The case of the French language in Belgium is an interesting one.
It isn’t always clear to foreigners why other countries of Europe use “the Language of France” or how the situation developed. So in an effort to make this clearer, we’ll zoom in on the French in Belgium and explain what the deal is.
I write this as one who lived in Belgium for several decades and knows the country as a native. Let’s go!
1. Who uses French in Europe?
The are four countries that use French as a native language. These are Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium and France. None of these stole or borrowed the language of France. They all use French as legitimate speakers of French.
(Picture: The four countries of Europe speak French as natives)
Contrary to popular belief, French was never the “invention” of France. They never “shared” French with their neighbours.
The development of the French language actually predates the formation of these nations. Think of it as a stretch of land which developed over hundreds of years in which various groups of humans spoke a form of Latin that would eventually lead to French.
To be clear, no one ran up to the King of France with a big book under their arm and said “Sire! I’ve invented a language! We’ll call it French and impose it on the good people of your kingdom.”
They key word here is evolution. The borders of France took 1000 years to be finally set.
(Picture: The invention of French as it definitely didn’t happen)
2. They didn’t all speak French in France
Even as late as the 20th century, the country of France was not unified by one language. The modern version of French was imposed on its citizens who more often than not spoke dialects at home. We mean by that that there used to be “standard French” that co-existed with lesser versions of French even up the 1950s.
In a recent effort to repair the damage done, France has been reintroducing the lost dialects such as Occitan and Breton in schools. But there is a lot to rebuild before these dialects ever find a real use in everyday life.
(Picture Poster found in French schools in the 20th century reminding children it was forbidden to speak anything but standard French. It was forbidden to speak the dialect of Brittany “Breton” as well as to spit on the floor!)
Just as was the case in France, the French of Belgium took a while to be generalized all over the country.
In any case, French was a language that was spoken in various forms well before the existence of the Belgian or French borders. There were several versions of French before one specific kind was chosen by the king to be the official one. (A bit like the accent of the BBC in the South of England that was considered to be the gold standard)
3. Where is French spoken in Belgium?
The main difference between France and Belgium is in the size of the territory where French is spoken.
In Belgium, French is only spoken in the Southern half of the territory whereas France is a monolingual country in which only one language is spoken throughout the whole country. This specificity also makes France the only monolingual country of the four: Luxembourg, Switzerland and Belgium all have second and third languages that are used officially.
Belgium has 2 official languages to represent the 2 different communities. One half of the country speaks French, the other speaks Dutch – the same language as the Netherlands.
If you were to step over the border from France to Belgium, there would be a seamless use of the French language. Even with the best efforts, there would be no case to make for “the French of Belgium” to qualify as a dialect or a pidgin. It would be like saying that the English of America is a separate version of the English from the UK.
In reality, French is French. Exact same pronunciation everywhere and same grammar.
4. What is a Walloon?
You may have seen on certain maps that the French speakers of Belgium are called the “Walloons” and the Dutch speakers the “Flemish”.
The explanation is simple. There are two halves of Belgium and each half speaks a different language. The territory of Belgium that speaks French is called Wallonia. The half the speaks Dutch is called Flanders.
Where it gets complicated is that a person who lives in Wallonia is technically a “Walloon” but it is not so simple. Many French speakers of Belgium are not Walloons at all. Even if they live in Wallonia.
A “true” Walloon is somewhat of an unclear term that is both geographical and social. It may even border of the derogatory, in the same way the USA views parts of the Midwest or Florida.
We could say that a true Walloon is born and bred in that culture and rather more a hereditary status.
5.The case of French in Brussels
In terms of identity, I am myself a prime example of the complicated nature of Belgium’s linguistic division. I am neither Walloon nor Flemish. I grew up in the Dutch-speaking community of Belgium but went to school in French-speaking Brussels, which can be seen as a third Community within Belgium.
Because I was not a speaker of Flemish, I am foreign to their culture despite having I lived there for over 20 years. A Flemish person would not recognize me as one of their own.
The city of Brussels is as French-speaking as any other city from France. A striking oddity about Brussels is that even though it counts over 90% of French speakers and is the largest concentration of French speakers in Belgium, it is not the capital city of the French speakers.
Brussels is indeed the capital city of Flemish speakers, even though very few people actually speak Flemish there.
On the map, Brussels is technically located in Flanders, which is the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium. It is a sort of “island” similar to the yin and yang symbol: the black dot in the white space would represent Brussels surrounded by speakers of Flemish.
6. The stabilizing influence of the media
When it comes to the media, the TV that francophone Belgians watch is all in French. The exact same French as they use in France or Switzerland.
As children, we would just as easily switch to French TV stations. Our choice depended on which channel was showing the better cartoons. If Swiss TV had been available, I am sure we would have watched that also.
It would never occur to a Belgian to consider that the language in France was any different from theirs or that there was any cultural barrier to prevent full understanding.
7. Why French could not have split into two varieties
A quick glance at the map of Europe should put to rest any concerns about there being different versions of French.
The distance between the 4 French-speaking countries of Europe is so small that it would be a major linguistic oddity if 4 versions of French had developed independently. It would be unrealistic to suppose that 4 peaceful countries with a desire for exchange could grow apart linguistically.
French only has to be learned once and will carry you through all francophone countries internationally. There will be no adaptation period when going to Belgium, Switzerland or Luxembourg.
French is French, wherever we are.