Belgium

   
Belgium – the country and its languages

United Europe?  Even a country as small as Belgium isn’t united!  It is divided into Flanders, where 5.5 million people speak Flemish (Dutch, with a softer accent and quite a few dialect words); Wallonia where most of its 3.5 million inhabitants speak French – except for a few (60,000) in East Wallonia who speak German; and Brussels which is officially bi-lingual (Dutch/French) but tends to veer towards French (90%), and has 1 million inhabitants. 

The three main regions – Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels – are autonomous, with their own administrations and own parliaments.  But the linguistic groups are also autonomous and have their own parallel administrations and parliaments.  Then there’s the national administration and parliament, so Belgium is described as a Federal state of about 10 million citizens, half of whom grudgingly tolerate the other half! 

 If you remember some French from school, it can be useful in Wallonia and Brussels – but don’t use it in Flanders or it may reduce the warmth of your welcome in some places!  In Flanders they are usually good at English, happy to speak it, and generally are very welcoming to us Brits.  Of course, if you become a dedicated follower of Belgian beer, it could be useful to learn Dutch, and there’s a very good correspondence course from (and subsidised by) the Flemish ministry - details  from BIS - make sure you look for EN for the English pages!
Until you enrol on your language course, the phrases below may help you get by.  (Based on, but in no way a replacement for, Tim Webb's excellent book.)