I'm teaching myself to speak dutch for my upcoming trip to Holland & Belgium. Will people in Belgium understand me if I speak Dutch? And how would you ask someone in Flanders if they speak dutch/flemish: Spreekt U Vlaanderen??

Well - with the French speakers you will probably do better in English. In fact, I've never come across anyone in either the Netherlands or Belgium who didn;t speak at last basic english. (Not to be discouraging about learning a foreign language - go for it - but why Dutch?)

I found that in Brussels, it was best to use English or French..Honestly, we haven't had any problems in Holland or Belgium with using English, not to say we've really branched out that much.

My understanding is that Flemish and Dutch are two different languages, and if you are in Flemish country, it is better(or less offense) to speak English than French if you don't know any Flemish.

Most people there speak English, but major kudos to you for attempting to learn their language!! I think they will be impressed, even if you can only say a few words like hello, goodbye, please and thank you.

<<My understanding is that Flemish and Dutch are two different languages>>

If this is true, then speak different languages in Noo Yawk and Jawja...

Vlaams (not "Vlaanderen&quot equals Nederlands. For all practical purposes. Two different names for (essentially) the same thing.

<<Will people in Belgium understand me if I speak Dutch?>>

Yes.

Best wishes,

Rex

BreukelenMan,

No matter how you say it they will reply in English, unless you are in the Walloon part of Belgium. Then they will reply in French. But keep up the effort. It will certainly add to the enjoyment of your trip.

What method are you using to learn Dutch? It is not an easy language. We called it a disease of the throat when I lived there.

<<What method are you using to learn Dutch? It is not an easy language. We called it a disease of the throat when I lived there.>>

While pronunciation does seem "funny" in some ways... this comment ("not easy&quot seems peculiar for the language that looks and sounds more like English than any other language I know!

I have come across older Dutch travelers in Brussels who didn't speak more than a few words in English. I was standing on a street in Schaarbeek when an older Dutch couple pulled up, obviously lost, trying to find their way to the Sablon (they were way on the wrong side of town). They didn't understand English. My Dutch is far from fluent, but I was able to give them directions. However, most people, if you speak your basic Dutch to them, will reply in English. If you are in the Flemish part of Belgium, English is preferred over French (I could tell you expat horror stories about Flemish speaking communes where the bureaucrats refused to speak French, even when it was obvious they knew it). One of the things that irritated me about the Burt Wolf travel show on Belgium is that he insisted on speaking French to everyone in Antwerp.
P.S. Watch a few episodes of The Sopranos, Sex in the City or Oz on Flemish TV...the subtitles will teach you some juicy expressions you'll never come across in ordinary Dutch classes!

The difference between Flemish and Duch is as big as the difference between American English and Oxford English.
Here in the Flemish part of Belgium most people will understand English and French too. I should not worry about that. In the French speaking part of the country that will be a little bit more difficult.

Hi breukelenman (sounds dutch),
I am a belgian woman living in the flemish part of Belgium.
Dutch is the official language in both Belgium and the Netherlands. Flemish is only a dialect and cannot be teached.
I mean, there are so many dialects in Belgium... I am living not that far from Bruges and even I don't understand the dialect from the other side of the country, Antwerp dialect is totally different from Bruges dialect. But in the whole of Flanders everyone understands Dutch, and in most of the tourist places, everybody even speaks English.
Brussels is half flemish/Dutch and half French.
the correct way to ask a person if they speak flemish is : "spreekt u Nederlands?" (Dutch) Nodbody ever asks if anybody speaks flemish as dutch is the only official language.
If you need more assistance , please ask, I'll be glad to help
Hilde

thanks much hilde for your response. i'm delighted to hear from you as you live in belgium. i plan to be in bruges, iepers, brussels in juli. please send email. i have a few questions about belgium. dank u wel.

thanks for the response nytraveler. why dutch? answer: because i like to communicate with people in their languages sometimes, and i just like languages generally. i speak a little german, so dutch has not been so hard. there's some similarity in these languages (premedieval movement of germanic peoples i guess).

Didn't mean to be critical - and I imagine picking up basic Dutch must be simple if you already know some German - after all - it's between German and English - in fact the closest language to English. Just meant that you might be overthinking this - especially for any time you spend in the French-speaking areas.

The similarities between Dutch and German are not quite as strong as some of you think. I've lived in Holland 4 years and for over 2 years in Germany, and studied both languages while working over there.

The main thing to remember in Holland is to pronounce it with perfection. You do not want it to sound like German, or worse yet throw in some German words. You will be tempted to do that when your Dutch vocabulary runs out in the middle of a sentence. The reason to avoid German is that many of the Dutch are still bitter about WWII. They surrendered in 5 days without a fight and then were brutally treated by the occupiers who starved many and shot those who raised a voice.

Learn the numbers well, <i>een, twee, drie,</i> etc. and don't mix them up with <i>eins, zwei, drei,</i> etc.

My question again, how are you teaching yourself? Learning Dutch isn't easy, even when you are living there.

Recently I posted on Fodors about the book <i>The UnDutchables</i> and misspelled the name which was a howler. I recommend that you spend an hour a day with this book before you go. It will be worth more than knowing the language. It will get you up on the culture. ISBN 1-888580-22-4.

Agree with Hopscotch. My German-speaking husband thought Dutch would be a piece of cake.
But in Brugge, he kept ordering &quot;rot wein&quot; instead of &quot;rode wijn&quot;. Which meant he was telling the waiters he wanted BAD wine, not RED wine. Seemingly similar words can have very different meanings in Dutch and German.

BreukelenMan; are you planning to visit Breukelen in The Netherlands? You must be, with that screen name! It's a lovely part of the country, along the Vecht river, where the rich used to have their country estates along the river. There's a castle with a moat in Breukelen, that is now a business school.

BTilke; that is funny. I once made a mistake with the word 'bellen' in German; it means calling (on the telephone) in Dutch, but in German it means to bark (as in dogs barking).

Hey Tulips, thanks for your comments about breukelen, netherlands. i thought about going there, but none of my dutch travel books even mentions that place. if you know of any websites, travel books, or other info on breukelen, please let me know. i call myself BreukelenMan because i live in brooklyn new york.

You could start at www.breukelen.nl. The area along the Vecht river is very charming. It's in between Amsterdam and Utrecht. The Loosdrechtse Plassen nearby are also nice in summer; a series of small lakes, with lots of restaurants and cafes.

And this website looks promising;
http://www.vvvgroepsarrangementen.nl/index.asp?lang=0