Dutch in Belgium Belgium has come to be known as "Flemish". Flemish is also used to refer to one of the historical languages spoken in the former County of Flanders. Linguistically and formally, "Flemish" refers to the region, culture and people of (North) Belgium or Flanders. Flemish people speak (Belgian) Dutch in Flanders, the Flemish part of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual French-Dutch. This means that Dutch should be on an equal footing with French, which is often not the case at local Brussels level: in many municipal and regional services, hospitals, public transport, but also in shops and offices Dutch
Dutch in Belgium displaced by French as an everyday language. Belgian-Dutch is the variant of the Dutch language as used in Belgium, and differs from Standard Dutch by an accent and some typical word choices. The most spoken Dutch dialects in Belgium are West Flemish, East Flemish, Brabantian and Limburgish. Although the Brabant dialect of the Brussels working-class neighborhoods, in particular the Marolles, with their population has virtually disappeared, linguistic variants exist in a diminishing degree in which an influence of the Brabant can be discerned. The position of Dutch in Belgium has improved considerably over the past 50 years at the expense