Language is one of the most powerful means of national identity and identification. Since Belgium is a very young state (they separated from the Netherlands only in 1830), this issue is very acute for the country. In general, there are three almost independent regions:
- Flanders (north): Flemish, official trials are in Dutch,
- Wallonia (south): German, official processes in French,
- Brussels-Capital Region (centre): French.
Complicated, isn't it? Therefore, we have collected for you 11 words that will help you understand the attitude of a Belgian (at least a French-speaking one).
Belgitude
- "Belgianness", national identity, belonging to Belgium sociological and aesthetic
Belgians love the country, but there is no sustainable patriotism here yet. The fault is the youth of the state, and the great disunity in regions and languages, the lack of national heroes or bright examples to follow. They even have a national motto - "Strength in unity", that is, this issue is at the state level.
All this causes a certain inferiority complex, so they came up with the term la belgitude, which is now actively applied even to everyday life: weather and climate, food, poor folklore, branded self-irony and equanimity. True, belgitude is often used with irony, almost sarcasm: they say, the concept itself is artificial, it tries to combine what is not combined and does not stand out.
Pluie
- Rain
Here everything is simple: in Brussels and the capital region, it rains literally every other day. The Belgians make fun of their climate – and invent a sea of words that display even the most subtle shades of the weather:
- brouillard (creeping fog),
- brume (fog),
- bruine (light drizzle),
- crachin (unpleasant drizzle),
- ondée (short unexpected rain),
- drache (unexpected torrential rain),
- averse (downpour),
- drache nationale (national downpour (usually on Independence Day on July 21),etc.
Like the Eskimos with snow! Moreover, the Belgians come up with a variety of "weather" expressions:
- Il fait triste (Weather sad),
- Il fait laid (It's ugly)
- Il fait cru (It's wet and cold outside),
- Il fait laid (It's ugly)
- Il fait pluvieux (Weather is rainy), etc.
Bière
- Beer.
Oh, it's the main Belgian drink and specialty, definitely! It is even sold in university canteens (and until the 1980s, you can imagine, beer could be bought even at school!). There are about 400 breweries and a bunch of varieties:
- Pils = light filtered, weak,
- Blanche = light unfiltered, also weak
- Ambrée = semi-dark amber, medium strength,
- Triple = light strong,
- Stout = very dark beer, often with a slight taste of cocoa or coffee, strong almost like wine,
- Lambic, beer of "spontaneous fermentation": its "daughters" are gueuze (beer from several varieties of lambic) and kriek (lambic with the addition of cherries and other fruits),
- Trappiste = Trappist beer brewed by Trappist monks. The most famous variety here is Orval: the sale is regulated and limited, orval is aged as wine, so if you are offered a glass, know: you were expected here, loved and respected.
Kermesse
- Temple (church) holiday and folk festivals on this occasion
Kermesse can be different in each city (sometimes arranged in honor of some historical event). In Wallonia, by the way, they often say ducasse or dicause. Temple festivals and costume processions can last a day, or they can last weeks or months.
Frites
- Fries
It is frites that the Belgians consider their national food, serve it with mussels, steak, grilled cheese from ground beef, etc. Real fans cook it not in oil, but in melted beef fat.
If you want to try the best french fries - look for fritkot: there you will fry a portion of potatoes and pack in a paper cone, you can eat right on the street. Everyone stands in line at fritkot, rich and poor, regardless of social status.
Kot
- Inexpensive and simple accommodation for students
Belgian universities usually do not provide students with dormitories, so students rent kot: usually it is a dedicated room in the house, something like a boarding house or condymium. There is a minimum of furniture, a sink, a common living room and kitchen, sometimes a laundry room. Like a large communal apartment, if we like it. Often students go to their parents on weekends to wash things, take clean things by Monday, take a supply of food and something homemade and tasty.
Patois
- Local dialect, dialect
As we have already mentioned, the language issue in Belgium is extremely diverse, there are a great many dialects here (mostly French). By accent, the locals can figure out where you came from (especially quickly "calculate" the Walloons), even the language of different large cities differs (for example, you can always hear a person who came from Liège - they powerfully stretch the vowels).
Dikkenek
- Pathetic, pretentious, arrogant, pompous man
For the most part, Belgians are quite simple people in communication, so they do not favor those who look at others contemptuously, from the top down (although where are they complained of?). Such people, in their opinion, are right everywhere, work as a plug in every barrel and everywhere they get into it with their opinion. Many Belgians will consider dikkenek a person who will strive to speak the Parisian dialect of French: they say, he tries to get rid of the accent, which means that he despises everything Belgian.
Frontière linguistique
- Language boundary
Again, to the sore language issue. The country is surrounded by different languages: Luxembourg with its state language, Germany with German, the Netherlands with Dutch, and the large region of Flanders covers the north of the country (where the Belgian version of Dutch is). Initially, the only state language here was French (alien to most of the inhabitants), then a natural border was drawn (in 1921) between the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking zone (Brussels remained bilingual), which was constantly moved back and forth. In 1963, the border seemed to be fixed, but in 1968 everything went wrong again: the Flemish nationalists under the slogan "Walloons out" (Walen buiten) literally expelled French-speaking students from the local University of Leuven.
In general, Flanders remained almost abroad. Students who study at universities in the rest of the country can even come here for an internship or under the Erasmus + program, as if in another state!
Pilarisation
- Division of society into groups according to the system of values and political views
Well, you've probably already figured out that in the political and social structure of Belgium, the devil's leg will break. All social formations are fundamentally divided into two large coalitions: liberal (free) and Catholic, and in the political world a socialist bloc is added to them. In addition, each institute also has two language "departments" – French-speaking and Flemish!
In general, according to these principles, absolutely everything is chosen here. In which hospital the child will be born and what school will he go to, what language will be spoken in your company, which camp or sanatorium to go to, which university to enter and what language will be spoken there, which trade union to join, which newspaper to read, in which company to issue insurance ... And it is not so easy to move from one group to another.
Coalition
- Coalition, a tightly wound down group
Due to their national characteristics, it is difficult for Belgians to agree on important issues. Therefore, endless coalitions are created (in political life in particular), and the formation of a government after the elections and the installation of new political axioms can last for many months.
