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The various Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium contain a number of lexical and grammatical features that distinguish them from the standard Dutch. Standard Dutch words can have a completely different meaning in Flemish or imply different context, [15] comparable to the differences between the British and North American variants of English. As is ...
Flemish people also emigrated at the end of the fifteenth century, when Flemish traders conducted intensive trade with Spain and Portugal, and from there moved to colonies in America and Africa. [28] The newly discovered Azores were populated by 2,000 Flemish people from 1460 onwards, making these volcanic islands known as the "Flemish Islands".
The combined region, culture, and people of Dutch-speaking Belgium have come to be known as "Flemish". [9] Flemish is also used to refer to one of the historical languages spoken in the former County of Flanders. [10] Linguistically and formally, "Flemish" refers to the region, culture and people of (North) Belgium or Flanders.
Of the inhabitants of Belgium, roughly 59% belong to the Flemish Community, 40% to the French Community, and 1% to the German-speaking Community [citation needed]. These figures relating to official Belgian languages overlook substantial numbers of immigrants and their children, who may speak a foreign language as primary language, as well as ...
Flemish may refer to: Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium; Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium; Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium; Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialect cluster spoken in Flanders; Flemish people or Flemings, inhabitants of Flanders
However, like Belgium itself, the official capital of Flanders is the City of Brussels, [4] which lies within the Brussels-Capital Region, not the Flemish Region, and the majority of residents there are French speaking. The powers of the Flemish Government in Brussels are limited mainly to Flemish culture and education. [5]
In the 21st century, German dialects are dying out [nb 3] as Standard German gains primacy. [15] The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic, also known as Common Germanic, which was spoken in about the middle of the 1st millennium BC in Iron Age Scandinavia.
These countries (with the addition of South Tyrol of Italy) also form the Council for German Orthography and are referred to as the German Sprachraum (German language area). Since 2004, Meetings of German-speaking countries have been held annually with six participants: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland: [1]