The languages of Belgium

LAA   Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:14 pm GMT
Nor do I. All Fab was saying was that the one part of the country speaks a Romance language, and the other speaks a Germanic language, so that Belgium is linguistically mixed.
greg   Fri Jul 14, 2006 7:10 am GMT
Plutôt que le lieu d'un "mélange" linguistique, je dirais que la Belgique est traversé par une ligne de démarcation latino-germanique, avec l'enclave bruxelloise au sein de l'aire germanique.
Tiffany   Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:03 am GMT
I believe the confusion lies here:

LAA said: "The south, which contains about a little more than 1/3 of the population, speaks French, while 40% of the population can also speak Walloon"

From your denial that you ever said 40% of Belgians speak Walloon, you must have been refering specifically to the population in the south (1/3 the entire population of Belgium)

It was however not clear to other posters who thought you meant 40% of the entire population.
fab   Fri Jul 14, 2006 12:44 pm GMT
" Nor do I. All Fab was saying was that the one part of the country speaks a Romance language, and the other speaks a Germanic language, so that Belgium is linguistically mixed. "



Si, c'est ce que je voulais dire.
Dans son ensemble, la culture Belge est un mélange de culture Flamande et Wallone. Bien sur, individuelement la plupart des Belges sont en général soit de culture Wallone, soit de culture Flamande, les deux ayant tout de même des zones de superposition comme Bruxelles-capitale.
Guest   Fri Jul 14, 2006 1:47 pm GMT
he fab, seriously, go fuck yourself
Kelly   Fri Jul 14, 2006 3:37 pm GMT
Flemish people like English (most Flemish bands sing in English:

Ian van Dahl - Castles in the Sky
Lasgo - Something
Milk inc - Walk on water
DHT - Listen to your Heart [big success in the USA]

and 90 % of songs in Flemish charts are in English.


Waloonia has virtually no musical production, or export to other countries. All songs in Walloon chart are French, but not Belgian French, French French.)

Waloon people dream of becoming a France provice, but what should France do with a poor province like Wallonia.

People from Brussels don't consider themselves Waloon but
Belgian only. And for most nice jobs in this town, fluency
in both French and Dutch is often requiered.
Xatufan   Fri Jul 14, 2006 4:29 pm GMT
When I went to Brussels, everything was in both languages. Even the ingredients at the back of my Häagen-Dazs ice cream was written in both languages! Incredible.

The best thing that Belgians have produced are their delicious Quick hamburgers.
LAA   Fri Jul 14, 2006 9:50 pm GMT
Oh yes, thank you for clarifying Tiffany.
Corbijn   Sat Jul 15, 2006 3:37 am GMT
FLEMISH IS NOT DUTCH. FLEMISH IS VERY DIFFERENT THAN DUTCH, FLEMISH IS MUCH SOFTER AND FLEMISH IS CONSIDERED A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE.

DONT MISLEAD THE PEOPLE !
Sander   Sat Jul 15, 2006 8:38 am GMT
Corbijn,

You are misleading people, by making nonsense remark.

I suggest you read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_language#The_language_of_Flanders.2C_Dutch_or_Flemish.3F
This, on the Flemish dialect of Dutch:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish_%28linguistics%29
On the word Flemish itself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish#Language
And of course the Belgium article, I suggest you look at "languages":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium
Mertens   Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:48 pm GMT
flemish and wallon are belgian dialects of dutch and french, but they are not really spoken these days, standard languages (flavored with regional accents and vocabulary) are used
greg   Sat Jul 15, 2006 2:50 pm GMT
Le wallon n'st pas un dialecte français mais une langue d'oïl proche du français et du picard (deux autres langues d'oïl).
Further reading   Sun Jul 16, 2006 6:16 pm GMT
ANDRADE BERLINCK, Rosane de (1995) La position du sujet en portugais: étude diachronique des variétés brésilienne et européenne. Tese de Doutorado, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Bélgica.