Brussels' messed up identity

No language census has been made in Belgium for around a century, but it is commonly accepted that 20% of Brussels population is made of Dutch speakers and 80% of French speakers (which do not consider themselves as Walloons by the way!) and people can vote for whoever they want at the elections, Flemish or Francophones.

Yet, in 2014, more than 93% of people from Brussels registered themselves as Francophones for the fiscal year, and around the same number is found for pension requests (source: Belga).

French being a more international language due to former colonies around the world, immigration is a factor of "Frenchifying" the territory, in addition to Walloon immigration.

If you happen to live in Brussels, you will probably hear a lot more of Arabic (there is a huge community of people from Maghreb in the capital), Turkish, Spanish, Romanian... and of course English! As for Dutch speakers, they are a few here and there, who usually speak French fluently, so they probably don't think it's that much of a trouble to pick it up officially in administration...

But Brussels culture seems to be based a lot on Flemish culture. For example, last week, Ommegang, which is Dutch means "walking around", was celebrated with a parade in the centre of Brussels. It tells the story of a Virgin Mary statue carried from Antwerp to Brussels and a series of miraculous events associated to it. For the record, it is always funny to see people dressed as Middle Ages knights who have issue getting into a kebab bars with their swords after the parade!

Ommegang in Brussels, just walking around...

In Brussels, people still like to use Flemish-dialect words as a joke (zinneke, skieve, amai, etc.) but largely speak French and are used to meeting French friends (one hour and a half and you're in Paris). Recently, the commemoration of the battle of Waterloo (which is close to Brussels) was a big event largely covered on TV with reconstitutions as well.

If I could define what it means to be from Brussels (but I can't) I'd say that it is having a double culture and double roots. Brussels picked up French, the language of prestige for a few centuries, before realising that its Germanic roots were important too and that the Dutch-speaking minority should be protected.

People in Brussels know what it means to live in a multicultural and multilingual environment and they're almost blasé of it, by contrast with Walloons, who lift their eyebrows when they hear someone speak English in the street! They know what it means to be in a city by which important people pass and take decisions, and where buying a meal can be expensive. That's what makes them so special, I guess.