I have checked two travel books, an atlas and via michelin, can't find this town. does it have another name, what part of France is it in?A

It's in Belgium. Also spelled Bruges, brugge or brussels.

Try www.brugge.be

www.brussels.org

It's in Belgium and in French, one of Belgium's two languages, is called Bruges.

Rick Steve features Brugge. I constantly spell it wrong (but am a horrible speller).

B-R-U-G-G-E

It is in Belgium.

Time for more research

&quot;<i>I have checked two travel books, an atlas and via michelin, can't find this town. . . . what part of France is it in?</i>&quot;

Phew - I'm relieved to hear you aren't finding Brugge in your books about France. Back to the drawing board.

&lt;&quot;or brussels&quot;&gt;

Brugge and Brussels are two different cities.

Brugge and Bruges are the same place since as mentioned, both Flemish and French are the languages of Belgium. Since Brugge is in the Flemish part of Belgium and Brugge is how the locals spell it, I would say that is the preferable spelling although both are correct.

Have you ever started typing and didn't stop to think? Thanks basingstoke. I meant to type brugges.

In English, the French spelling of Bruges is generally used.

Do not start trying to refer to all of the cities in Europe by the names used in the native language, or you are going to already find yourself in difficulty when you start going to Wien, Kobenhavn, or Firenze, to name just some of the easy ones.

but no matter what spelling one uses -- it ain't in France . . . .

I understand that Kerouac. In most cases the English version of city names differs from that of the locals. As you know, the case of Brugge is different in that 2 different names are used by the people of the country. In the US both are used. Although Bruges may be more common among English speakers, it is not necessarily preferred. Differences in the name Brugge/Bruges are not only cultural but political and thus I choose to respect the city's location in Flanders and respect the version of city's region.

Hi A,

It is either Brugge or Bruges, but it ain't Brugges.

It is in Belgium.

It is worth a visit.

In UK English the town's name is Bruges (and that's the name that British guidebooks use). I'd never heard an English speaker refer to it as Brugge until I visited this forum. I assume, therefore, that Brugge is an accepted name for the city in the US but not in the UK.

Incidentally, I don't say Ostende (or Oostende), Antwerpen (or Anvers) or Bruxelles (or Brussel) either when I'm speaking English!

ira wrote: &quot;It is either Brugge or Bruges, but it ain't Brugges.&quot;

Ant it ain't Brugge when you are writing in English.

I wondered why so many posters here called it Brugge. MomDDTravel has indicated why: Rick Steves calls it Brugge.

Kerouac

I completely disagree with your comment about not trying to pronounce the name of places ( or anything else for that matter) in the local language. It is a simple display of courtesy and respect to pronounce place names properly. The fact that is easier to do otherwise should not be the deciding factor.

A good portion of the arrogance that is ascribed to tourists (and some tourist groups more than others) comes from the failure to do even this basic amount of research and learning.

Kerouac didn't say not to PRONOUNCE the name. He was talking about referring to it on a map, if the map is in English. There is no arrogance in that--just good advice.

If you speak the local language, please pronounce the place names in the local language. Is that clear?

If you try to mix languages, you age going to confuse everybody. When a Belgian speaks English to you, he or she will most certainly not pronouce the city names as the locals do, but as the English do.

Similarly, if an English person is speaking French to a French person, he or she will refer to <i>Londres</i> and <i>la Tamise</i> and not to <i>London</i> or <i>the Thames</i>.

Interesting semantic discussion. I wonder how many people know how to pronouce 'gouda' as the Dutch do. But the Dutch don't consider it an insult to hear it pronounced as per English phonetic rules.

kerouac wrote: &quot;if an English person is speaking French to a French person, he or she will refer to Londres and la Tamise and not to London or the Thames.&quot;

I'm glad that I'm not an English person, or I would be guilty of letting the side down. I do say Londres when I speak French, but I had quite forgotten that the French use la Tamise (I did recognise it as something I had seen or heard before). But perhaps I'm okay: I cannot remember ever having mentioned the Thames in France. I have mentioned la Liffey.

I have a friend from Rennes who speaks excellent English. When using English, he pronounces Rennes with the final &quot;s&quot; sounded. It always jars with me a little.

As the town is in the Flemish speaking part of Belgium, I presume using Brugge is akin to using Roma or Firenze when talking about Rome or Florence in Italy.

Fodorites generally consider this &quot;a bad thing&quot; and pretensious.

The exception appears to be when the rest of the English speaking world uses &quot;Pearl HarboUr&quot; when this is taken as an inability to spell or a deliberate insult

For the record, I use the local names only when giving directions. This stems from hearing visitors arriving at Pisa airport railway station looking in vain for &quot;Florence&quot; unaware that they needed trains for Firenze.

Belgium being bilingual, I presume that trains/roads would be marked with both Bruges and Brugge.