What langauge do they speak in Belgium??

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poormom

all the previous answers are partly wrong.I am from Belgium,so I am a Belgian,but there is no such language as "Belgian"The northern part(Flanders) speaks Flemish(Vlaams),which is Dutch. The Southern part speaks Walloon,which is French.Also a small part near the German border speaks -you guessed it-German! The capital,Brussels,is bilingual,French and Dutch,which are both the official language.Most Belgians are fluent in English,but it is not their native language.Hope this will satisfy your question,and yes,it IS a great place to live or visit,I miss it like crazy

Manhattan Guy

French, Dutch and English for sure ! Flemish people even speak English so well. German slightly spoken only in the part of Belgium that attached to the German border.

Kayleigh

French, Flemish, German and a lot of them can speak English very well.

Happy Feet

The answer given by POORMOM is correct, IÂ´m Belgian to.

Chantal D.

We speak and have here several languages:Dutch(Flemish), French, German.
We speak also English about 90% to that efort here.

Reggie

Flemish,french,English,and dutch,very cleaver the Belgians,my mother is from there and she speaks 6 languages fluently Belgium is a great place and has something for every one the people are very friendly and help full and the food is fantastic you will have a brilliant time,enjoy.

Guy VS

lot's of funny answers - or are they silly?
i'm from belgium too, and since poormom was the first to give a really good answer (not perfect but hey ...), you should give her the 10 points.

now i just looked on the www and i found a nice little card indicating the "first language" in different regions in belgium. it's on a ducht site but who cares ... it's correct!

since the legend of the card is in dutch (flemish if you prefer), just some explanations: in the northern part (in yellow, just in case), people officialy speak ducth but the have local dialects ...
in the southern part (right, pink), poeple officially speak french, again with sometimes very strong "local accents". in the east (the little blue part), people speak german.

in general, the younger people - say from the age of 15 to 35 - speak english too. but it's not correc that people in the north learn french as a second language (they can choose between french and english and the choise is more and more english) while people in the south can choose between dutch and english (and again, they prefer english).

and ... at last ... in some cities, lot's of people will talk italian or other languages - depends on the concentration of "new belgian citizens".

USA # 1

In Belgium the people speak french and dutch......near the border with the France people speak french and near the border with netherlands people speak dutch

Cisje

First of all "poormom" is right!
We have three official languages namely Flemish, French and German.
Since it is an obligation to learn a second language in school from the age of 10, the Flemish people start to learn French and the French people (Walloon) start to learn Flemish. When we get to the age of 13 we are obliged to choose a third language at school. Most Flemish people take English, don't know about the French ones (and how it works with the Dutch part I don't know either... I think they mostly choose French as second language and English as third.) When you're about 15 you can choose the direction of your studies... you can either choose for studying languages or go more in a scientific way... If you choose languages you have to choose a fourth one which is mainly Dutch, but sometimes you can also choose Spanish.
Now, as a Flemish person who works is Brussels with a lot of French colleagues, I can tell you that, although the Flemish seem to have learned their languages well, the French part aren't very good in speaking other languages...
It has to do with our way of life I think... The Flemish have almost always been occupied by other nations...the Spanish, the French, the Dutch, the German... and have survived... so we tend to make it easy for everyone by their to talk their language... For instance, if you would come and visit us (the Flemish part that is) people would talk to you in English...no problem at all...

LOON W

flemish,english and french,iam going there in august.nice place to visit.

lukee

See - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Belgium

Its about half and half Dutch and French based on geographical area

kate

french and flamish (it's kinda like dutch)

snoopie_sus

Flemish and French

jimanddan

French, Flemish and Walloon, I Kid you not.

montralia

I believe the people speak french and "flamand which in english would be flemish, and probably German too.

Mizzy

lmao

Nick H

Welsh.

FavoredbyU

Belgian

yes, it's a language

Silly Steve

Here's a breakdown of language spoken by region:

Belgian Sign Language [bvs] Dialects: North Belgium Sign Language, South Belgium Sign Language. A variety of regional dialects which have their roots in different deaf schools. The dialect in the Flemish region is closer to that in the Walloon region than it is to Dutch Sign Language. Adopted signs from the old French sign language directly and indirectly. It began in 1825. Different sign languages are used in the classroom and by adults outside the classroom. Classification: Deaf sign language
More information.

Dutch [nld] 4,620,150 in Belgium (1990 WA). The language of provinces of West Vlaanderen, Oost Vlaanderen, Antwerpen, Limburg, Vlaams-Brabant, and the bilingual part (10% to 20%) of Brussels. Alternate names: Nederlands. Dialects: Brabants, Oost-Vlaams. Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, Low Saxon-Low Franconian, Low Franconian
More information.

Europanto [eur] Brussels, European Union buildings. Classification: Artificial language
More information.

French [fra] 4,000,000 in Belgium (1988 M. Harris in B. Comrie). Official language in provinces of Hainaut, Namur, LiÃ¨ge, Luxembourg, Brabant-Walloon, southern hills, and the bilingual part of Brussels. Lorraine dialect, southern villages Luxembourg Province. Alternate names: FranÃ§ais. Dialects: Lorraine. Classification: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Western, Gallo-Iberian, Gallo-Romance, Gallo-Rhaetian, OÃ¯l, French
More information.

German, Standard [deu] 150,000 in Belgium (1988 Hawkins in B. Comrie). Official language in LiÃ¨ge Province, cantons of Eupen and Sankt-Vith, municipalities: Eupen, Kelmis, Lontzen, Raeren, Amel, Bnlingen, Bntchenbach, Sankt-Vith, and Burg-Reuland. Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, German, Middle German, East Middle German
More information.

Limburgisch [lim] 600,000 in Belgium (2001). Depending on the city in Belgium, 50% to 90% of the population speak it (2001 A. Schunck). Hasselt, Genk, Maaseik, Voeren, Eupen. Alternate names: Limburgs Plat. Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, German, Middle German, West Middle German, Rhenisch Franconian
More information.

Luxembourgeois [ltz] 30,000 in Belgium (1998). Area of Arlon and Bastogne, Luxembourg Province. Alternate names: Letzburgisch. Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, German, Middle German, West Middle German, Moselle Franconian
More information.

Picard [pcd] Most of Hainaut Province (Tournai, Mons, Ath). Alternate names: Rouchi, Chtimi. Dialects: Belgian Picard. Classification: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Western, Gallo-Iberian, Gallo-Romance, Gallo-Rhaetian, OÃ¯l, French
More information.

Vlaams [vls] 1,070,000 in Belgium (1998 U. of Ghent). Population total all countries: 1,202,000. Large parts of the Province of West Flanders. Also spoken in France, Netherlands. Alternate names: Flamand, Vlaemsch. Dialects: Westvlaams (Vlaemsch), Oostvlaams, Antwerps, Limburgs, Brabants. Close to Dutch, English, Frisian. Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, Low Saxon-Low Franconian, Low Franconian
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Walloon [wln] 1,120,000 (1998). Few monolinguals. Population includes 320,000 young people (1998). 1,220,000 to 1,920,000 young people can understand it (1998). Wallonia. Central Walloon dialect, Namur, Wavre, and Dinant; Eastern Walloon dialect, LiÃ¨ge, Malmedy, Verviers, Huy, and Waremme; Western Walloon dialect, Charleroi, Nivelles, and Philippeville; Southern Walloon dialect, the Ardennes Region, Marche, and NeufchÃ¢teau. Also spoken in Luxembourg until recently. It is or was spoken in parts of northern France, and in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. Alternate names: Wallon. Dialects: Central Walloon, Eastern Walloon, Western Walloon, Southern Walloon. Walloon developed between the 8th and 12th centuries from remnants of Latin brought to the region by Roman soldiers, merchants, and settlers. The eastern subdialect of Walloon is considered to be the more difficult one to understand within Belgium. Classification: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Western, Gallo-Iberian, Gallo-Romance, Gallo-Rhaetian, OÃ¯l, French
More information.

mkultra

Belgish oviously. Dint yu no nuffin.

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