Language use in Brussels and the position of Dutch

Rudi Janssens

doi:10.4000/brussels.520

Abstract

The multilingual character of the population, the number of mixed-language families and the fact that more and more people in Brussels are using services of both traditional language communities is making it increasingly difficult to link a person to a specific language community in Brussels. The linguistic landscape is also becoming more complicated in itself. French definitely remains the lingua franca and the youths who are born in Brussels with an “allochtonous” background are increasingly shifting to the use of French in their new family units. At the same time, however, the number of bilingual families and the number of home languages is rising. The portion of people from Brussels from monolingual Dutch families is slightly dropping and ever more people from Brussels who speak Dutch by birth do this in combination with another language. Nevertheless, these people are increasingly speaking Dutch in public life. English clearly remains in third place in terms of language use and is mainly spoken in a work environment, even though an increasing number of people from Brussels claim they speak.this language better than Dutch. People who live in Brussels find this multilingual environment an important asset, even though political polarisation is always looming around the corner.

Highlights

Ten years ago the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Brussels of the VUB (Brussels University) launched the project “Language relations, language shifts and language identity in Brussels” (Janssens, 2001), referred to as “Language Barometer 1” (Taalbarometer 1)
Besides the economic potential generated by the international status of Brussels, the rich cultural life which manifests itself in the city, unseen in any other Belgian city, is for many a real pole of attraction to settle in Brussels Capital Region
The official languages are the only languages of education in Brussels Capital Region - this is without taking into account the international and European schools - and command of at least one of them is indispensable to get a degree and develop a professional life

Summary

Introduction

Ten years ago the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Brussels of the VUB (Brussels University) launched the project “Language relations, language shifts and language identity in Brussels” (Janssens, 2001), referred to as “Language Barometer 1” (Taalbarometer 1). Just like in the first study, about 2,500 people from Brussels aged between 18 and 70 were interviewed face-to-face about their language skills, language use and language attitudes (see Janssens, 2007a), on the basis of a representative sample, conducted by the NIS In this contribution we will provide an overview of the most significant findings and shifts within the Brussels linguistic landscape based on the results of both surveys. Besides the economic potential generated by the international status of Brussels, the rich cultural life which manifests itself in the city, unseen in any other Belgian city, is for many a real pole of attraction to settle in Brussels Capital Region This dynamism implies that shifts may occur within the linguistic landscape or that the relations between the language groups are not always as harmonious as you would think. The focus lies mainly, but not exclusively, on the Dutch language

German

Berber

12 Russian

Source

Findings

Conclusion