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Historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels saw a language shift to French from the late 19th century. Nowadays, the Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual in French and Dutch, although French is the majority language and lingua franca. Brussels is also increasingly becoming multilingual.
- City of Brussels
The City of Brussels is the largest municipality and...
- Brussels-North Railway Station
Brussels-North railway station (French: Gare de...
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- Royal Museums of Art and History
The Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH) (French: Musées...
- Woluwe-Saint-Lambert
Woluwe-Saint-Lambert (French pronunciation: [wolywe sɛ̃...
- City of Brussels
The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual in French and Dutch, although French is the majority language and lingua franca. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its complex system of governance, made up of six different governments .
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- Official Languages
- Use
- Multilingualism
- Non-Official Languages
- Footnotes
Legal status
The Belgian Constitution guarantees, since the country's independence, freedom of language in the private sphere. Article 30 specifies that "the use of languages spoken in Belgium is optional; only the law can rule on this matter, and only for acts of the public authorities and for legal matters." For those public authorities, there is extensive language legislation concerning Dutch, French and German, even though the Belgian Constitution does not explicitly mention which languages enjoy offi...
Dutch
Dutch is the most spoken primary language of Belgium and the official language of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region (merged to Flanders). Along with French, it is an official language of the Brussels-Capital Region. The main Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium are Brabantian, West Flemish, East Flemish, and Limburgish. All these are spoken across the border in the Netherlands as well, and West Flemish is also spoken in French Flanders. Much like English, Flemish dialects have adopted...
French
The second-most spoken primary (Belgian) language, used natively by approximately one third of the population, is French. It is the official language of the French Community (which, like the Flemish Community, is a political entity), the dominant language in Wallonia (having also a small German-speaking Community), as well as the Brussels-Capital Region. Almost all of the inhabitants of the Capital region speak French as either their primary language (50%) or as a lingua franca (45%). Many Fl...
In national politics, politicians can freely choose to speak in any of the three official languages. In turn, the Belgian parliamentprovides simultaneous interpretation for those who require it to assist in communication. Education is provided by the Communities, Dutch in the Flemish Community (Flanders and Brussels), French in the French Community...
In 2006, the Université catholique de Louvain, the country's largest French-speaking university, published a report with the introduction (translated): Within the report, professors in economics Ginsburgh and Weberfurther show that of Brussels' residents, 95% declared they can speak French, 59% Dutch, and 41% know the non-local English. Of those un...
In addition to the three official languages, others are spoken in Belgium, for instance in Wallonia, where French became dominant only relatively recently. Sometimes seen as dialects, the varieties related to French have been recognized by the French Community as separate languages (langues régionales endogènes, lit. ‘regional native languages’) si...
This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook (2024 ed.). CIA. (Archived 2006 edition)
Brussels (French: Bruxelles, Dutch: Brussel, German: Brüssel) is the capital city of Belgium and the European Union. In 2007, 145,917 people lived there. But the area around it, known as the Brussels-Capital Region, had 1,031,215 people (which makes it the largest city area in Belgium).
- 145,917
- www.brussels.be
Language. Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual: Dutch and French, but most people speak French. [4] In earlier times, they spoke Brabantian, which is a Dutch dialect.
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