Music: Flemish reluctant to listen to their own language

Here is an unfortunate fact about Flanders... Flemish youngsters listen less and less to songs in Flemish! In recent TV-shows like Idool or The Voice van Vlaanderen, almost all artists sang in English, some tried in French too, but the only two songs in Dutch were bashed by the jury. This may be the symptom of a lack of self-confidence among the Flemish. This article will show how the only genre in which Flemish language is still successful is hiphop!

Some Flemish bands have become famous worldwide. They're creative and, in the manner of Scandinavian musicians, they are good at singing in English. In that way, bands singing in English constitute most of current Flemish musics. For example, Hooverphonic, Selah Sue, K's Choice or Soulwax, have made the Flemish music scene as what it is today. Flemish people are often "musicoholic" and have quite ecclectic tastes... Studio Brussel, a Flemish indie radio, also a branch of national broadcasting VRT, is a perfect showcase of what Flemish youth listen to today.

A longlasting tendency in Flanders is to listen to French music ("chanson française"), perhaps because French used to be the only official language in Belgium and it had prestige. Did you know that Jacques Brel's family was Flemish? Probably not, because he only sang and spoke French on TV. Today, young people listen to chansons a little less (maybe because learning French is not considered as enjoyable), but some artists like Stromae, from Brussels, hit the charts in Flanders and sing in French. A few Flemish artists have sung in French too: Arno (rock), Axelle Red (pop-jazz), Vive la Fête (electro) or more recently dEUS (rock). All of them are famous in both linguistics communities today and youngsters like them.

Vive la Fête

Let's talk about songs in Dutch or Flemish dialects that people listen to nowadays. Last century saw a revival of folk musics from Flanders (maybe in link with the rise of Flemish nationalism). These songs, called today "schlagers" (a German word meaning "hits"), are often sung in dialects. Young people rarely listen to them, but they may enjoy them at carnivals or folkloric festivals, in which everyone drinks beer and dances. Otherwise, it sounds a bit too old-fashioned.

 A parody of Flemish slagers

Next, we find a few pop-rock bands that have songs in Flemish, like Clouseau, De Kreuners, Gorki or De Mens. Some of their songs are actually quite cool. Yet, there are not a lot of them and they are getting a bit outdated, as they are to be classified as 80s or 90s bands. Today, some of them still release songs, but they are not as famous as they used to be anymore.

De Kreuners (80s band)

Finally, as a matter of fact the music in Flemish that youngsters listen to the most is actually... hiphop! Actually, rap has always been about what's happening in your own town and it has to be very slangy, so that it is easier to write rap lyrics in your own language. That's why young Flemish people still enjoy hearing their language in rap songs. Dutch hiphop, also called "Nederhop", is quite famous in Flanders, with bands like The Opposites or De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig ("nowaday's youth"). Yet, some Flemish rap bands also gain a regional success, such as Tourist LeMC (Antwerp), Safi & Spreej (Mechelen), 't Hof van Commerce (West Flanders), etc. Their songs, like schlagers, often have their lyrics in Flemish dialects, and it is probably through the hiphop genre that you can learn the most local phrases, mixed with English or French catchphrases.

Safi & Spreej

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You can also suggest me other nice Flemish artists!

Next Belgian language?

Belgium is and is becoming more and more multilingual, with the three communities officially recognized and the thousands of ethnicities living there and practicising their own language, especially in Brussels. This is why Belgium has developed a "thing" with languages... So if you can't give the priority to "one" language in the country, why not invent one that would be more neutral?

When it comes to the Eurovision Song Contest, only Sandra Kim, a woman from Liège, won the competition in the 80s and was actually too young to compete so that she had to lie on her age. No artist won since then, but Urban Trad went to the second place in 2003 by singing in... an imaginary language! The band was pretty "Belgian" in that it was a collection of folk artists from both Flemish and French-speaking communities (and a Galician singer). What better way to make everyone agree on a song than singing their songs "Sanomi" in a language that has actually no meaning (!) Apparently, the gestures invented for the song were meaningful (I think they meant something like "it's a small world, let's all share our differences"). Later on, Flemish folk band Ishtar tried to do the same thing with "O Julissi" but didn't get a nice score.

Urban Trad - "Sanomi"

Another interesting fact about Belgium is that it has a small territory which could have be the only place in which international auxiliary language Esperanto would have been official. Moresnet, as it is called, was a village connecting the Netherlands, Belgium (which was included in the Netherlands) and Germany (former Prussia) from 1816 to 1920, in what is now known as the "Three Country Point". An agreement was made on that Prussia would get a part of the village, the Netherlands another one and the center would become a "neutral" territory (Neutral Moresnet) administrated by both countries. In 1908, Dr. Molly gave the idea to make Esperanto the official language of the territory (that he wanted to call "Amikejo", which could be translated as "Friendland"), because it had been invented recently and got famous in whole Europe at that time. People in that place learned Esperanto and the place was elected world capital of the Esperanto community, although this idea never got official. Today, the territory is part of Belgium.

Moresnet flag

The author of comic book Tintin, Hergé, imagined two fictive Eastern European nations in conflict: Borduria and Syldavia. To make them look more realistic, he made up words in languages called Bordurian and Syldavian. On closer scrutiny of the latter language, it is clearly inspired of Marols (also called Brusseleer), a dialect spoken in Brussels, but the author chose to make them look like a Slavic language (e.g. Eih bennek, eih blavek, the national motto, seems to be close to Dutch Hier ben ik, hier blijf ik, lit. "Here I am, here I stay"). In a parallel universe, Marols could be the perfect interlanguage of Belgium, because it has features of both languages of the community. It is actually based on Brabant dialect (which seems to become a prestige form in Flanders nowadays) and includes many French words, due to the "mixed" origins of the population that used it in Marollen, a district of Brussels that is worth a visit! People in this area like to call themselves "zinneke", a word that means "mixed-breed", and compare their culture to a melting pot.

A last idea of made up language that could be used in Belgium is called Europanto. It is a mixture of languages of the European Union that was invented by Diego Marani, a translator for the Council. His idea was that instead of using English as a lingua franca in the UE (especially in Brussels headquarters), you should rather use bits and pieces of all languages spoken in there. He called his language Euro- (Europe) -panto (Greek for "all"), which resembles the word Esperanto.

Alors glaubst ti that Europa sarebbe besser así? (So do you believe that Europe would be better this way?)

Which language should be used in Belgium? Share your opinion!

The "Wallirony"

Belgium is a small country and the French-speaking community (Wallonia and Brussels) represent hardly half of its population, but it can still be divided into areas that have their own features and stereotypes... A Flemish geography teacher in Etterbeek (a commune of Brussels) wanted to teach his pupils what the French-speaking community looked like. He drew a map of Wallonia and divided it in three zones: Wallifornia, Wallabama and Wallbania. These names were portmanteaux of Wallonia and respectively California, Alabama and Albania. The negative connotation of the last one made a lot of Albanians living in Belgium angry. The clumsy parallel made between the country and the "poor" areas of Wallonia was quite unfortunate. Although I don't really agree with this division, I will talk about each of these fictive regions of the French-speaking community, mainly because this article focuses on stereotypes. 

Wallifornia is the "rich" part of the community. It mainly includes Brussels, the Walloon Brabant and Namur (the capital of Wallonia). The common cliché depicts the inhabitants as being pretentious rich guys who drive fancy cars and tend to speak in a fake French accent, especially in Uccle (a commune of Brussels).
The word was adopted sarcastically in "Pope of the Dope", an electro song by Party Harder and the Subs, in which the leader appeared in a Saint Nicholas costume saying obnoxious things to kids.

As a matter of fact, Brussels is a bit different from Wallonia and people living there do not identify as Walloons. The capital stuck in the middle of Flanders is a "melting pot", a mix of Flemish, Walloon and foreign cultures, being considered as the "center of Europe" (it has the highest rate of immigrants and the most given birthname is Mohamed!). Brussels is a busy place and a lot of Walloons have gone to Brussels to study or to work. Some of them decided they were here to stay and others still commute every day, creating giant trafic jams. In general, people from Brussels like to make fun of Walloons, because they think Wallonia is a boring place where nothing happens and where people speak in a funny accent. Both regions actually have their accent, but more and more people from Brussels tend to speak a more standard French.

Next, Wallabama represents the forested area of Wallonia, mainly the Belgian Ardennes. It includes most of the Belgian Luxembourg, a Belgian province not to be confused with the Grand Duchy (where some Belgians go to find a job and pay less taxes(!)) and the southern part of Liège province. It is the least populated areas in Belgium. A lot of Belgians see it as the countryside and the cliché is to consider people from that place as peasants... 

 

The Belgian Ardennes

Finally, Wallbania is considered to be the "poor" side of Wallonia, which used to be industrialized with a lot of miners coming from abroad. Now these places are struck by a high rate of unemployment, because some industries had to close shop. 

This includes most Hainaut province, including Charleroi and Mons. Charleroi is called the "black country", because the inhabitants were coal miners and came home covered in black, it is often seen as the most polluted place in Belgium. Mons is a part of Belgium in which the culture and dialect is close to that of the "North" in France (where they speak "Ch'ti", a Picard dialect). 

Also the city of Liège can be added to this area, as Arcelor Mittal factories closed recently, making a lot of people unemployed. This city and its province have a very recognizeable accent, which is different from the rest of Wallonia. People with that accent sound as if they had a cold, because they are unable to produce nasal vowels. A significant figure of this city is Michel Daerden, a Minister and mayor of Ans (a commune of the province), known for speaking relatively slowly and being constantly drunk, who gained popularity in Wallonia (they called him "Papa") before passing away last year.

These parts of Wallonia are known for having a lot of immigrants. It is interesting to see that a lot of Italian families, offspring of invited labours, still live in Belgium and represent the majority of immigrated populations in Wallonia, while the rate is much lower in Flanders. For instance, the current Belgian Prime Minister, Elio Di Rupo (recognizable by his red bowtie), immigrated from Italy as a kid. He is also the first Prime Minister to be publically out of the closet...

Elio Di Rupo

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French fries are Belgian fries!

Let's get back to stereotypes and focus this time on how Wallonia and Brussels see themselves and the rest of the world...

A lot of people have taken for granted the fact that Wallonia and Brussels largely speak French, so that they should simply become a region of France. Actually, France and Belgium have a separate history. Wallonia used to be a mosaic of small realms and principalties. Later on, as both Flanders and Wallonia were part of the Netherlands, they decided to separate from it because they had a different religion (they were catholic and the Netherlands was protestant). A whole lot of Romance and Germanic dialects were spoken in the two areas. At some period, the whole country was a part of France, which made French the language of educated people. It was adopted by rich educated families of both sides, although in Wallonia most people spoke their dialect (in general, a Walloon dialect, but there are also Picard and Lorrain dialects). Later, Walloon kids were educated in French and it was forbidden to speak a dialect at school. This happened in all parts of France as well, but in Belgium, French was really a foreign language at first!

Oufti, quéne biesse! /oohf-TEA kayn be-YES/ 

"Damn, what an idiot!" in Walloon

A relevant cultural difference is the national beverage. In France, wine is the national alcohol, while in Belgium, people largely drink beers. Many beers (Orval, Chimay, Stella-Artois...) are brewed in Wallonia and famous worldwide. Some of them are made by trappist monks!

In general, Belgian French-speakers appear as more genuine and heartwarming to French people. Also, they recognize a Belgian humour, which distinguishes from the French humour in that Belgians like to joke about themselves and their accents, while French people like to make fun of other people and make themselves appear smart in doing that. This Belgian humility is probably due to the small size of the country and the obligation to share it with another community, while France is a big country, internationally known, which only has one official language (some people in France believe Belgians speak a language called... Belgian!). As a consequence, Belgians consider the French to be more arrogant and nervous, and they can't stand their chauvinism.

There has always been contact between French and Belgian people, like when labours were invited to work in both places. Also, a lot of French students come to study in Wallonia (to become speech therapists or vets), because French universities allow less students to register and universities are better considered in Belgium than in France. Many jokes were invented by French people to make fun of these foreign people who spoke French in a different accent, but the relationship between them has always been peaceful. The "Belgian jokes" (as they are called by French people) are basically about Belgian people being stupid (they are exactly the same ones as anti-blonde jokes). Also, the common cliché is that Belgians eat fries every day, because it's their national dish. By the way, a common mistake of English language is to say "French fries". Many Belgians and French people consider fries as being a purely Belgian dish, although a small part of France (called the "North") also has fries as a local dish. This is why Belgians are often pictured as fat people as well. The jokes are usually pronounced in an exagerated Brussels accent. As a reaction, some anti-French jokes also circulate in Belgium, depicting French people as arrogant. Here are examples of both:

Anti-Belgian jokes
Why did Belgians stop hunting ducks? Because they didn't manage to throw their dogs high enough.
What does a Belgian do when the bathtub is too hot? He wears oven mittens.
How do you make a Belgian go mad? Put him in a circular room and tell him you put fries in the corner.

Anti-French jokes
What is a Belgian? A French who studied.
How do you kill a French? Aim way higher than his head to shoot his superiority complex. 
Why are most French highways not lighted at night? Because French people think they are brilliant.

Finally, some people in France and Belgium, including the RWF (a marginal policital party in Belgium), would like Wallonia to be a French region. Yet, most people from both sides don't feel the need for this change and like Belgium as it stands.

I encourage you to post all of your favourite jokes below!

Bicycle races are coming your way

As a regular bicycler rider in Wallonia, I was often disappointed by the lack of involvement in this sport in my city, i.e. the very few people who actually use their bike to go to school/college/university/work and who prefer being stuck in a trafic jam at rush hours or pay their abonnement to the local bus company, taking the risk of getting late or being surrounded by loud smelly weirdos... Also, the lack of bike lanes and the poor awareness of bikers by car drivers and pedestrians makes the business very dangerous and unpopular in Wallonia, even though some city companies and associations are trying to introduce this eco-friendly transportation.

This is not the case in Flanders and the Netherlands (maybe speaking Dutch turns you automatically into a bike-lover...), where each city center is swamped with bicycles. There are thus more bike lanes and awareness of bus and car drivers, who drive more carefully and often leave way for bikes (too much sometimes). De Lijn (Flemish bus company) often lowers its abonnement price, maybe because buses are not as popular as in Wallonia or as a general attempt to make the city less polluted. And let's be serious, "fiets" (bike) clearly keeps them fit! Know what I'm sayin'?

Bikes on a normal school day in Flanders

However there are some bad points to be noted with this massive use of bikes. As students often use them even when they could walk without problem from a place to another (especially when the city is small), not all of them are very careful while riding, which make them become more dangerous than cars. Indeed, they often ride in pedestrian places, not giving a crap about people walking. That's why you need to be careful when you walk to avoid being hit by a bike, but also when you ride, because policemen (often on bikes themselves) distribute fines to careless cyclists, so don't forget your lights at night and respect the highway code. Also, it is often difficult to find a park place for your bike, so you'll often have to let it stand in the middle of the pavement with a padlock, which is not so safe when you know that it has become a tradition in Flanders to steal wheels, lights or saddle, especially when you've been stolen yours.

Kiss me I'm Walloon

A lot of foreigners will be surprised when getting to know Belgians a little better. The separation between Flemish and Walloons is not only linguistic, but also kissistic.

Maybe it is because French is naturally the language of love, as described in Amy Walker's video (a Youtube comedian), "so you can remember... French kiss!" Indeed, French give that special kiss on the cheek, which isn't actually a kiss because your lips are not supposed to touch the other person's cheek, otherwise it would be all wet, which is disgusting. Therefore it doesn't have the name "kiss" (bisou or baiser) in French but a separate one (simply bise), because it's quite awkward. This bise is repeated four times in Paris, three times in Italy and only once in Belgium, and while it's considered as a female behavior in France, it's quite natural for men to bise other men here. But hey, wait. I was talking about the part that speaks French! En effet!

 This is the actual way to do it.

The Flemish hardly ever give a kiss on the cheek, except with very close relatives, like Aunt Margriet, who likes receiving a kiss from her nephew who "is growing up so fast!" So while Belgian French speakers bise once to say "salut, ça va ?" (hi, doing good?) and once to say goodbye, the Flemish just wave their hand or give a handshake to say hello and say "daag" (g'day) waving again their hand when they leave, because it saves time! (Maybe that's why they're so productive...).

The confrontation between two unaware specimens can be quite funny (even if they both speak English... or French, which is quite often the case), because one will say hello, the other one will lean forward to bise and nothing will happen. Then the French speaker will insist and the Flemish will say "ehm... I said hello" (thinking the other one is just pricking their ears up) or "have you lost something?" (thinking they're looking at the ground). For this reason, French speakers will depict their neighbours as cold while Flemish will probably think that French speakers are awkward kissomaniacs. Qui sait?

Flanders' "je ne sais quoi"

Although a lot is said in the media about Flemish people hating on the French-speaking community and feeling the need for autonomy, a lot of Flemish people will tell you that they still want to be part of Belgium and that they have French-speaking friends. A lot of them also speak a very good French and works in Brussels. Also, Flemish dialects are full of French influences, even in every day conversations. The opposite is also true, because French-speakers tend to use Flemish words as well.

Some common Belgian lexicon (be-fr, be-nl, be-fr/nl):

• Voilà : Here it is, there you go...
• Salut - Salu(utjes): Goodbye (or hi)
• Allez: 1) Okay, like, kind of... 2) Come on!
• Ça va?: Are you okay? How are you?
• Kot: Student accommodation
• Busé - Gebuisd: Getting low results at school
• À volonté: As much as you want (in a restaurant)
• Merci(kes): Thank you
• Bon: Well...
• Bourgmestre - Burgemeester: Mayor
• Friture - Frituur: Shop where Belgian (!) fries are sold

However, the last century saw a lot of big changes in the countries that altered the perceptions of the different communities. First of all, Belgium used to be officially monolingual in French. The reason was that most of the rich families in Wallonia and Flanders spoke French, although the rest of them spoke dialects of Flemish and Walloon (a cousin-language of French). Also, Wallonia was the wealthiest part of Belgium at first, due to a massive industrialization and mining (that's why you will find a lot of Italian miners' offspring in Wallonia, including Prime Minister Elio di Rupo!). Afterwards, this industry faded away and unemployment rose up in Wallonia, while Flanders was becoming more and more wealthy. 

Nowadays, Dutch is officially used and mastered by (almost) all Flemish people and their area is much richer than Wallonia. Therefore, a lot of them want more autonomy to have their own tax system, so that they won't pay for the poor... I also have to mention that Brussels was populated by a lot of rich families from Flanders and Wallonia who spoke French only and a lot of Walloons found a job there and were there to stay. This is why Brussels is stuck in the middle of Flanders but most people only speak French.

This odd history has left a lot of stereotypes in the country. In caricatures, the Walloons are seen by Flemish people are stupid, lazy workers, who like to go on strike and who are socialist, just to make Flemish people pay for them. The other stereotype is that Walloons can't speak a foreign language properly (which is often true, unfortunately, except when you get educated in Linguistics haha). The Flemish may see Brussels as a place full of Walloons and foreign immigrants, and not as enjoyable as, say, Ghent or Bruges...