To Speak or Not to Speak

It took me a few minutes to think what title fits right to this entry.But anyway,it's about the language difference here in Belgium.You see,some Flemish regions are really extremist to the point that no other language is allowed to be used except their very own language.

If you're selling your house or distributing paper ads to mailboxes you will be obliged to use only Flemish(Netherlands/Dutch) which means you can only put "Te Koop" and no other language translations added like normally in Bruxelles you can put any other translations on your ads by writing both french and flemish as well as english.So you are allowed to put "A Vendre/Te Koop/For Sale".

It's hilarious for a small country like this to have regions that want isolation from the rest of the people.As you can see,Belgium is a part of the European Union. But in Belgium, the Belgians are still divided.Most Flemish Belgians consider themselves as Flemish,right before being Belgian,then European.In Wallonie,it's the opposite.They consider themselves European,then Belgian,then Wallon(Francophone).

Compared to the Philippines, we have more regions than Belgium and a lot of different language exist but we give more importance to the understanding and adaptation to these differences.When you arrive in the Philippines we don't obliged you to speak our local language nor our national language. We study and speak the language of the majority...that is English.So any Flemish can easily live and work in the Philippines...no need to study our Filipino language.

A lot of Flemish people understand and speak English and/or French but they'd prefer not to speak but their own language. They know how to adapt but they don't practice it with foreigners in their homeland.And any foreigner in Belgium is not welcome unless they learn the local language.