Speak my language?

It's difficult to count how many languages are used in Bruxelles. French is the main language. The street signs are all bilingual (French/Flemish) and most Belgians I have met speak Flemish (a variant of Dutch). Nearly everyone I meet socially speaks English, and the public transport information is in four languages (+ English , +German -because there is also a small German speaking section of Belgium). Sadly in the Flemish speaking regions around Bruxelles such linguistic diversity is not at all approved of (but that will be the subject of another blog).

It's good to use my French again. I have a much better understanding of the grammar and structure of French than of Dutch. But sometimes- having lived in the NL for almost ten years -I forget key words (a verb or noun) and can only remember the Dutch equivalent. It doesn't matter much if I pepper my French with a few Dutch words - as people understand them anyway. (Vous avez une aanstekker?).

In the past I have often received very mixed feedback about my French ' You speek fairy good French'.. pause for comic effect.. 'For an Engleeshman'. With a few Dutch words thrown into a conversation it confuses the French speakers even more

But this is a two way process - Belgians have evolved a distinct version of French - especially when counting. They have done away with sixty + ten and two times twenty +ten (soixante-dix and quatre-vingt-dix) - replacing them with septante and nonante. The first time I heard this in shops I wondered if I was hearing French or Vlaams. Now I am starting to get used to them - and I am sure next time I am in France I will sound like a Belgian (with an English accent) .