch and Flemish will prefer to have their language called that way. In Belgium, a Belgian would also say he speaks Vlaams (Flemish), but he might also say that he speaks Nederlands (Dutch). In the latter case, however, it is quite common that they mean this in an exclusionary way, because they might have a different word to describe the language people speak in The Netherlands, which would be Hollands ("Hollandish").
But in general, they wouldn't mind Flemish at all ☺.
As a flemish-speaking Belgian I must say that your video sums up the situation in our little complicated country quite well! Great job! I'm gonna keep this link to send out to my family abroad whenever they ask something about the situation in Belgium :-)
Myself I speak Dutch, French, German and English. My kids also get to learn these languages in school.
As for Brussels: I've been working there the past 25 years and I can confirm that when talking to somebody in Dutch, 9 out of 10 times you need to switch to French. On the other hand in our company, when e.g. in a business meeting we tend to start speaking the language of the other person, and then sometimes that person replies in the other language, so the Dutch-speaking are speaking French to the French-speaking, who reply in Dutch :-) It is about mutual respect and courtesy.
It is very sad that we know so little about one another, and that is mostly due to the media which are either in Dutch (in Flanders) or in French (Wallonia). The only time we really feel as one country is in sports when our national soccer team plays (and hockey team, basket ball team, etc...).
So how do I feel? After getting more into our national history and understanding it better, I personally feel more Flemish than Belgian, which doesn't mean I refuse to speak the other language or so, it is just a fact that people of the same language group always flock together.
I just wish we'd simplify and re-organise our structure, so that we could vote as one, and operate much smoother - be it as Belgium or as separate countries.
Having lived in Brussels I was blown away by how many young people speak English. I think the age of UA-cam and the internet has helped push the importance of being able to communicate in English and many younger people told me they learned the grammar in school but practiced their communication skills via the internet, texting and Skype etc.
This is mostly due to the fact that movies on tv always get showed in their original language(except maybe kids disney movies) with dutch subtitles. France and the southern part of belgium always dub the movies in french. Also from 3th year in secondary school(14/15 year old) we get thaught english in school.
I learned basic English from playing Pokémon games on the Gameboy when I was a toddler. Kids these days only learn it quicker for the exact reasons both of you say.
Well i'd add two things. The first being that in Brussels the french speaking majority doesn't generally consider themselves Walloon but rather just french speaking (francophones). The second is although most people are OK with the federal system, most also find there is way too much bureaucracy because all that government levels. Brussels in particular is quite a mess with 19 independent boroughs, 1 regional government (with its own parliament) + a federal level. I'd also add that just as you pointed out English is indeed increasingly being used in Brussels as a lingua franca. This is of course due to international organisations but it also allows local businesses to reach all the people more easily without being categorized as either french or Flemish (a lot of advertising in English in the streets these days). Thank you Paul for your always interesting videos
I actually hate the federal system. It's a mess and utterly useless, at least in such a small country.
I'm not that old and I think a federal gov is silly for Belgium.
Of course, I'm not a biggoted rich flemish staring down at walloons. :P
You forgot about the communities, which are responsible for schools, culture, etc ;) And to add to the confusion, the local community commissions, who depend from the Flemish, resp. francophone communities, but are composed of the Brussels Region politicians, so while Flanders has a centre-right government, the Brussels Flemish have a green-blue-red one. Yes, it's a mess, but it works somehow..
This was an _excellent_ LangFocus video! I never realized how little I knew about thr languages of Begium.
To answer your question, as an American English speaker or Anglophone, English simply feels like a default, as you said you feel about English in Canada. This is also part of the reason I have taken such an interest in foreign languages since I was a boy; I am bored (for lack of a better word) with English. Despite English growing exponentially in popularity worldwide, I still find it worthwhile to educate myself of the basics of other languages, and even endeavor to learn them entirely.
Comment from a Flemish fan of your channel here. Congratulations! You did an excellent job explaining Belgium in this video. I couldn't catch you on any fundamental errors. To answer your question: my native language is Dutch (Flemish - same thing, basically), I learnt French at school as a second language, English as a third, German as a fourth and also studied Latin and Greek. As a hobby, I added Spanish and Italian to my working languages. Normally every Flemish person is obliged to learn 4 languages at school. The extent to which they actually get proficient at the various languages, varies widely of course. Don't try to speak French in Flanders. You will be met with hostility. Likewise, don't try to speak Dutch in Brussels - same hostility. I always use English in Brussels - they will think you're a rich expat and treat you as a human being, unlike when you admit you're Flemish. Speaking Dutch in Wallonia is less of a problem: they often earn a living off Flemish and Dutch tourists so will be happy to do their best.
Wow u spreekt veel talen. Chapeau.
Mathias Van Aken if you are still interested in learning italian, I'm an italian native speaker who's approaching Dutch (and can speak a little French, I was pretty forced to studying it ten years ago at school, then I know the basics). I would be honored to share some knowledge with you, you seem smart 😁
The hostility to french language in Flanders applies to Walloons only, as a Frenchman I never had an issue with using my language. This said, I always propose to converse in english or german as an alternative, most of the times they prefer continuing in french.
I am a Wallon and have never experienced hostility in Flanders, however I try to speak English as a compromise, because it's usually easier for both parties. I will make an effort to use Dutch words, like greetings and saying "dank u" and all that, but that's it (because my level is too abysmal, unfortunately).
I am from Antwerp City. I speak five modern languages, not counting Latin, Greek, Antwerp Yiddish, Afrikaans and Antwaarps. As you know Belgians are known for their humility and their conviviality, and will be reluctant to admit to being as fucking awesome as they actually are.
The people of Antwerp are however the exception that proves the rest of the country must be embroiled in some sort of a conspiracy, because we are naturally arrogant, pedantic and conceited, and go through life with a ship on our shoulder so massive and so full of raw unprocessed ego, that the Antwerp harbour authorities wouldn't allow it to sail up the River Scheldt.
We are also known for being pathological tellers of the truth, until we get elected mayor.
As an East-Flemish Belgian, growing up near the Walloon border, I mainly used our local dialect in my younger years, which is a mix of Flemish (tussentaal) and some French words, e.g. saying "merci" for "thank you", or "salut" for "bye"; over here isn't unusual.
Thanks to the internet, Pokémon & reading LoTR in English at the age of 12, I also got a nice kick-off for English.
Got French classes since I was 10 years old, which has been really helpful since I've been working in Brussels for quite some time now. Only had 1 year of German in school, but I think I got the basics :)
In Brussels, which is mainly French-speaking, I usually can speak Dutch in shops, like to get a sandwich, and they just reply in French, which is great!
Having colleagues from Wallonia & Brussels is another nice way for me to learn more about the actual French language. On our work floor you could hear people switching over from French to a local Dutch dialect and then continue in English when talking about technical stuff.
Because of these things, I love living in Belgium. By default, I get exposed to so many different languages and cultures, which enriches me a lot.
P.S.; Finally I have a vid to show to my foreign friends that clearly explains how mixed up it is over here :D
As an English speaking Australian, if someone asked me "Who are you?" it wouldn't occur to me that speaking English was part of the answer. However, having learned one foreign language I am highly aware that your language can strongly affect the way you interpret and categorise the world around you. So in that sense English does affect my identity. I'm also very aware of the English speaking hubris of "But why don't you speak English?"
In Australia, our longest serving Finance minister, Mathias Cormann , is a perfect illustration of the rich linguistic diversity of Belgian regions. He speaks German as he comes from the German part of Belgium and French, as he went to hight school and university in Wallonia, and Dutch as he also studied in a Flemish university. When speaking English, his German accent seems to be most noticeable.
@@perpignangnan That's very interesting. I want to reach an equal level of language diversity in my life. I'm from Germany and German is my native language. I also speak English and I'm learning Dutch and Italian, because I really want to live abroad at some point in time. Maybe in Italy, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, Belgium or the Netherlands.
@Nicholas Sprout me neither but that just happened when I arrived to new york, I am from Mexico specifically from Monterrey wich is a two hours from Texas by car, so I just did my life in spanish and I never thought about languages, then I met ecuatorians, salvadorians, colombians, peruvians, argentinians, dominicans etc and my mind just blew up, even though I met mexicans from other regions so I noticed I have a identity as "regio" or norest mexican and my "dialect" is very very very different from other place in the latin american/hispanic world,
@@amazingnoggin3352 I mean that the language or the regional dialect that sometimes you just ignore molds you on a personality and an identity , language is almost a toal part of ourselves and how we perceive the worl, so the language we speak give us some part of personality,
Same here. As an American, I never considered English as part of my identity. Growing up in California, I've heard Spanish as much as English.
For me, a Brazilian that lives in a country so big as Brazil, that speaks just one language, it's amazing know those awesome facts about Belgium language diversity.
Langfocus, your channel is fantastic. Many, many thanks, my friends and family watch your videos and all of us LEARN a lot.👍👍
As an Italian I think language is a huge part of my identity, although not the most important one! When I meet descendents of Italians that don't speak the language, I struggle to consider them Italian because in my mind the two go together.
Flavio Spadavecchia I feel the same way. Most of the identity is lost when the language goes.
FZ Channel I grew up with both of my parents speaking mostly standard Italian to me and I got exposed to the regional language (variation of Barese, very close to Neapolitan) through some other relatives and classmates at school. I use it sometimes mixed with Italian with friends and family but the language I can fully express myself and know that I'm not making (grave) mistakes is Italian, so that's why I consider it my mother tongue, even though the regional language has definitely played a part in my language development.
FZ Channel As much as I would have liked to preserve Latin in Italy until today, it's not really feasible to teach a whole country a hard language like Latin, especially back when people started using Vulgar. They used vulgar exactly so that the common people could read their work and become literate. Latin would have meant only the rich would be able to read and write.
Flavio Spadavecchia the world is so little 😊 we basically have the same mother tongue and dialect 😊 Which town? My native town is Trani. What are you doing here, under a video about Belgium?
FZ Channel Vulgar Latin is far more antique than Tuscan, and Italy is United since only 1850... hundred and hundred years later than vulgar latin. That's why using latin was and still is a ridiculous idea, sorry 😅
A small historical fact: The dialect spoken in the east of Belgium "West-Vlaams" is actually one of the (if not THE) oldest forms of dutch in existance( this is also spoken by elder people in the north of France and comparible to the dialect spoken in "Zeeuws Vlaanderen" in Holland). Around the 17th-18th century when Belgium and Holland were one, there was a discussion of what would become the general Dutch as to be a, to be taught, spoken and written language. In this dilemma, the dialect that existed around Amsterdam was chosen to become the Dutch standard (As it was logical due to Amsterdam being an economical powerhouse at the time). But if you look online for the oldest forms of dutch writings and let someone from West-Flanders read it, you'll find that they will be more likely to struggle less reading and understanding what it says rather than if you would let someone from Amsterdam read it.
Yes, that is historically correct. But these days West-Vlaams is frequently qualified as a speach impeachment, to be treated by a logopedist.
@@mewissen Parkingmens? ^^
West Vlaams, het dialect van West Vlaanderen wordt toch niet gesproken in het oosten van België?
Weet je dat de Nederlandse standaardtaal ook gevormd is door de Statenvertaling van de Bijbel uit 1637. En deze vertaling werden veel Zuid Nederlandse woorden gebruikt ook onder invloed van inwijkelingen uit bv Antwerpen in Holland. Bv zenden/gaarne/schoon/verkleinwoord -ken ipv -je. gij/ ge zijt ipv jij en je...
False. The dutch language was born in flanders (east and west) grew up in Brabant and was expanded by Holland.
Hey Paul, your pronunciation of Dutch is really quite on point!
Good job!
Really? Good. I was worried about that.
@@Langfocus yep, it was quite ok, a slight accent left and right, but pretty accurate overall. The way you pronounced Eupen, on the other hand (it should be something like Oipen).
Hi Paul have you seen how Luxembourg manage languages they combine French, German, Luxembourgish and sometimes English for me was amazing to realize about it
limburgish .. ? You mean Luxemb(o)urgish / Letzeburgesch) ?
Yes sorry I didnt know the name in German Luxembourgish, in Spanish Luxemburgués, the official people language of the country the one that they used to communicate in daily and informal situations is my understanding, are you from Luxembourg?
If someone is from Luxembourg or know more about the topic I would be really glad you :)
It's mostly Luxembourgish people that use the language. Immigrants (who make up ~45 % of the population) either don't learn it or prefer not to use it that much, instead they use French and/or German in order to get by since almost everybody who lives there knows at least one of those languages regardless of ethnicity. (I am not Luxembourgish but I lived there 2000-2015)
Answering your question to a Belgian, I speak all three national languages rather well with Dutch as a native language. The reason is quite obvious: if I travel fifty km south or a hundred km east, living in the middle of the ancient duchy of Brabant, I might not be understood with Dutch only. It is a question of politeness too talking to people in their own language on their own ground. In addition I speak English and have notice of number of other languages, all by the sheer love of knowing and the advantages of good and courteous communication. And I am certainly not an exception in my professional environment - I work in the cultural sector. Yes, I do believe that language is very much an identity matter in our country, but which should be lived with the greatest respect and openess towards other identities - in all directions, of course, which sadly is not always the case. Also yes: dialects are still very strong and widely spoken in Flanders and sometimes they differ from one town to the next quite considerably. We are used to that and generally not make much of it.
Cheers, Willem
I'm a french speaking belgian, and don't know much about dutch anymore. I used to be able to hold a simple conversation (10 years ago), but now i can't anymore. I feel that english is sufficient. Regarding the reason why the Wallon dialect isn't spoken much anymore, from what i can tell, it's because the belgian government forbid it, in the 1950. All the people in villages used to speak it, including children. But the government started punishing children who spoke Wallon, forcing them to speak french. And now, only old people still speak it fluently. As for me, i can understand a little bit, but not much.
Funny, since I, as a Flemish speaking person, learned the wallon numbers so I could speak them correctly when in Wallonia.
@@timrob12 using septante and nonante is not Walloon, it's standard Belgian French, though, Walloon is something else.
@@barvdw Well, I'm Flemish, so I'm not aware of what goes on in Wallonia.
@@timrob12 to have an idea of what Walloon looks like, I suggest you look up Wikipedia, and choose the Walloon setting. You might be surprised ;)
@@barvdw I probably will, even though it's next door, figuratively speaking.
For me, a native speaker of Kabyle, a Berber (Amazigh) language, Kabyle is the pillar of the culture. And in a more general sense, if someone belongs to a certain culture, he/she has to know the language. Just why abandon your language and thus a great part of your culture for another one?
Kabyls speak sanahaja, une langue kabyle n'existe pas, bcp de kabyle sont d'origine sanhadja
basic answer for why someone would is exposure. Anyone that moves to America will be exposed to English all day every day.
gts1300 how different is Kabyle from Tamazight? I made a video in Tamazight.
FZ Channel We learn standard Arabic at school (first grade) that is not useful at all cuz it's quite different from Algerian Arabic that we use only outside of Kabylia most of us prefer to speak French as a second language rather than Arabic because of the racism and assimilation politics lead since the independence by arab majority so French is already a kind of lingua franca
FZ Channel cuz we've been speaking French for two centuries it will be hard to switch to another language
Nice Paul! As usual your videos are packed with facts and valuable history info from a linguistic perspective! Your research on Belgium is very thrilling and well done! 👍
I live in the southern part of Belgium and don't even know how to greet someone in Flemish. Since we're bordering Luxembourg, which is a lot more attractive in terms of employement and salaries, it just seems unecessary and unwise to learn Dutch as a second language. Especially if you consider how it is taught in schools (or rather how 2nd languages are taught in schools in general)... a waste of time and effort, unless you have a real incentive.
Like most Belgians, I'll be the first one to critize my own country, yet we're still proud people, ready to cheer for our national sports teams whatever their main origin is. We've got a pretty good perspective on what's going on around us and although things can get a little dire every once in a while, I think being part of a smaller entity has its own virtues...
FalkoJ89 I am the only "namurois" here ? :(
In which language do you sing the national anthem at football matches or any other sport?
FalkoJ89 How can you be proud of your team if almost none of them are part of your own people
whoehahahahaha dit slaat nergens op gast, oftewel leef je en werkje in een land en pas jij je aan oftewel pas jij je niet aan en bol het af
Mee hues de dann anstatt Flämesch oder Hollännesch jo och Lëtzebuergesch geléiert?
it's true that young people in flanders prefer english over french. as a flemming myself i prefer to speak english and dutch over french, eventhough i live next to the french border. i have to say i do understand french and speak some french, it's much easier for me to speak english and dutch than dutch and french.
Loki Lover Any tips for me to learn Dutch/Flemish :(?
Is that really difficult to learn for a french native speaker?
Sorry i don't it's just hard studying even for me
Off course English is easier, but when you live near Brussels or come to the capital then a little of knowledge of French is very easy. I think most Flemish people master French good enough to have a basic conversation or ask basic questions.
And if you want to learn dutch as a francophone then I would not try to compare with English, because their grammar is totally different. Dutch is actually a difficult version of English and a easy version of German.
Axona B je crois, que tu peux l 'apprendre,si tu veux.Pourquoi pas ?Il y a des personnes, qui on appris la langue.Alors ,tu peux aussi.
In London we hear Flemish radio stations. When driving in my car it can take a while for me to realise it's not English. I always think it is such a shame our languages split like they did I'd love to be able to understand you guys!
I'm an American who once lived in Brussels. I used French in Wallonia (and the East Cantons) and English in Flanders. In Brussels French was the "default language" with strangers on the street but I relied on a whole mix of languages. Most young highly-educated Belgians do speak English, but there's a lot of folks who don't, including immigrants from France and former French colonies (Morocco, Lebanon, Cameroon, etc.).
Here at Langfocus Channel I learn not only about languages, but Geography, History and Culture too. I am lusophone (Portuguese speaker) and I always had curiosity about the bilingual in Belgium. Yes, bilingual, because I didn't know there are communities speakers of German.
Rafael Candido *cough* no one cares *cough* *cough*
Langfocus definitely does a great job of explaining the different aspects and it is very much appreciated. I was born and grew up in all 3 regions in Belgium and never met a single German-native speaker. They're a minority of less than 1% so you have to go to Eupen and nearby to meet them. This is too far northeasy of where I used to live. I was born in the city of Liege which is West enough of Eupen to not get a chance to meet them unfortunately, then Ostende and Brussels which are even further. Doesn't mean that they're not there. Just a lot fewer of them lol
I'm from Northern Germany and I speak Standard German (with a varying degree of regional pronunciation) and Low German. I consider both languages to be part of my identity as a Northern German but Standard German isn't as much part of my identity as Low German. Low German (also known as Low Saxon, Plattdeutsch, Niederdeutsch, Plattdüütsch, Nedderdüütsch or just Platt) is a regional language that used to be a very important language in the middle ages and it used to very widespread in Northern Germany but today mostly people from rural areas and some old people speak it regularly. Low German was always part of my life and without learning it I could always understand it very well but since I didn't speak it daily, I forgot a lot which I had to learn again. I want to Low German to become more widespread again because it's part of the Northern German identity
Low Saxon, Plattdeutsch, Niederdeutsch, Plattdüütsch, Nedderdüütsch or just Platt (Nederduits, Nedersaksisch or just plat) is also a part of my identity. Besides standard Dutch. I'm from the North Eastern part of the Netherlands.
Girvid oh du snakkst ook Platt? Dat gifft nich bannig veel Lüüd welk Platt snakkt. Wat een Platt is dat wat du snakkst?
Girvid Nou kin k allain mor hoopn dat doe oet Grunn komst...
Oh doe proatst ook plat? Dr binn'n nait zo heul veul lu meer dij plat proat'n. Wat veur plat proatst doe?
That's how i would say it
Thanks, Paul. I'm an amateur linguist and my name is David. I speak about 20 languages, French is my first, but I was born in the USA and lived most of my life in the USA. I lived in France as a young boy because my father was in the US Military stationed there. My German American grandparents taught me High German and Low German. I'm a retired college professor of astronomy and physics. Language is a hobby for me, and I do enjoy your videos. I have a cousin from Brussels, Thibault Menke, who speaks almost exclusively French, and that is how we speak with each other, although his English is good. I am 69 years old, and he is 25, so a whole different generation. - Dr Dave, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
I am a Somali born in Norway and I feel more Norwegian than Somali because I speak Norwegian more than I speak Somali. Norwegian is a bigger part of my identity than Somali which I only speak to my mother
Well as a Sinhala speaker from Sri Lanka we have 2500 years of literary culture as well as extremely close ties to our religion, Buddhism. The identity of a Sinhalese in me resides primarily in the language that is native to us (Sinhala) so yeah the language is literally me and I am proud of that.
@ Ruwindu Gunatilake : very good comment.
I'm a Dutch speaking Belgian, but I can speak French and understand some German. I identify as Belgian and to a certain extent as a European. Secessionists tend to be a strong vocal minority (only 33% of Flemish people want independance) and thus foreigners tend to overexaggerate our difficulties with the Walloon. The bickering is mostly done by our politicians
The equal positioning of French and Dutch in Belgium even affects France: Many products sold in French supermarkets are also sold in Belgium, which makes it necessary to include description in both French and Dutch on the package. This is a big help in France.
My bilinguialism (french-german) is a defining part of my identity. As an ethnic German growing up in France right on the border with Germany, with strong family and other ties on both countries, it defined my person. This pushed me to seek a job in the EU administration as there's no better multilingual environment to work in. Now, I'm in Luxembourg which would probably also warrant a nice video like you did for Belgium as its linguistic situation is also quite interesting (or how to make out of a peasants middle german dialect an official nation defining language which grows in importance every day).
Hi,
I’m a Belgian who’s native language is French.
I can also speak Dutch and English.
I’ve learned those additional languages in school but I’ve learned to speak them mainly through work and travel.
This being said, I would like to make two statements.
First, to understand a bit more about how intertwined the Flemish people and Th wallon people are, you need to know that a lot of them have parents in the other community. I have a Dutch name and I was born in Liège (Wallonia). So much so that I used to say with a bit of irony of course, that problems are step-mothers related (my deepest apologies if I offended someone).
My second point is immigration related.
In wallonia, there were (through the ages) a lot of immigrants coming from Southern Europe (Italy, Portugal, Spain) and less but still Eastern Europe (like Poland).
Those waves of immigration were « invited » to Belgium in order for the heavy industries like coal mining, metallurgy, iron and steel industry, to find workers.
Those people were more inclined to learn French rather than Dutch.
This is my opinion based on what I’ve learned in school, what I’ve seen with my own eyes when I was young (I’m 60 years old now) and from what I could observe when I was working in Wallonia and in Brussels.
Thank you
Hi.
I am mexican and my native language is Spanish. This may seem quite obvious, although it happens that we have dozens of native American languages which still been spoken among the people. Today I met a young girl who speaks Huasteco (a language from near the Gulf of Mexico), also I remember than my grandma used to sign sometimes in Tarasco (this one is from the southwest), and the far you go from the cities the more unique languages you will find. For them, it still has a strong cultural value and make an important part of their identity as indigenous and mexicans. In the last decades, it has been their warcry in their struggles to stop being marginalised by the rest of the country, in which they have made some huge advances. Today, they have a presidential pre-candidate for next year elections, and she has raised an enormous support both in the cities and in the indigenous communities.
Now, some final thoughs about my native language. For me, speaking Spanish makes me part of a bigger community than the one just in my country. I feel like I share so much cultural heritage with all the Spanish speaking countries around the world, particularly with the other ones in America. I do not seen them as foreigners, but as distant relatives.
As an English person living in the Far East, i do feel my language is part of my identity, because the exact dialect I speak is from my home town
The further one is from home the more patriotic/nationalitic one becomes.
My dutch dialect is from a little island in Sealand, and im conserving it proudly.
Untypically, my experience with speaking Dutch (as a Dutchman) in Brussels has not been unfavourable. People generally do their best to communicate with the little Dutch they can muster and if they can't speak Dutch they've still been polite. Of course, that may just be because I'm such a nice person, whom people naturally respect.
I really liked the inclusion of History, demographics, and cultural influence into this video. Great job!
Thanks! Language and linguistics is the focal point of course, but I try to include a variety of other elements as well. Even some people who aren't very interested in languages tell me they like my channel, which I think is great.
Langfocus I found your channel about two years ago, when you released "Duolingo is the Devil!". I have to admit I've liked everything I've seen since then, especially over this past year. (I was particularly pleased with the recent in-depth dive into French) I can't wait to see what the future holds!
I am Mexican and I have Belgian relatives of Wallonian origin and some years ago we went there to visit. They took us to a lot of magnificent places like the capital, Antwerpen and Bruges. When we were at Bruges, my aunt who is not fully proficient in Flemish, recommended us to visit a "French fries" place which a must-go when you visit Belgium. I was amazed when she order in english and the clerk responded in english as well!
When I inquired about her language pick she told me that if she asked in french she would be answered rudely so she would rather ask in english and pretend she was a tourist in order to be treated more politely by her fellow connational :/
Intetesting, I've heard the same from Flemish aquaintances. I guess the rudeness is felt by the side that crosses the border. The only difference is that French side are said to be rude because of they are unintelligent (speaking only one language) while Flemish side are rude despite being more intelligent (speaking at least three languages).
@Sergio Giron yes that's true, us Wallonians often pretend to not be wallonian in Flanders because otherwise we are treated rudely or ignored.
Yeah, some of us Flemish still think they live about 100 years in the past. Sorry about that ;)
No worries mate, it is attitudes like yours that make the real change, so as long as you inspire kindness around yourself we will be better.
Belgium is my favorite country in europe anyways.
When I as a Flemish Belgian go to Wallonia I order stuff in French, not in my native Dutch, nor in English. That's the way it should be done.
If your aunt would have learnt enough of the other language of her home country to place that order, even with an accent or with difficulty explaining it exactly, she wouldn't have been treated rudely.
Flemish are not rude to Walloons because they are French speaking, we just get annoyed that they often don't even try to speak our language a little bit, while they expect the reverse from us.
I come from the gemarn speaking area from Belgium. I speak geman, french, dutch and english. I consider myself as Belgium .
Hi there, Im from the US and I think it's so awesome that you speak 4 languages!
I liked the part when he said Belgium
Yeah, I forgot when I said that. Can you post a time stamp?
And ?
Belgium is such a beautiful country
Nidhogg It really is. You can deal with the Islam problem by making integration mandatory and deporting those who fail to meet the integration criteria (like Switzerland does - they do it to all ethnicities, nationalities, religions, not only to Muslims)
Fəńrîr ^^
Well I live in a small town in Belguim and I love it here
Just a shame about the weather. Apart from that it's a great here :).
True 😂😂😂
Paul is a real G. Every video is impeccably researched and well presented
My grandfather was from Belgium, he spoke 5 languages fluently: Dutch, French, Flemish, German, and English. He was from Brussels and he preferred French.
Douglas Show Flemish and Dutch are basically the same
Jonas Loe I know but he considered it different enough to Dutch that he counted it as a different language. Think German and Swiss German it is the same language but some Germans can't understand Swiss German.
He said Flemish is basically Dutch with some French influence.
The Dutch dialect spoken in Brussels is really not that different from Standard Dutch. I know cause I live close to Brussels. However, for Americans it would probably look like two completely different languages.
Four languages then. In every situation when Dutch and Flemish meet they speak their own language. Grammar of the informal spoken language is almost the same. It's like saying 'American' and 'English'. "American, which is very similar to English." It sounds very stupid to me. Not calling your grandfather stupid though. :p
Belgians are quite provincial-minded and don't take themselves seriously, sometimes they care too little it borderlines stupidity. You also see this in some of the comments from Flemish people.
Bernharde, Intelligibility doesn't mean that's not separate languages. I heard that Afrikaans is quite intelligible too and what about what is spoken by some elders of French Flanders ? The difference between a language and a dialect isn't clear and it's often serve a political purpose (unionists v/s separatists) It's always a matter of dialectal continuum and where you put boundaries on it.
East Norwegian speaks the same dialect of Western Swedish but it's not the same "language". Politics.
BTW the end of your comment is just a rude stereotype.
I'm a Walloon. At the end of my studies I could speak english quite fluently, but my dutch level was far from that, mostly due to the fact that the method for teaching dutch (the official books, etc...) were boring, focusing mostly on having us ingest endless lists of vocabulary, whereas the method for english was fun, with active conversation, etc...
Now, 30-ish years later, I still use english almost everyday at work or on the internet, but as I work in Wallonia, I am almost never in contact with flemish people and I have forgotten most of what I knew due to a lack of pratice.
@ Pierre Arnould : do you think there was deliberate sabotage involved by the Walloon government in choosing school methods for learning Dutch that were obviously ineffective? I see that nearly every Walloon reactor on this video is complaining about this.
When I was at school, the ministry of education was still at the federal level of the state, and the books we used at school for learning Dutch were published by a flemish editor.
Assimil, books, you tube, en binnen twee jaar spreken we over alles en nog wat...
I just discovered this. A big thanks to Paul for a precise and very informative report about my country. Like already mentioned, I’m Belgian too (Flanders). Born and practically raised for 3/4 th in Germany due to my father’s job who served the Belgian Military Forces in Nordrhein-Westfalen. My mother was a nurse in the Belgian Military Hospital. We went to a Belgian school which was especially built for all the children of people serving the Belgian Army Forces in Germany... I grew up with 3 languages, later on i learned another 2. English and Italian came along. Nowadays my first language is German, followed by Flemish (Mother tongue), English, French and ultimately Italian. I can definitely say that thanks to our farsighted and all comprehensive school system it was a huge blessing and an enrichment for a lifetime to have had the opportunity to color my daily life on a multiple linguistic basis.
I speak Dutch as a first language, English as a strong second, German (heavily based upon my Dutch, though) as a third and French as a fourth. But my French doesn't go much further than simple vocabulary (mainly because Flemish dialects borrow some words for French) and "What time is it?" despite getting French lessons for 8 years.
Even before I've watched this video I noticed the differences of languages in Belgium when I traveled to Antwerp and then to Brussels. From my personal experience, it does seem that French has a stronger influence in Brussels, although as a tourist I have to admit that it was a bit irritating that we couldn't communicate with the locals because they only speak French.
I am Maltese and my country has two official languages which is Maltese and English. I am concerned about loosing our national language in favour of English, especially because of the huge influx of foreigners that we have in our tiny country. I do personally feel that the Maltese language is an important part of our identity as Maltese people.
Freaky. I think Maltese is wonderful. In Brussels the dominant language is French, and although the Belgians are supposed to be bilingual (Flemish & French) in Brussels they don't adhere to the official decree. French is a bothersome Romanic language.
the governement malta has choose english like official language in europeean union , it has not choose maltese and i think maltese will disapear in future it is situation is unhappy
FreakyFeline88 you guys only sing in English in Eurovision 😝
@@kulera If they would sing in Maltese they wouldnt get any point :''D
I am from Catalonia and I speak spanish as well as catalan. For me my languages are an important part of my identity as a billingual person who lives in a country where catalan is a regional language and has been pursued in the past.
First of all, thank you very much for spending your time doing such a useful video.
Second of all, to your question, Vietnamese is the the major part of my identity. The first reason is Vietnamese is mostly spoken by only Vietnamese native speaker. The other reason is it's spoken by around 90% of the population in Vietnam as the mother tongue and roughly 10% of the ethnic minorities as the second language.
For me, as a Pole, Polish language is definitely one of the most important part of my identity. It is the pillar of my nation's culture and history.
During the last 300 years, so from the fall of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, many foreign invaders and empires tried to eradicate Polish language and culture through forced russification and germanization, which was quite understandably met with a tough resistance. Because of that our language became de facto the embodiment of Polish national identity and struggles to save and maintain it during the Partitions one of the most important part of Polish patriotism/nationalism back then.
Even today the language remains the essence Polish identity. And frankly, I believe that the same applies to most, if not all Central and Eastern European nations, becuase of simmilar historic reasons.
As Italian, i feel the same.
Borlach. Polish is one of the most difficult languages in Europe to learn properly. But of course the Polish should, and doubtless will, preserve their language.
I was born in a Walloon (hence French-)speaking area. My father came from the Picard-speaking region of Wallonia and my mother was German. My wife was born in the "ripuarian-speaking" region of Belgium. We mix these languages daily.
In my professional life, as a federal civil servant devoted to my country and open to the world, I mostly speak French, Dutch and English.
But now I'm learning Spanish, to rest a bit ! ;-)
Finnish speaker here:
It is a big part of our culture, as it is not related to indo-european languages. It makes as different from other European countries if Estonia and Hungary are excluded (their languages are related to Finnish)
My French teacher used to tell me that people would be reluctant to answer her questions in French while she was visiting Flanders
hey Belgian here, I've been watching a lot of these kinds of video's the last couple of days and this video is really underrated, not only are you very accurate and get details that other videos could only dream of and rivals that of a native's knowledge, but also are you not shy with phrases such as 'from what I've heard'. I really appreciate this since this show's you actually think about what you're saying and consider before you speak. Keep it up!
It's amazing how you described Belgium so accurately. Most Belgians couldn't be that accurate about their own country. haha
I'm from Wallonia and I speak French, Duth and English, as you said, even though we learn Dutch at school, it's not enough to have a conversation with a Dutch nativer speaker, I had to learn it all by myself. Even if we live in a tiny and complicated country, I love my country! :-))
I thought people from Wallonië had to chose between learning English or learning Dutch
I thought in wallonia you would only learn french and english
@@No-Community1380 In most school in Wallonia, you can choose what laguage you want as second laguage (in primary school and the first two years of secondary school) but, in 3rd year of secondary school, you'll end up with the other one as 3rd laguage anyway.
Not a nativ Belgian, but lived just outside Brussels for three years (in Kraainem) and attended the International School of Brussels. It was odd being surrounded by Flemish speakers but learning French in school and hearing mostly Frenh when going inti Brussels. Also we found people on our town were generally OK with speaking French to us, but the farther we got from Brussels in Flanders the more reluctant they became--we even got a few dirty looks.
Thanks for bringing back some wonderful memories, Paul! :)
When I took my state exam for secondary school it was in Brussels because the Flemish community has its seat in Brussels. Surrounded by French speakers taking exams in Dutch, except for my French exam of course. ;)
I'm Belgian, native French speaking, but studied a great part of high school in Dutch. Dutch (Flemish is more or less Dutch with a Spanish accent) is a perfect language to soar you to English, German,... and even remote languages like Icelandic or Scandinavian ones. Because Dutch is both simple (not complicated as German) and easy (not difficult as English). Moreover, it's a real pleasure to be connected to two different cultures in one country.
“Not difficult as English” Lmao I’m struggling with the 2 verbs always at the end of a sentence
The first time I got a notification talking about my country
Btw I speak 2 of the 3 languages in belguim that isn’t a good thing everyone copies my homework and get mad at me because I (already) speak french and I haven’t learned German yet (but I know some Latin welcome in belguim)
I got to know a belgian girl at a party yesterday and we talked a lot about the language situation in Belgium. What a coincidence. :D
Cool!
was she hot?
I have worked with Flemish and Dutch speakers. They always assured me that the two languages were almost identical but immediately began a two-hour discussion about the rights and wrongs and what was "proper" Dutch. Very entertaining. I sometimes threw in an Afrikaans speaker just for good measure and then the chaos was perfect. Love your videos Paul. Cheers Sven (SE, DK, GE, EN, FR)
Lol. :D.