What is the difference between the Walloons and Flemish in Belgium How has it affected Belgian society?
Table of Contents
- 1 What is the difference between the Walloons and Flemish in Belgium How has it affected Belgian society?
- 2 Do the Flemish live in Flanders?
- 3 Why are the Flemish called Flemish?
- 4 What do the Flemish think of the Walloons?
- 5 Where did the Walloons come from?
- 6 Is Flemish an official language?
- 7 What language do the Flemings speak?
- 8 What is the Flanders-Wallonia conflict all about?
What is the difference between the Walloons and Flemish in Belgium How has it affected Belgian society?
Unlike countries that are ripped apart from within by religious or ethnic differences, Belgium’s division rests mostly upon the fact that its Walloon inhabitants mostly speak dialects of French and its Flemish inhabitants mostly speak Dutch (a slight variation also called Flemish).
Do the Flemish live in Flanders?
7,797,611 out of 11,431,406 Belgian inhabitants live in Flanders or the bilingual Brussels region. Only about 8\% of Brussels inhabitants identify as Flemish, while the rest identify as French-speaking….Flanders.
| Flanders Vlaanderen (Dutch) Flandre (French) Flandern (German) | |
|---|---|
| ISO 3166 code | BE-VLG |
| Website | Vlaanderen.be |
What is the percentage of people in Belgium who speak Flemish?
60\%
Flemish (Dutch) They comprise about 60\% (6.5 million) of the population. The language this community speaks, while largely identical to the Dutch spoken in the Netherlands, is called “Belgian-Dutch” by academics and “Flemish” by everyone else.
What role is language playing in Belgium’s issue?
Language is the fundamental flaw at the core of Belgium’s existential crisis, taking on the role that race, religion, or ethnicity play in other conflict-riven societies.
Why are the Flemish called Flemish?
Flemish as a name for the language was first used by the French (Flameng) around 1500, when the Flemish people called their language Diets. In Italian and Spanish, Flemish was referred to as Flamenco, which also referred to the Dutch language in the Netherlands.
What do the Flemish think of the Walloons?
In general Flemish think Walloons are lazy and lack ambition in life. Walloons think that Flemish are arrogant and that for them the only thing that matters is money. These are prejudices which get stronger with every generation because of a lack of contact between the two communities( (education, media are separated).
What is Flanders called today?
Belgium
Flanders now became part of the Kingdom of Belgium, which was recognized by the major European Powers on 20 January 1831.
Where do the Flemish live in Belgium?
The Flemings live in the northern part of Belgium, above an east-west line dividing the country’s Flemish-and French-speaking regions. The Flemish-speaking provinces are East and West Flanders, Antwerp, Limburg, and part of Brabant. The land is mostly low, some of it below sea level.
Where did the Walloons come from?
The first wave of many thousands of French-speaking Protestants were Walloon refugees who arrived in England from the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium and the Netherlands) in 1567, having been forced to flee the suppression of Protestantism by King Philip of Spain’s forces lead by the Duke of Alva.
Is Flemish an official language?
Dutch language, also called Netherlandic or Dutch Nederlands, in Belgium called Flemish or Flemish Vlaams, a West Germanic language that is the national language of the Netherlands and, with French and German, one of the three official languages of Belgium.
Who speaks Walloon?
Walloon language
| Walloon | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Belgium, France |
| Region | Wallonia, Ardennes, minority in Door County, Wisconsin (United States) |
| Ethnicity | Walloons |
| Native speakers | 600,000 (2007) perhaps only 300,000 active speakers in rural Wallonia |
Who are the Fleming and Walloon people?
Fleming and Walloon. Fleming and Walloon, members of the two predominant cultural and linguistic groups of modern Belgium. The Flemings, who constitute more than half of the Belgian population, speak Dutch (sometimes called Netherlandic), or Belgian Dutch (also called Flemish by English-speakers), and live mainly in the north and west.
What language do the Flemings speak?
Fleming and Walloon, members of the two predominant cultural and linguistic groups of modern Belgium. The Flemings, who constitute more than half of the Belgian population, speak Dutch (sometimes called Netherlandic), or Belgian Dutch (also called Flemish by English-speakers), and live mainly in the north and west.
What is the Flanders-Wallonia conflict all about?
It has been going on for what seems like forever: the social tension between Belgium ’s northern part, Flanders, and its southern part, Wallonia. With separate histories, separate educations, separate languages and even separate governments, it can sometimes seem like there’s no Belgium to speak of.
Who are the Walloons and what do they speak?
The Walloons, who make up about one-third of the Belgian population, speak dialects of French and live chiefly in the south and east. The religion of the vast majority of both groups is Roman Catholicism.