Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: Is French the national language of Belgium?
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.
In dialectology, Romance Belgium ("Belgique romane" in French), once called Wallonia ("Wallonie" in French) before the federalization of Belgium, is the part of Belgium where people traditionally speak one of the regional romance languages, all from the "Langues d'oïl" group. Romance Belgium includes almost all of Dialectal Wallonia where Walloon and French are spoken, a picardic zone corresponding to the major part of the Province of Hainaut, the Pays gaumais (district of Virton) with the Lorrain language and a Champenois zone (Sugny, Bohan, Bagimont, Pussemange, Membre et Cul-des-Sarts). Romance Belgium is entirely in Wallonia.
Father Damien - First Schools' War - Flag of Belgium - Flamingant - Flanders - Flanders Investment and Trade - Flemish - Flemish Baroque painting - Flemish Brabant - Flemish Council for Science and Innovation - Flemish Community Commission - Flemish movement - Flemish National Union - Flemish Region - Flemish Secession hoax - Flemish Sign Language - Florennes Air Base - Folklore of the Low Countries - Foreign relations of Belgium - Forêts - Fortifications of Brussels - Fortis (finance) - Fourniret, Michel - Franck, César - Franco-Belgian comics - France–Habsburg rivalry - Franco-Dutch War - Francqui, Emile - Free Belgian Forces - French Community Commission - French Community of Belgium - French fried potatoes - Frenchification of Brussels - French Flanders - Frère, Albert - Front Démocratique des Francophones (FDF) - Frontpartij
Although nearby, across the river Scheldt, the Netherlands had a thriving literature that was centuries old, written in a language hardly different from Dutch spoken in Belgium, the Belgian prejudice towards "Flemish" persisted. French was the language used by the politicians who founded Belgium in 1830. It was this language that had been chosen to be Belgium's national language. It was spoken by the ruling class in Belgium. Nothing had been written in Dutch for years when Belgium's independence became a fact in 1831, separating Belgium and her Flemish provinces from the Netherlands. The divide between the two languages was no more to be bridged. It was therefore almost with the foresight of a prophet that Conscience in 1830 wrote: "I do not know why but I find in the Flemish language indescribably romantic, mysterious, profound, energetic, even savage. If I ever gain the power to write, I shall throw myself head over ears into Flemish composition."
Signed French ("Français Signé") is any of at least three manually coded forms of French that apply the words (signs) of a national sign language to French word order or grammar. In France, Signed French uses the signs of French Sign Language; the Belgium system uses the signs of French Belgian Sign Language, and in Canada the signs of Quebec Sign Language. Signed French is used in education and for simultaneous translation, not as a natural form of communication among deaf people.
Roularta publishes Dutch language and French language magazines in Belgium. The group was top magazine publishing company in Belgium in 2008 with total revenue of 101,062,000 €. The same year it owned 24.2% of the French language magazines and 10.6% of the Dutch language magazines in the country.
French was the only official language of Belgium until 1898, even though Flanders was and still is predominantly Dutch-speaking. The government's long refusal to acknowledge Dutch as an official language led to hostilities between Flanders and the French-speaking bourgeoisie who held both political and economic power. These hostilities gave rise to the Flemish movement, which began as a literary and cultural organization, but later became a political movement that called for legal recognition of Dutch and for social emancipation of the Flemish people. The 1898 Equality Law made Dutch an official language of Belgium, but it did not become the sole official language of Flanders until 1921. The Frenchification of Brussels was at that time in full expansion. To this day, French remains the language of the aristocracy.
Cinema of Belgium refers to the film industry based in Belgium. Belgium is essentially a bi-lingual country divided into the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) north and the French-speaking south. There is also a small community of German speakers in the border region with Germany. Belgium is further a federal country made up of three regions (the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region) and three language communities (the Flemish Community (Dutch-speaking), the French (i.e., French-speaking) Community and the German-speaking Community).
Due to these linguistic and political divisions it is difficult to speak of a national, unified Cinema of Belgium. It would be more appropriate to talk about Flemish or Dutch-language cinema of Belgium and Walloon or French-language cinema of Belgium.
Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French and German. A number of non-official minority languages are spoken as well.
As no census exists, there are no official statistical data regarding the distribution or usage of Belgium's three official languages or their dialects. However, various criteria, including the language(s) of parents, of education, or the second-language status of foreign born, may provide suggested figures. An estimated 60% of the Belgian population are native speakers of Dutch (often referred to as Flemish), and 40% of the population speaks French natively. French-speaking Belgians are often referred to as Walloons, although the French speakers in Brussels are not Walloons.
Until the establishment of the Consulate in 1799, Catholics were heavily repressed by the French. The first University of Leuven was closed in 1797 and churches were plundered. During this early period of the French rule, the Belgian economy was completely paralyzed as taxes had to be paid in gold and silver coin while goods bought by the French were paid for with worthless assignats. During this period of systematic exploitation, about 800,000 Belgians fled the Southern Netherlands. The French occupation in Belgium led to further suppression of the Dutch language across the country, including its abolition as an administrative language. With the motto "one nation, one language", French became the only accepted language in public life as well as in economic, political, and social affairs.
The first live coverage of a Belgian sporting event occurred on 3 May 1931, when journalist Gust De Muynck commentated on the football match between Belgium and the Netherlands on radio. Later, football broadcasts were also televised. As 60 per cent of Belgians speak Dutch and 40 per cent French, commentaries for the national team matches are provided in both languages. The matches are not broadcast in German—Belgium's third official language. During Belgium's tournament appearances in the 1980s and the early 1990s, Rik De Saedeleer crowned himself the nation's most famous football commentator with his emotional and humorous reports.
OLYFRAN, which stands for "Olympiade flamande du français" (French for "Flemish Olympiad for French") is a contest organised in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) to test students' knowledge of the French language (which is the language spoken in the southern part of Belgium, Wallonia).
Dutch is the majority language in northern Belgium, being used in written language by three-fifths of the population of Belgium. It is one of the three national languages of Belgium, together with French and German, and is the only official language of the Flemish Region.
In the past, Belgium held a census each ten years, including a language census (/). Since 1932, the results of this census defined to which official language a municipality belonged (Dutch, French or German). However, this caused a lot of conflicts along the language border, in Brussels and its periphery (due to the Francization of Brussels). The territory of Belgium was consequently divided into four definitive official language areas and the language census was abolished, effective 1 September 1963. No national language censuses have been held since then.
Minor standards can also be found in Belgium and Switzerland, with a particular influence of Germanic languages on grammar and vocabulary, sometimes through the influence of local dialects. In Belgium, for example, various Germanic influences in spoken French are evident in Wallonia (for example, to "blink" in English, and "blinken" in German and Dutch, "blinquer" in Walloon and local French, "cligner" in standard French). "Ring" ("rocade" or "périphérique" in standard French) is a common word in the three national languages for beltway or ring road. Also, in Belgium and Switzerland, there are noted differences in the number system when compared to standard Parisian or Canadian French, notably in the use of "septante", "octante/huitante" and "nonante" for the numbers "seventy", "eighty", and "ninety". In other standards of French, these numbers are usually denoted "soixante-dix" (sixty-ten), "quatre-vingts" (four-twenties) and "quatre-vingt-dix" (four-twenties-and-ten).
French varieties spoken in Oceania are also influenced by local languages. New Caledonian French is influenced by Kanak languages in its vocabulary and grammatical structure.
African French is another variety.
The knowledge of French as a second language among Dutch speakers in Flanders decreases, especially for the benefit of English. In French education, French is no longer a compulsory second language. Such a situation already existed in French-speaking Belgium with regard to Dutch. In schools in Wallonia, Dutch is often taught as an elective, and as such it must compete against English. There are also Walloon educational institutions where several subjects are taught in Dutch as a form of Language immersion.
Dutch is the majority language in northern Belgium, being spoken natively by three-fifths of the population of Belgium. It is one of the three national languages of Belgium, together with French and German, and is the only official language of the Flemish Region.
Walloon is the historical language of southern Belgium, and most of the areas where French is now spoken were Walloon-speaking. It is also the traditional national language of the Walloons. Though it has been recognized, like other vernaculars in Belgium, since 1990, it is mainly spoken by older people, though younger Walloons may claim some knowledge. It is mainly used in rural regions, and is used in theaters and literature, though not in schools.
Belgium has three national official languages, and consequently, the French spoken in the French part of Belgium is considerably under the influence of the languages of the other Belgian regions, and is also enriched by vocabulary from the languages of neighbouring countries, mainly Dutch, but to a much lesser extent German and English as well.
Belgian French is also enriched by vocabulary from other regional Romance languages, such as Picard, Walloon, Lorrain and Champenois. Belgicisms directly influenced by Walloon are specifically called Wallonisms.
All fields on the card are bilingual (English in combination with either Dutch, French or German) and the heading "Belgium / Identity card" in all four languages. The used language (and the one used first in the heading) depends on the official language of the place of residence (per the Belgian language areas), unless the residence is a Brussels municipality, in which case the holder may choose between French or Dutch, or a municipality with language facilities, in which case the holder may choose between French or Dutch, or French or German, depending on the local language facilities.
The National Railway Company of Belgium's policy is to provide information on the train in the language of the region. For example, on a train travelling from Antwerp to Charleroi, announcements are made first in Dutch (in the Flemish Region), then in French and Dutch (in the Brussels-Capital Region), again in Dutch and finally in French in Wallonia. This requires rail travellers be conversant with the name of their destination in both languages (though on-board ticket inspectors are bound to respond in either language).
In Belgium, batavianization was an essential part of the political objectives of the Flemish movement, a social movement seeking acknowledgement of the Dutch language and culture. When Belgium was established in 1830, the Francophone government oppressed the Dutch populace. Dutch was banned from higher education, politics and justice in favour of French. Hence Batavianization in Belgium largely refers to the process of replacing French as the language of education in universities and as the language of culture among the elite.
In addition to the three official languages, others are spoken in Belgium, like 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’) since 1990,[8][9] without, however, taking any further significant measures to support those varieties.
There are no national TV channels in Belgium. Because of the language divide, there are only channels either in Dutch or French, there is no single company operating TV channels in both the Flemish and the French part. Media laws are created and controlled on a regional level (Flemish or French). Thus the Flemish channels are controlled by Flemish law and the French-speaking ones are controlled by the French community. The public broadcasters still share a building in Brussels, a leftover from the time when the Public Television was still a national (Belgian) competence, however, they have split operations altogether with French language broadcaster RTBF occupying the right half of the building and Flemish broadcaster VRT occupying the left half of the building. They are both governed by different law and a different parliament an example of this is the fact that the French languages public broadcaster RTBF is allowed to sell advertising on television and have actual ad breaks, while the Flemish public broadcaster can only sell product placement and sponsor billboards on television. On their radio channels both are allowed to sell full ad breaks. Both public broadcasters also work in a completely different competitive environment.
Belgian French () is the variety of French spoken mainly among the French Community of Belgium, alongside related Oïl languages of the region such as Walloon, Picard, Champenois and Lorrain (Gaumais). The French language spoken in Belgium differs very little from that of France or Switzerland. It is characterized by the use of some terms that are considered archaic in France, as well as loanwords from languages such as Walloon, Picard and Dutch.