Tag Archives: Flemish

The Sorrow of Belgium

20 Thursday Jun 2019

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The best thing about summer temperatures is that they are generally followed by thunderstorms. And that’s exactly my favourite kind of weather. As much as Belgians fear temperatures above 25 degrees, they also fear thunderstorms. The country even gets ‘codes’ when there might be thunderstorms coming. Code yellow, code orange, code red… depending on how ‘dangerous’ the coming storms might be.

Yesterday was code orange so I got my gear out and drove to Gent. I have been wanting to go up the belfry for a while now so I thought this was the right time.

This 90 meter high watchtower dating from the 14th century is a great place to see thunderstorms coming. It’s a not very comfortable narrow passageway, constantly ‘invaded’ by tourists, but nevertheless a great photographic spot.

Belfry

So I was waiting for the storm (that didn’t really come), watching the clouds, watching the tourists passing me. Brits, Americans, Dutch, Scandinavians, Germans, a lot of Spanish speaking and many many Chinese. The Chinese, probably the most avid selfie-takers.

Then a group of French speaking ‘cool guys’ came up. You know the type 16-something, impeccably dressed, loud, showing off… This one guy saw me and automatically said “Bonjour madame!”. I answer back in French and he said, startled, “Mais vous parlez français!”, you speak French! “Of course!” I told him, “I am Belgian!”. ‘Oh, where are you from then?’, he asked. Obviously expecting me to name some south Belgian city as he seemed genuinely surprised when he found out I’m Flemish. Without thinking I ask him the rhetorical question, “but you can speak Flemish, can’t you?” and to my surprise his answer was “oh no! I don’t!” And added an apologetic “but I am from Brussels”, as if to say ‘they don’t speak Flemish there’.

By then the group had moved on and our conversation ended as rapidly as it had started. I was a bit annoyed. Don’t they learn Flemish anymore in our bilingual Belgian capital? Are we (Flemish) the only ones who remember that Brussels is -officially- bilingual? Do they really expect us to speak French, all the time?

The usual Flemish thoughts.

I had nothing on my mind except thinking, as the clouds weren’t really coming, so started thinking about that particular delicate Belgian issue : 2 different people, the French speaking Walloons in the south and the Flemish speaking in the north, ‘stuck’ together in a country called Belgium. Both languages equal, theoretically, but practically it’s always the Flemish that must adapt to the French. Or so it feels to us.

As far as I remember it has always been an issue. Language was one of the reasons Belgium came to exist, it was an important issue in the desire for independency. Back then it was the French speaking elite who were afraid they would lose power to the Flemish ‘people’. It took the Flemish a long time to become ‘equal’ as a language, with the university of Leuven (Flemish town) changing from French to Flemish only in 1968!

When I was in school French was one of the main subjects, next to Maths and Flemish, and generally Flemish was taught in the Walloon schools. Nowadays English is more and more taking the place of Flemish/French as a second language in schools on both sides of the language border.

Thus making the language tensions no longer an issue. There are no longer losers in the battle between Flemish and Walloons on what language they will speak to each other. They just speak English. That’s what I usually do anyway.

So Mr. Cool Guy’s lack of knowledge of my native language is forgiven. -I do hope he speaks English though- ;-).

This is as bad as the clouds got …

“Verdriet van Belgie”, the sorrow of Belgium, a podcast on the Belgian independence by Johan Opdebeek. Only in Flemish I am afraid. Highly recommended.

The language battle I mention here is only in unofficial matters. In political matters and official matters what language is spoken is subject to many strict rules. The prime minister for example will give all speeches half in Flemish half in French.

The panorama photo is taken with my cell phone. The other photos with my camera. check out http://www.kattiborre.com for more of my work.

B.N.D.

10 Friday Aug 2012

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It took me a while to realize that B.N.D. stands for ‘Belgian National Day’. Obviously this post comes with a bit of a delay, as the Belgian national holiday is on July 21.

Maybe you already know that my country of origin, Belgium, is quite a complicated one. As a matter of fact I am now reading a book called “Belgium, a history without country” (België, een geschiedenis zonder een land), a title that is, unless you are Belgian, just a tiny little bit confusing.

The boarder between the two linguistic parts of Europe, Romanic South (Latin based languages) and Germanic North (German based languages) runs right through the middle of this little country. Belgium is in fact just the mere sum of Flemish, Walloons (French speaking) and Brussels (bilingual). We are Flemish, Brusselaar/Bruxelois or Walloon, but no Belgian.

Our differences can go so far as that our country has been without a government for about a  year and a half, fighting over little details between the different communities while the economy in the whole of Europe was taking a serious downfall. We, Belgians, had other things on our minds.

But I wonder, are things changing? Or is it just (my) perception? I am already less fanatic Flemish and more Belgian then my parents ever were, and my kids call themselves Belgian. No doubt about that. Ok, Flemish Belgian. Things aren’t changing that fast.

Now I seem to forget the day, a couple of years ago when we were still living in Belgium, that I got a phone call from my sons’ school : he had (together with the rest of the schools boarding boys) detention, as they were very proud to having revived the Battle of the Golden Spurs (Guldensporenslag), a battle between Flemish and French that took place on July 11th in 1302, which the Flemish won. Probably the only battle ‘the Flemish’ ever won, but well. All the Flemish boys in school had ‘attacked’ the Walloon boys (who go to school in Flanders because their good parents think it necessary for them to learn Flemish, and because schools in Flanders just happen to be better then the ones in the south of the country), only this time they didn’t use the geldon (goedendag) but pillows, and the teachers made an end to the fight long before the Flemish kids had a chance to win it a 2nd time.

So I guess you are not surprised that I am late writing about the national holiday, as yes, we never ever celebrated it. It is just a day like any other. But when I, just a few days before the 21st, saw the invitation to the ‘BND’ in the ‘Pain Quotidien’ (a popular Belgian breakfast restaurant) in New York I was tempted to go and see the performing artists, Raymond Van het Groenewoud and Axel Red, and when my daughter saw the invitation she went completely crazy and cried out: “Mom! We must go!”

(Raymond singing the ‘classic’  ‘Je Veux l’amour’, his desperate cry for love)

And so we went. It would be her first, and also mine, BND. And on a hut sunny afternoon in NY we went inside a dark theatre, where Raymond was giving the best of himself, where everyone was drinking beer, eating waffles or French fries, and singing as loud as they could, while waving little Belgian flags. The national feeling was very present, but the strangest thing was, Flemish and Walloons were as one and they spoke (guess what) English to each other, which is -both for the Flemish as the Walloons- their 3th language.

But although the concert was great, and it felt good to have some typical Belgian food for a change -I don’t drink beer- it wasn’t exactly a spectacularly fun feast, but it will definitely not be forgotten. It was our first BND, and we were in NY.

N.B. The Flemish also have a national holiday, which is –contradictory- no holiday unless you work at the Flemish ministry, this day is the commemoration of that battle of golden spurs on 11th of July in 1302.