🇧🇪 What Language Do They Speak in Belgium?
The short answer
Belgium has three official languages: Dutch (called Flemish locally, spoken by about 60% in the north), French (about 40%, in the south and Brussels) and a small German-speaking community in the east. Brussels is officially bilingual but predominantly French-speaking.
Worth knowing
- ●Flanders speaks Dutch, Wallonia speaks French — and the language border is a real political fault line
- ●Belgian French counts differently: septante (70) and nonante (90) instead of soixante-dix and quatre-vingt-dix
- ●The German-speaking community of about 77,000 people is one of Europe's smallest official language groups
Going to Belgium? Say your first words before you land.
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Also useful there
Frenchspoken in Wallonia and Brussels
Learn French →