Trilingual Belgium be like:

35 comments
  1. What is it with Belgians and their fucking languages ?
    Just learn the other two and be done with it.

  2. Flemish is not a language. It’s a patois or at most a dialect. The closest language to Flemish is Dutch. But Flemish people don’t speak it…

  3. Its the mix of languages that makes Brussels so interesting to hang out, this meme on the other hand is hugely outdated.

    Dansaert / Place St Cath / Fuse / C12 – go in the evening and you will notice Flemish and English is the main language.

    Schools with longest waiting list – Flemish and international schools

    EU bubble – English as main language

    French + Arab – Molenbeek / Anderlecht (the poor residential areas)

    French+English – Uccle/Oudergem (the wealthy residential areas)

    Bottomline: in absolute numbers French is still most spoken, in trends its dropping with English rapidly on the rise – I even have the impression in the wealthy bubble English is more seen as the proper language to speak.

  4. I started learning german this year and we are 3 students in class. I’m OK with this 😂
    (French part*)

  5. Allowing myself to disagree here. Not Belgian but speak all 3 ‘official’ languages fairly well, and lived in BXL for 2 years.

    The Flemish and the Flemish language have the upper hand by far. Yes, BXL Region is Francophone but this is largely a disadvantage for its citizens.

    * all jobs, from low-skill to high regard the ability to master both French and Dutch (allowing myself to call it that, no offense intended) as a bonus. If competing 1:1, Dutch speaking candidates will always win. This puts the Walloons at a disadvantage, since native French speakers have a much harder time to speak a complex Germanic language than their counterparts. The Flemish on the other hand, need to learn a comparably easier Romance language, which they can do relatively easily, and in return of a bigger payoff: *la francophonie* is a global thing, the Dutch equivalent is dwarfed in comparison (again, no disrespect intended).
    * Schools in BXL must exist for both Flemish and Walloons. Most are Walloon of course, and the citizens compete to put their French-speaking kids in Dutch-speaking schools, in the hope that they may learn it from when they are young. Needless to say, Flemish schools have no interest in training Walloons, they are there to cater to the Flemish or Dutch-speaking communities, on top of expats who are aware that the Flemish schools are fewer, less crowded and better funded.
    * A spike in requests for Flemish schools has lead to restrictions. The Flemish regions don’t see reason to increase funding, and are therefore restricting access: one parent must be a Dutch-speaker / Flemish to even allow child enrollment. There are some horror stories about segregating children by setting-up walls in courtyards, but I suppose that these are outliers.

    Long story short, the Flemish have it easier and better in the BXL region. Like most Dutch, however, they are not intrinsically prone to leaving their ‘village’ (catch-all term for place of origin), at least not for long. When they do, however, they do so at an advantage.

    German is not a thing at all. I only met a Belgian-German speaker in my life. His German is very good and has a light accent. For him speaking Flemish is easier than speaking French, but he can make do if needed. I believe they are just too few to feature prominently and on par with the two other language groups.

    As an outsider I would recommend better integration in school, starting as young as possible and aiming for full proficiency in both Dutch and French. Even though this would require a titanic effort, the outcome would pay off dividends for the entire Belgian populace.

    One could argue that English may achieve the same, but clearly from a socio-cultural perspective this is gibberish. Allez, sorry for long post.

  6. Brussels is French speaking city. However, specially in St Catherine, majority of business has been taken by flemish owners.
    Then, Arabic, it is a fact. Also English (European District)
    The labour market, on the other hand, is pretty Dutch-speaker. Even if you’ll never use it. But it is a wonderful way of protecting work positions for flemish speakers and their relatives. A kind of similar situation than Cataluña, Spain, with catalán.
    Anyways, that is a situation that piss me off, but I can’t change.

    Take care everyone, whatever language you use.

  7. Yes, this is actually quite annoying.

    If the Flemish language were more présent in Brussels, there would be less conflict socially.

    Hearing more Flemish spoken around would be nice for learners too.

  8. Bad meme, because Flemish is NOT a fucking language. We speak DUTCH. Wij spreken Nederlands! ‘Vlaams’ is een gesproken taalvariëteit, die hoofdzakelijk in Vlaanderen gesproken wordt. MAAR HET IS GEEN FUCKING TAAL. OK?

  9. Im not from Belgium, how does the language situation work being raised there? are you raised with dutch and french or just one of them?

  10. But in same time a lot of good jobs on brussels ask to speak flemish. How much time I regretted to be trash in these lessons in high-school

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