Belgium has three official languages: Dutch like in Antwerp Ghent and Ostend, French, and German. Dutch is spoken by 57% of the population, French by 42%, and German by 0.6%. Most of the German-speaking community is concentrated in the Eastern Cantons of Liege province, a narrow area along the German border from around Eupen in the north to Saint Vith in the south.
For many years the Flemish and Walloon (French-speaking) communities were in conflict over whether French or Dutch should be used in the schools, in the courts, for business, and for administration. French, being the language of the upper classes, had traditionally been dominant, a situation greatly resented by Dutch-speakers. In 1966 the country was divided into four linguistic areas. Dutch, which in Belgium includes the Flemish, Brabant, and Limburg dialects, became the official language north of a line running from east to west just south Brussels. French, which in Belgium includes the Picardic, Walloon, and Lorraine dialects, became official south of the line. German became official in the Eastern Cantons, and the Brussels area was designated as bilingual. Each of the three language communities has autonomy in its own linguistic region over cultural affairs, language use, local social issues, and in national and international cultural relations, in Brussels many soeak all 3 languages especially when shopping in Brussels is a good idea to have a small knowlede of those languages as well in Brussels hotels.
Tags: areas, autonomy, belgium, canton, cultural, culture, dialect, flamish, laguages, language, national, official, people, shop, spoken, walloon
