Flemish

Q: Thanks for the tips. I don't know anything but English. Brussels is sounding nice, but I can't find any Belgian lessons. I assume I can get by without knowing the Belgian language? All of the programs say that no language requirement is necessary, but I agree with you that knowing a little of the language would be helpful. Where did you learn your Belgian?

-- Little Rock native


A: Dear Pebble native,

The Belgian language is a dialect of Dutch called Flemish (or Vlaams, in Flemish). It sounds a bit like a cross between French and German. In Brussels (and several other parts of Belgium) they speak French as well, and several of the signs are written in both languages.

Belgian children speak Flemish when they first learn to talk. When they start school, they begin learning French when they're about eight, English when they're twelve, and German when they're sixteen. So you should be able to communicate fairly well with most Belgians over the age of twelve.

If you want to learn the language, your best bet (next to finding someone who speaks it to teach you) is to get a computer program that teaches it. I would recommend Rosetta Stone, just because I really like that one. I didn't speak a word of Flemish when I went to Antwerp, and everything I learned came from the people I met there.

Here's a warning, though. Sometimes you can say a Flemish phrase and pronounce it exactly the way it sounds to you, and the Belgians won't have a clue what you're trying to say. When I tried to say "Het spijt mij", (pronounced het SPEHHHT muh) which means "I'm sorry", they couldn't figure out what I was trying to say just because I didn't hold out the EHHHHH sound in the second word long enough.

Belgians are weird.

-Bumpo the Explorer