truppidavies

Is it true that in Belgium (Brussels & Brugge) in particular - that all their food menus are in French?
I do not know one ounce of the language, and am now worried while traveling through the country -- are we going to be in trouble?

Michael

Belgium is a bilingual country, Flemish and French. If you do not know either of these languages you might have some problems, although I suspect that restaurants in main tourist venues also have English menus.

supercat

You will have no problem with menus or anything else, at least in Bruges (I haven't been to Brussels). Menus are in English (or servers will help translate). And in Flanders, more than one person told me that they would rather speak English than French.
You'll be fine (and you'll love Belgium!)

djkbooks

When we visited Brugges, menus were in English everywhere and most spoke excellent English as well.

taggie

But your trip will be an excellent opportunity to learn a few French phrases beforehand that you can put into practice while there....

FromAtlanta

I have NEVER had a problem in Brussels or Brugge. So many of the people speak English. My 1st time there, I almost had a heart attack getting off the train and seeing EVERYTHING in a foreign language (after I was assured that English was widely used...but a very nice lady who worked at the train station helped me take the subway where I needed to go.) After that, everything was easy.
You might want to invest in a cheap phrase book, just incase - we don't want to give the impression we are travel snobs.(Even though it is so much easier for some to speak/learn a foreign language where for others it is VERY difficult.)I always speak English when I am in Belgium and no one seems to mind.

P_M

I brought a French phrase book last year and tried to learn basic French. When I arrived in Brugge I kept trying to use my French phrases. When I did, people quietly chuckled then spoke English to me. I thought they were chuckling at my terrible pronunciation of French words. On my last day in Brugge I figured out what was so funny--the language of Brugge is Flemish, but most everyone speaks good English. Don't worry, you will love Belgium, and menus will not be a problem!!

usbeauty

Hahaha. Nice anedote P_M! While I am a fluent French speaker, I can't get away with speaking French outside of Brussels because most of the country is indeed Flemish speaking. But, all over Belgium, people speak English as a result of the many Americans and U.K. citizens who visit. Menus are increasingly in English, especially in the Flemish speaking cities. You'll have no trouble eating well.

laverendrye

I'm surprised that usbeauty feels unable to speak French outside of Brussels. While Flemish speakers are in the majority in Belgium (60%), Wallonia, the French speaking region comprises more than half the area of the country, including the Ardennes and such cities as Liege, Charleroi, Tournai,Dinant and Namur.

On the other hand, I agree that while in Flanders, it's better to speak English rather than French if you don't know Flemish.

bo_jack

As all above have said, you will have zero trouble speaking only English in Belgium. Several years back we drove all over the country, and I do not recall meeting a single native of Belgium who did not speak passable to excellent English. If I remember correctly, we were told that several years of English language classes are essentially mandatory if one is schooled Belgium. One thing that is interesting and a little disconcerting about the road signs is the use of both French and Flemish. As I recall, driving from south to north toward Antwerp, we kept seeing signs for "Anvers", not "Antwerpen", until we were relatively close to that city. I hope you get a chance to travel into the less touristy areas. It's a very nice country. (If you have any interest in or knowledge of cattle, you should be impressed by the Belgium Blues.)

MyriamC

You're right, bo-jack, English language classes are mandatory over here as from the age of 12 mostly. Being Flemish myself - living in the Flemish-speaking part - the second language our children learn at school is still French, though. French classes start at the age of 10. English is only our third language.

BTilke

Hmmm....wonder why the charming bureaucrats down at the commune pretend to only speak French? (ok, some Flemish, too, but they wouldn't speak English to some of the expats trying to register. They seemed disappointed that we could handle all their rules and regs in French.)
My hairdressers don't speak English, which is fine because they do a great job with my hair and that's what counts.
It's true, tho, Belgians do study English in school. Remember, however, taking classes in something doesn't make you any good at it...I took advanced algebra in high school but there's no way I could solve any tricky math problems now ;-)

janeygirl

I speak a tiny little bit of French, at least enough that I can order food in restaurants and usually know what I'm going to get.

In trying to being a good traveler, I try to start conversations in French (when in France, of course) and explain that I don't speak it well, does madame/monsieur speak English, etc.

Would it be appropriate to use French in this manner in Belgium or would Flemish be considered more polite?

DAX

I agree with Janeygirl, as long as we don't terribly ruin/mangle their language, they would appreciate starting a conversation in their own language.

Contrary to other posters, I've met quite a number of Flemish who couldn't speak English (probably due to less education?) especially in the small towns.

GeoffHamer

The two languages spoken in Belgium are French and Dutch (called "nederlands" by the people who speak it). The language "boundary" is clearly defined and towns are designated as French- or Dutch-speaking. The only city which is officially bilingual is Brussels, though nearly all the city's natives speak French. Brugge is in the Dutch-speaking part of the country. As other people have already said, most Belgians prefer to speak English as a second language (Dutch speakers will speak English rather than French, and French speakers do not like speaking Dutch). Many job adverts in Belgium specify a knowledge of all three languages. If you only speak English, you will have no problems in Belgian towns or tourist sights.

ealing_calling

Another vote for not using French in Flanders. This should get you though (before they switch to het Engels):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other.../flemish.shtml

Just a story:
We were at a small bar in Brugge, having a drink at the bar before heading elsewhere to eat (actually it was 3-4 little drinks en route to dinner) . . .

A real Mom & Pop place on the outskirts, which unfortunately had been invaded by a busload of Brits (erm, coachload) who were unfortunately loud and rowdy. It was across from our hotel and we were the only people not in the package tour.

While Mrs. Innkeeper tried to serve dinner to the dozens of Brits-behaving-badly, we bellied up to the bar with a "Sorry, sprekt U engels?" The owner/bartender barely did, so with broken Dutch & French we explained we really liked Belgian beers, and what did he have that was special or unusual.

"Oh! I make beer. I am a brewer. You will try my beer!" And he crouched under the bar and gave us snifters of his super chewy gueuze style brew. We let the yeastie beasties settle, tasted, and ordered a half pint of the fabulous stuff.

We should've just stayed there. Great experience!

And, there are lots of similarities between Dutch as it's used in Belgium, and English. Have a couple of pints and then sound out the signs -- you will understand it perfectly.
HTH

Tulips

It's a very touchy subject. Lots of French speaking Belgians come to the Flemish seaside town Knokke, to visit, or they have a second home there. Many of them refuse to speak even a word of Flemish. To me (I'm Dutch, living in Belgium) it is inconceivable to have a home in a place where you do not even attempt to speak the local language. I sometimes hear conversations in shops, where the client speaks french and the shopkeeper answers in flemish, and both understand each other perfectly.
I draw the line at being served by an exclusively french speaking sales person in a flemish town; this sometimes happens in Knokke, and I find that unacceptable.
If you're English speaking, however, people will not mind if you try French, though I think English would be preferred.

usbeauty

Laverendrye, of course you're right. I meant I am uncomfortable speaking French in Flanders, but not in Wallonia. The language change has occurred over time; when I was growing up and visiting Knokke every summer(over 30 years ago) French was heard and spoken everywhere. It seems that the disinterest in speaking French has evolved as a political and cultural issue. Would anyone agree?

I also don't quite understand this notion of calling Flemish 'nederlands' as GeoffHamer points out. What happened to 'vlaamse'? I understand there are subtle differences between Dutch and Flemish but they are different. Can anyone explain that to me?

Finally, speaking of road signs, I spent my teenage years thinking that Mons and Bergen were two separate cities.

Tulips

usbeauty; that's so true about road signs. Took me some time to realise that Rijssel and Lille are the same place.
The difference between flemish and dutch is like the difference between, say, scottish and english. Grammatically, they are the same, but some words and prononciation are different.

DonTopaz

Though French and Dutch are indeed the two most prominent languages of Belgium, also remember that German is another official language (spoken in Limburg, IIRC).

If the Dutch spoken in Belgium and the Nettherland isn't exactly identical, neither is the French spoken in Belgium and France. There are the obvious differences (70 and 90 are the much more sensible septants and nonante in Belgium), but even the name of the capital city is pronounced differently: if you're Belgian, it's BROOS-ell, if you're Parisian, it's BROOX-ell.