Nor can you officially be addressed in English. The official language of the Flemish Region is Dutch, while the institutions in the Walloon Region (minus the German-speaking Community) speak French. Map showing the language borders in Belgium today, declared in 1962.

Belgium’s famous Dutch-versus-French language divide was established in the Middle Ages when Roman Emperor Charlemagne was forced to divide his kingdom between his three grandsons. The divide created fluctuating friction between Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia and it continues to this day.

In 1830, the Belgians had enough of the Dutch king Willem I and his malarky, and declared themselves independent. The inhabitants of Wallonia, the region that is called ‘Wallonie’, speak French. Brussels, the capital, is officially bilingual: all signs are in both Dutch and French.

The Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. A number of non-official, minority languages and dialects are spoken as well.

The Belgians speak English very well and are happy to speak it with you. Brussels seemed completely French dominated as far as language spoken so just the basic greetings should do fine. We found the Belgians to be very warm and welcoming to us, especially the younger crowd.

90 = quatre-vingt-dix (four twenty ten);

Dutch

One of the most obvious and important differences between Belgium and France is that whereas French are nationalists, Belgians are cosmopolites and more open- minded.

Belgium is world-famous for its chocolate, waffles, beer, and its national football team, the Red Devils. Belgium is also home to NATO headquarters and also to the European Parliament. Brussels is often referred to as the ‘capital of the EU’.

Belgium is located in northwestern Germany. It is bordered by France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Belgians (Dutch: Belgen, French: Belges, German: Belgier) are people identified with the Kingdom of Belgium, a federal state in Western Europe.

Flemish is not a language but more a dialect. Like most dialects these are learned from childhood and are very difficult to learn at an older age. Even when you are a native speaker of the Dutch language it is extremely difficult to master another dialect.

English is more similar to Dutch than French. So most likely, you would find Dutch easier.

No, Dutch is not a dying language. It is the majority language in the Netherlands and it is recognized/official language in Belgium (Flanders), in Suriname and some other Caribbean states. As long as a language is widely spoken and has official status, it’s alive and well, even if it has a small number of speakers.

Dutch is considered one of the easiest languages for a native English speaker to learn. Not only is Dutch relatively easy to pick up, understand and start speaking, speaking it gives you a huge head-start to understanding the other Germanic languages and even offers insight into how English works.

The study concluded that, on current trends, the survival of Irish as a community language in Gaeltacht areas is unlikely. A follow-up report by the same author published in 2015 concluded that Irish would die as a community language in the Gaeltacht within a decade.

With the exception of Frisian, Dutch is linguistically the closest language to English, with both languages being part of the West Germanic linguistic family. These means many Dutch words are cognates with English (meaning they share the same linguistic roots), giving them similar spelling and pronunciation.

Which Languages Are The Closest To English?

• Closest Language: Scots. The closest language to English is arguably Scots.
• Closest (Definitely Distinct) Language: Frisian.
• Closest Major Language: Dutch.
• Close Language: German.
• Close Language: Norwegian.
• Close Language: French.

The Dutch language is part of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, just like English. This means that the two languages share the same roots and have similar characteristics, making it easier for Dutch speakers to learn English.

While there may at times be some amount of antipathy towards outsiders, most Dutch people are actually extremely humble, welcoming, and friendly towards outsiders. If you’re talking to a Dutch person, opinions will be offered freely and in a manner that’s much less sugarcoated than most non-Dutch people are used to.

Dutch is probably the easiest language to learn for English speakers as it positions itself somewhere between German and English. het, but it doesn’t have all the grammatical cases like German. However, de and het are quite possibly the hardest part to learn, as you have to memorise which article each noun takes.

The current EF English Proficiency Index put the Netherlands first when comparing the English skills of 72 countries. The Dutch are very good at English than any other non-native country. According to the study between 90% and 93% of the Dutch population claims to be able to hold a conversation in English.