3 ms·

Your first point is incorrect: Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Monaco [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_languages/languages/french.shtml http:/

Your first point is incorrect: Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Monaco [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_languages/languages/french.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_languages/languages/...

akmarinov 5y ago
Switzerland and Monaco aren’t in the EU
tgv 5y ago
How could I forget Belgium. Damn!
madia_leva 5y ago
Parts of Belgium. Just ~35% of Belgiums are French speakers. Most speak Dutch. Same for Switzerland, most Swiss speak German.
- TX0098812 5y ago
  Flemish I think. Although it's pretty similar to Dutch.
  - Avalaxy 5y ago
    Flemish is not a language, it's a dialect. The language is Dutch.
    - TX0098812 5y ago
      That's an opinion, not a fact, and one that depends on who you ask and where. If you go to the Flanders region people will certainly tell you they speak Flemish. Language researchers can argue all they want about how languages should be grouped, but they sound different, they use different words, and people call them different things. It is simply incorrect to state that people in Belgium speak Dutch. Might as well just expand the group to include German and English (etc) and say they speak Germanic. Fun fact, the Dutch call their language Nederlands and refer to German as Duits ("Dutch").
      - Nyubis 5y ago
        The language is Dutch, the collection of dialects spoken in the Flanders region is Flemish. If you're feeling charitable, you can refer to it as a language variant. Here is the constitution of Belgium: https://www.senate.be/doc/const_nl.html https://www.senate.be/doc/const_nl.html Articles 2 and 3 define the Flemish (Vlaamse) community and region. Article 4 defines the language areas and specifically mentions Dutch (Nederlands), not Flemish. See also: the Dutch Language Union (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Language_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Language_Union) being founded on a treaty between the Netherlands and Belgium. For a language that's derived from Dutch but now its own proper language, try Afrikaans.
      - Avalaxy 5y ago
        > If you go to the Flanders region people will certainly tell you they speak Flemish. And they would be right. They do indeed speak the Flemish dialect. > That's an opinion, not a fact, and one that depends on who you ask and where I don't see how it is "an opinion" if Flemish literally adheres to "Standaardnederlands" (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standaardnederlands https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standaardnederlands). Your analogy to German doesn't make any sense here. The Dutch language doesn't adhere to some "Germanic" standard language or anything, and barely has any grammar rules in common with German (even though the languages are very similar).

akmarinov 5y ago

Switzerland and Monaco aren’t in the EU

tgv 5y ago

How could I forget Belgium. Damn!

madia_leva 5y ago

Parts of Belgium. Just ~35% of Belgiums are French speakers. Most speak Dutch. Same for Switzerland, most Swiss speak German.

TX0098812 5y ago
Flemish I think. Although it's pretty similar to Dutch.
- Avalaxy 5y ago
  Flemish is not a language, it's a dialect. The language is Dutch.
  - TX0098812 5y ago
    That's an opinion, not a fact, and one that depends on who you ask and where. If you go to the Flanders region people will certainly tell you they speak Flemish. Language researchers can argue all they want about how languages should be grouped, but they sound different, they use different words, and people call them different things. It is simply incorrect to state that people in Belgium speak Dutch. Might as well just expand the group to include German and English (etc) and say they speak Germanic. Fun fact, the Dutch call their language Nederlands and refer to German as Duits ("Dutch").
    - Nyubis 5y ago
      The language is Dutch, the collection of dialects spoken in the Flanders region is Flemish. If you're feeling charitable, you can refer to it as a language variant. Here is the constitution of Belgium: https://www.senate.be/doc/const_nl.html https://www.senate.be/doc/const_nl.html Articles 2 and 3 define the Flemish (Vlaamse) community and region. Article 4 defines the language areas and specifically mentions Dutch (Nederlands), not Flemish. See also: the Dutch Language Union (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Language_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Language_Union) being founded on a treaty between the Netherlands and Belgium. For a language that's derived from Dutch but now its own proper language, try Afrikaans.
    - Avalaxy 5y ago
      > If you go to the Flanders region people will certainly tell you they speak Flemish. And they would be right. They do indeed speak the Flemish dialect. > That's an opinion, not a fact, and one that depends on who you ask and where I don't see how it is "an opinion" if Flemish literally adheres to "Standaardnederlands" (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standaardnederlands https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standaardnederlands). Your analogy to German doesn't make any sense here. The Dutch language doesn't adhere to some "Germanic" standard language or anything, and barely has any grammar rules in common with German (even though the languages are very similar).