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Flemish (Vlaams), VGT (Vlaamse Gebarentaal) Country. Flanders (Vlaanderen) Flemish people or Flemings (Dutch: Vlamingen [ˈvlaːmɪŋə (n)] ⓘ) are a Germanic ethnic group native to Flanders, Belgium, who speak Flemish Dutch. Flemish people make up the majority of Belgians, at about 60%.
Flemish (Vlaams [vlaːms] ⓘ) [2][3][4] is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (Vlaams-Nederlands), Belgian Dutch (Belgisch-Nederlands [ˈbɛlɣis ˈneːdərlɑnts] ⓘ), or Southern Dutch (Zuid-Nederlands). Flemish is native to the region known as Flanders in northern Belgium ...
The Dutch language used in Belgium can also be referred to as Flemish Dutch or Belgian Dutch (Dutch: Vlaams Nederlands, Belgisch Nederlands). Dutch is the mother tongue of about 60% of the population in Belgium, spoken by approximately 6.5 million out of a population of 11 million people. [1][2][3] It is the only official language in Flanders ...
Luxembourgers and Germans) Belgians (Dutch: Belgen [ˈbɛlɣə (n)] ⓘ; French: Belges [bɛlʒ] ⓘ; German: Belgier [ˈbɛlɡi̯ɐ] ⓘ) are people identified with the Kingdom of Belgium, a federal state in Western Europe. As Belgium is a multinational state, this connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural rather than ethnic.
Almost all of the inhabitants of the Capital region speak French as either their primary language (50%) or as a lingua franca (45%). [4] [5] Many Flemish people also speak French as a second language. Belgian French is in most respects identical to the French of France, but differs in some points of vocabulary, pronunciation, and semantics.
Covering the northern portion of the country, the Flemish Region is primarily Dutch -speaking. With an area of 13,626 km 2 (5,261 sq mi), it accounts for only 45% of Belgium's territory, but 58% of its population. It is one of the most densely populated regions of Europe with around 500/km 2 (1,300/sq mi).
Many Flemish people still speak dialects of Dutch in their local environment. Walloon, considered either as a dialect of French or a distinct Romance language, [172] [173] is now only understood and spoken occasionally, mostly by elderly people.
Due to its cultural importance, "Flemish" became in certain languages a pars pro toto for the Low Countries and the Dutch language. This was certainly the case in France, since the Flemish are the first Dutch speaking people for them to encounter. In French-Dutch dictionaries of the 16th century, "Dutch" is almost always translated as Flameng. [45]