Brussels is an international hub of correspondents, diplomats and political aficionados. It is easy enough to forget where Brussels 
is; for all intensive purposes, it could be located just about anywhere, given the global scope of the governmental bodies and non-profit groups that populate the city. It has been, and continues to be, the midway land between a whole bunch of other places; someone is always traipsing across Belgium on their way to somewhere else. In doing so, one comes across many languages and people, as well as a funny pervasiveness of “Brussels English” amongst them all.
Linguistic differences have continually been a source of conflict in Belgium. It is, in fact, the reason its prime minister quit his post last week for the second time since 2007. Belgium has seen four governments in the past three years, partially a result of its language divide.
The country is split into two major linguistic areas, with a little German chunk often overlooked off to the east। To the north, in Flanders, you have Flemish, a dialect of Dutch। To the south, in Wallonia, you find French.
Brussels, although located in Flanders, was declared bilingual in 1993 as a compromise to the French-speaking majority residing here। At first glance this lends to such trivial problems as printing public signs in two languages and the dilemma of what to call a person from Brussels (“Brusselaar” or “Bruxellois”?)।
To what extent does the current contention stem from this linguistic divide? Belgium is divided into both language communities and regions that govern their respective provinces। The electoral districts to vote for the Belgian Parliament Chamber are constituencies that overlap the provincial boundaries। The Brussels area is an exception. It is in the electoral and judicial district known as “BHV”, or Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.
From my naive outsider’s perspective, the problem has another face to it, because the region has so many international dwellers। When I first ventured into the Flemish-speaking region of Belgium, I was advised not to try to putter along in French, but to simply speak English, as doing otherwise would cause offense। I received the same advice when going the opposite direction। The distilled fact then is that absolutely every person I have encountered during my four months living in Belgium has been capable of speaking English.
I attribute this in part to the presence of the European Union. The affairs of the EU had previously been almost entirely conducted in French, but all this change
d with the 2004 addition of 10 countries, where second language skills were more likely to be English than French. For a journalist, the ability to find a common language currency among many different people is essential। The EJC office in Brussels is a case in point। The first day of my internship, I watched avidly as Greek, and Italian colleagues chatted together in English। The three all speak French - not to mention a few other languages - with the ease and grace of native speakers, but the office typically conducts conversations in English। They joke that they speak “Brussels English”, or the English of non-native speakers who work together in the city।
As my Portuguese colleague explained, one could comfortably live in Brussels for years and never speak a word of any of the official languages because most people work in English and then speak whatever their national language is in private settings.
Flickr images from users MorBCN, Simon Blackley, mcfarlandmo, batigolix
Posted on May 3, 2010 by Jacqueline ब्रिक्से at EJC
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