The truth about living in Belgium | An American's point of view
The truth about living in Belgium | An American's point of view
American reacts to life in Belgium.
A U.S. foreigner's view on living in Belgium (Belgian food, culture, lifestyle, language, first impressions, etc.) Living in Belgium vs living in the USA. Comment below things you love about life in Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi, Liège, Bruges, Namur, Leuven, Mons, Deurne, etc.)!
Some corrections:
*At 4:50/8:25: Belgium has 3 official languages: Dutch (unofficially called Flemish), French and German which are - each on its own - spoken in the different Communities. Brussels is part of the Flemish and French Community and is therefore bilingual. On country level French and Dutch are mutually used. Italian is spoken within the families of the Italian guest workers of the former coal mines.
*At 5:29: Belgium as a whole was part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815-1830). The reason why Dutch and French are spoken on the Belgian territory originates from just after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
*At 8:45: The language used for the street signs depends of the Community where you can find these. In Flanders (Flemish Community without Brussels) the street signs are solely in Dutch while in Brussels these are in French and Dutch. Learning French is obligatory in the Dutch-speaking schools, while a pupil in French-speaking Wallonia (French Community without Brussels) has to choose between learning English, Dutch or German. In Brussels learning Dutch and French are obligatory in all the schools.
Download the Lifey app to watch tons of travel vlogs about Belgium!
Camera used: amzn.to/2GMVIYE
Microphone used: amzn.to/36WzGNJ
(affiliate links)
His Dutch is better than most of our Prime ministers
Haha Zwaanst na ni eh 😂
Sorry but they dont speak italian in belgium
Nice review of my country! But we speak no Italian here loll, German is the third language after Dutch and French.
Belgium has 3 official languages..! Dutch,French,and..German!
We're nice until you remind us of our tax rates, don't mention the tax rates, it's like mentioning the war in Germany. Also don't call fries french fries, they're not french reee.
Belgian stoofvlees is not just gravy meat It is actualy a very slow cooked beaf stew made with dark beer, stock, spices, mustard etc
when this guy said "samurai sauce" I gained instant respect
Hey fast thing, documents in flanders always need to be in dutch, streets are in dutch also, we learn also french bcs its one of the 3 languages we speak
I’m from belgium and this was so interesting to watch.
it's pretty cool to hear you talking about Belgium. I had to laugh about "the bread vending machines". Since they are so normal to us, I didn't realise it is something typical for us. Next time, come visit Leuven! The history and architecture is impressive as well!
The movement he makes when saying “ale” is spot on
We don’t speak Italian we speak German, Dutch and French
clarification: Belgium has 3 official languages French, Dutch, German. The language of documents is decided by where they were made, so documents from Gent will be in Dutch and documents from Mons will be in french, documents from Brussels will be in Dutch and French. It's a complicated system. Fun fact to explain this: the announcements in a train that departs from brussel wil be bilingual, the announcers first language will decide which language he will start of with, the moment he leaves brussels and enters Flanders, the announcements will be in Dutch, if the train enters Edingen(city in belgium) the announcements will be in French and Dutch, French first no matter the announcers first language. :P
Sorry but if you say "french fries" in blegium, then we will be very offended. We are so sensitive about our fries.
Shoutout from Bruhhe! You're a lucky you didn't have to adapt to our dialect, we get subtitles on Flemish TV!
Regarding documents that are mostly in french, this isn't the reality, in Flanders the official documents are in flemish and in Wallonie they are issued in french, in Brussels you might have them in both languages. Happy you loved Belgium. Have a nice day
The main reason that flemish people know french is because school forces us too
As a Belgian I like this video a lot. It's super interesting to see what an American thinks of our small country. And also: you know so much about it and learned it in only 5 months. Astounding... Respect! (Apart from the French documents and Italian.)
As a Belgian living in the USA (growing up in Wingene), I really enjoyed this video! Also worthy of mentioning, is the privacy you have using restrooms, compared to the stalls with 5 inch gaps over here :D I'd kill for some frietjes (met samoerai natuurlijk), stoofvlees en een lekker biertje.
That accent you do when you talked Flemish will be more accurate if you end your sentences with "...en de rest is parking"
Hahaha! Leg da maar eens uit. Groetjes uit Genk 😂😉
I'm also an American living in Belgium - married to a Belgian - been here for 3.5 years now and his story is so true, genuine and authentic! LOVE IT
I’m from Belgium and I laughed so hard with some things you’ve said. It’s also very interesting to hear about our country from an American’s point of view. Oooh, and also, you nailed the “Zwanst na ni” completely 👌🏻☺️
I am an American living in Wallonia, the French speaking half of Belgium. I tell everyone who goes into Flanders they do not have waste time (if they don't want to) learning Flemish or Dutch, because people in Flanders and the Netherlands (Les Pays Bas) speak English as well as their native language. 100% of Flemish and Dutch people speak English and that is not a hyperbolic statement. On the otherhand, only some French speaking Belgian Wallonians can speak English, thus I'm an intermediate level French speaker. It's a relief when I head north into Flanders.. I can't read the street signs, but I never met a Flemish or Dutch person who was not a fluent English speaker.
The whole Flanders speaking French thing while Wallonia doesn't speak Dutch has historical reasons. As a flemish person I rarely have to use French and all our documents are in dutch.
In belgium, french fries are just called fries, cuz fries are actually from belgium but france stole em :(
Lots of respect to you man, dutch isn't an easy language to learn Thank you for putting the effort in to learn this language Greetings from Antwerp
I’ve never been compared to a Scot before lmao
Italians is mostly because of mining history, miners often where italian imigrants but not a main language. Just around 6.5kk flemish, 5kk french and 0.5kk german from WW2 regions
Don't forget the best festivals in the world: Rock Werchter, Tomorrowland, Pukkelpop, Rampage, ... !
As a Belgian living in Thailand, I'd love to buy some proper bread in a machine now
Currently living in Belgium for now 3 years and 4 yrs before when I was in my late 20s, its a fantastic beautiful culture rich in history, cuisine, and culture. I currently live in the Wallonie region, and really only meet Flemish if I'm out on my bike (huge in to cycling, all disciplines) or if I'm traveling up to Flanders. However, I'd say that there's a lot of Flemish that visit Durbuy, and of course any cycling even! If you didn't know, there are about 3,000 castles (kasteel/chateau) here in Belgium...many private, but many can be visited and with the different reins over the kingdom, very interesting stories! Belgium also produces over 3,000 different beers, and it's every-growing! A brasserie just opened up down the street from me introducing 3 local beers. In the north its pretty flat except the Flemish Ardennes and some critical climbs that make up the Tour de Flanders, but also have foothill mountains that make up the Ardennes in the south going into Luxembourg. In size, it's about 1/5th the size of Georgia, which seems small, and it is, but there is plenty of countryside. Population-wise its somewhere around the same population of Miami-Ft. Lauderdale where I moved from (11M'ish). To me, Flemish are a bit more laid back and always looking to make the situation lighter/happier. That isn't to say the Francophone Belgians aren't or don't, it's just a different way of showing it. Honestly, its a very underrated, overlooked country that is quite amazing and rich in experience! It's not perfect, but what place is?
Well done! For someone who was here for such a short time, he certainly nailed it!
As a Belgian i like this, so intresseting to hear how others think/see us 🤷🏻♀️ Tongeren is the oldest city from Belgium. I'm from Sint-truiden
I don't mean to nitpick, but as an "Antwerpenaar" I do feel this is important. The legal language in Flanders is "Nederlands", not French. Toen ge da zee dacht ek echt "Zwaanst na ni èh!" ;) Glad to hear you enjoyed Belgium!
Your imitation of the flemish accent is better than any dutch Guy that I’ve heard trying
From my Belgian point of view, this is quite interesting to see.
Next time, come to visit us in the south of the country ;) Wallonia has wonderful cities too, and landscapes are the most beautiful !
Dutch is actually 'more' important now then french in belgium. Around 80 years ago all the rich people spoke french. But that changed. There are also many more dutch speaking people than french speaking.
I love that you really tried to understand the culture and the language! You speak more dutch than some foreigners that live here for several years.
Lifey, the sountern part of belgium also used to be part of the netherlands. If you are interested in the history of it, you can look up the "Belgian revolution" on wikipedia. It is very interesting. Also, the documents and everything are in dutch in Flanders. French is not the gouverning language in the country. You can see the north and south of belgium as 2 entirely different countries with their own politics. There is also a german region in the east. Each region has its own Gouvernment. And those also have to work together. We have very complex politics here. It was very fun watching this video! Glad you liked our country.
Hahah we don’t speak Italian! The three official languages in Belgium are: Flemish, French and German! Our documents need to be written in Flemish aswell (not only in French!) and our street sign are in Flemish aswell! We learn French (and German) because its one of the official languages!
Lol, that was suuuch a strong Antwerp accent. I was raised there and I don't have half as strong of an accent xD
This is so good, I'm from the Netherlands and I'm in Belgium on a regular basis for my work and think this is quite accurate. Very cool to see an American speak Dutch as well as Flemish well!
I live in Hasselt (close to Genk). It's very interesting to see a foreigner's perspective on our little country. Quite a lot of the things you mentioned made me smile. :) I'm glad to hear you had such a great experience here! And I do have to say your Dutch/Flemish is actually rather good! From what I gather, it's a pretty difficult language to get the hang of. Good job!
French fries actually comes from “frenched, fried potatoes”. It’s actually exactly what it is, sliced, fried potatoes. It doesn’t have anything to do with France. It was very cool to see this! Always welcome here! Next time make sure to visit Leuven and Mechelen!
Haha! Zwaanst na ni he! It basically means like haha, don't joke around 😁
When you talked about the languages you need to be careful because it has some history. In Flanders all documents and street signs are in Dutch, in Brussels everything is in French and Dutch, and in Wallonia everything is French
Belgium is really underrated, I’ve lived there for a few years and I noticed how it’s such a great place . It’s also the home to fries and chocolate.
Zwaanst na ni eh joenge! Hehe, good stuff.
You can hear that he lived first in The Netherlands. That accent is not a Flemish accent, but just like he said, there are not a lot people who speak the official Flemish language which you can hear at the news. That's one of the most difficult parts of learning the languages of Belgium. Walloon French is not very different of French French, but Flemish Dutch is completely different of Dutch Dutch. Even a person of Brugges has problems with understand someone of Antwerp or Genk. And that in a very small country! ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Je hoort dat hij eerst in Nederland woonde. Het accent is geen Vlaams accent, maar zoals hij zei, er zijn niet veel mensen die de officiële Vlaamse taal spreken, die je in het nieuws kan horen. Dat is één van de moeilijkste delen om de talen van België te leren. Waals Frans is niet heel verschillend van Frans Frans, maar Vlaams Nederlands is helemaal anders dan Nederlands uit Nederland. Zelfs iemand uit Brugge heeft problemen om iemand van Antwerpen of Genk te verstaan. En dat in een heel klein landje! (official Flemish, everybody write and read this language, but there are not much people who can speak this text as it is written here.) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ge hoort datie eerst in Nederland woonde. ’t Accent is geen Vlaams accent, ma zoalstie zei zijn der ni veel mensen die de officiële Vlaamse taal spreken, die je in’t nieuws kan horen. Da is één van de moeilijkste delen om de Belgische talen te leren. Waals Frans is ni heel verschillend van Frans Frans, ma Vlaams Nederlands is helemaal anders dan Nederlands uit Nederland. Zelfs iemand uit Brugge heeft problemen om iemand van Antwerpen of Genk te verstaan. En da in een heel klein landje. (A language between official Flemish and dialect, must spoken in Flanders.) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ge wort datie em jirst in Nederland weunde. ‘t Accent is gjin Vloams accent, ma lik datie em zei zin der ni veel mens’n die d’officiële toale klapn. Woals Frans is ni vree verschilnd van Frans Frans, mo Vlaoms Nederlands is twuk heel anders dan Nederlands ut Nederland. Wok n twien van Bruhhe (In my region, they can’t pronounce the G, they say H) eet problemen vwo twien van Antwerp’n of Henk te verstoan. En da in n vree kljin landje. (My dialect, someone who lives more than 40 km away of me can’t understand this).
Aahhh I have been smiling from ear to ear throughout this entire video! It’s so nice to hear/see someone notice what you think is like the most normal stuff. Ge zijt altijd welkom terug in België 😉
I love hearing the perspective from a foreigner! One thing I should say is that Dutch uses the informal tense whereas Flemish uses the familiar tense, which is similar to the formal tense, but gets confused by the Dutch because it's so old they often don't know it exists. And as French used to be the only official language, and that has changed, but there's still the idea that French is higher class.
Hi 👋🏻 im from Belgium, and this is really nice to hear ❤️ thanks for this video
Aaaand we love you to. Your impressions of things in Belgium are spot on thank you.
U r welcome back any time,love!Thanks for such a sweet video about us😍🤗
Wow such a great video dude! I can tell you know a lot of in-depth stuff about Belgium which I think is really impressive.
Flemisch Antwerp Dialect: "Zwaenst nae niêt" ... "Don't talk nonsense" Humouristic way to say you think someone is saying nonsense
All official statemtens are in French & Dutch. We learn French because the ability to speak three languages is seen as a huge USP in industry.
Nice video. Glad to hear you had a good time here in Belgium and also glad you visited and appreciated the historical city of Ghent. Hope you can travel again in the near future after this whole pandemic crisis is over, stay safe and enjoy. Peace...👍
When you're coming back to Belgium, I want to meet you! I loved watching this video.
Nice to hear positive things in connection with Belgium. Thank you, really heart warming.
I'm from Ypres. I like how you talk about Belgium. It's nice that u learned a lot in Belgium and you're always welcome 👍
Me and my boyfriend met some missionaries, we kindly said we weren't interested and that we wish him more luck with the next person and he was so incredibly kind trying to talk in flemish but replied in English and was visibly thankful.
You know the guy respects Belgium when his Flamish is more legit than half of our parliament. Also never EVER call our fries 'french fries' because they ain't fookin' French :p
Great to hear you enjoyed the time in Belgium! 💪
haha great to see this "review" of Belgium. full of praise too, glad you had a good time.
Pretty funny that as a Belgian I didn't even really feel like being part of Belgium with that video 😂 He's right tho (when he's talking about things he actually really knows).But let's say it's like the half of the truth. If you're planning on going to Belgium , don't forget to give a chance to Wallonia... It's not just about Antwerp , Brugge and Brussels...
8:33 we do use Dutch in official documents, we have a government for that. As wel as 5 other governments.
WoW you learned dutch in 5 months. Respect man. A Belgian.
This is great! You got it figured out quite well. Glad to see you had the good experiences. Allé, salut he makker.
I’m actually from Belgium and I really think this is an amazing video! It was very interesting and I think your Dutch is very good too!
And some Italian TOP KEK Still, nice report tho xD "nie zwanzen he" is basically like no kidding, right? i'd love to meet some people learning dutch when this whole corona situation is over!
Zijn gesproken Nederlands is beter dan dat van de gemiddelde Nederlandse jongere, haha.
Your Dutch is pretty impressive. It is very difficult to talk Dutch without a very obvious foreign accent.
Thanks for the ode on Belgium, you pretty much nailed it. Some of this smaller cities are worth visiting too, Lier, Mechelen, Tienen, Veurne,... A nice guy like you is always welcome in Belgium!
watching you talk about our country was very wholesome, thanks! en merci vo de complimentjes, de noaste ki dak ne frietje goan stekken gok er eki an peinzen!
Stoofvlees op frietes = best drunk food EVER!! XD I had that same feeling you had from Antwerpen Centraal, except for me it was in Leuven. When I was first there, I stayed near the Groot Begijnhof and spent quite a bit of time walking around there. I thought it was so cool how old, but well kept that neighborhood is. And the Leuven town hall is amazing! I also found it fascinating how much the accents could change from town to town. Such a small distance to travel, but still have noticeable change in accent.
I loooooved watching this video ! I’m always curious about what other people think about our country, especially from outside Europe. Your Flemish is amazing as well !
Your understanding of our region and language is great. Glad you enjoyed Belgium.
it's nice to hear you had such good memories from belgium. i'm from west flanders!
As a Belgian living in the US, I fully endorse this message. It's amazing how spot-on his observations are! 😯
Aleeeeee :) Thats a very sweet video!! Always Welcome to come back ;)
hahahha .. zwanst nea ni. luved it! Nice to hear you had a good time here!
That ending made my day, your such u wholesome dude! I hope u will be back in belgium soon!! :))
As someone from Turnhout, it's pretty weird that you'd put Turnhout and Geel in the same list as Gent, Brugge and Antwerpen. Although we do have a folk song claiming we're better than Paris or Rome. (and if you're interested: "zwaanst na ni" is a very old phrase. The verb "zwanzen" is thought to stem from medieval "swantsen" which is closest in translation to "dancing" but has come to mean "to joke". "na" is simply a bastardisation / local pronunciation of "nu" meaning "now", and "ni" is, of course, what our knights used to say. It might also be an abbreviation of "niet". The real reason most people know French is because it's a world language, while Dutch really isn't. It's a mandatory class in most programs in high school for this reason. For the same reason, we all learn English. German, on the other hand, while being an official language of our country, most of the time has fewer hours and often is not mandatory at all. A lot of schools offer Spanish, Italian or other languages as optional choices. We're a pretty multilingual place, but the reasons behind that nowadays are much more closely tied to Belgium being the seat of the European Union. Belgium is a lovely melting pot of languages and cultures, with a very rich experience that forms from that. Don't let some far-right politicians fool you, we are very much one loving country and nowhere near as divided as we might appear to be on paper. In fact, a recent poll showed that only just about 14% were in favour of dividing our country along the language division line. What's more, only 8% of people who voted for the far-right extremists whose platform is built on Flemish nationalism and independence said that this was a reason for their vote. The vast majority of Belgians love Belgium, and who can blame them? We're a neat little bunch.
Congrats! You re analysis is mostly spot on! Please come back!
pretty good overall description, and amazing how good your dutch is, after only having been there for 5 months
I love the way you switch between Dutch and Flemish. And how you say 'zwaanstnani' 😅
Always welcome , please come back and enjoy even more like summer music festivals combined with the beer and food.
Very impressed by your knowledge and understanding about our country!
Very interesting. Funny to watch as a belgian. Glad you enjoyed your time over here!
As someone from Belgium myself. The part where you said zwanst na ni eh was amazing. It's also great you visited Turnhout that's where I'm from. Glad you liked Belgium
Also, Flemish people don't learn French because of the legal documents but because of trade with France. Legal documents in Flanders are in Dutch(Flemish), legal documents in La Wallonie are in French. But I loved that you love our great country!
Dude amazing video. Thank you so much. You are so kind about our country. It would had been nice to talk to you when you were in antwerp!
This was lovely to watch, thanks xx
Hi, I come from the French part of Belgium, in the east, near the German-speaking region. But I don’t think Flemish people learn French for administrative reasons. French, the diplomatic language of the 19th century, remained fairly dominant until the Second World War. Now, flanders dominates nearly everything in Belgium. Nowadays, French is still learned in Flanders because it is a language still widely used in the world. Much more than Flemish.
Nice summary. Since the man being interviewed is a linguist, here are a few kind corrections from a bona fide Pagadder (born within the city walls of Antwerp, with one parent having been born within the city's walls as well. When both parents and you yourself have been born within the city's walls, you're a Sinjoor): - it's not "Antwerps", but "Antwaarps", the "aa" is crucial (pronounced like the a in "aha") - the verb you were looking for is "zwanzen". The definition was spot on. A few examples "zwaanst na ni" (stop kiidding me), "stopt me zwaanze" (stop pulling my leg), ge zwaanst (you're pulling my leg) - Stoofvlees is a stew, traditionally made with brown beer - In Flanders French is not the "legal" language, the only official language is Dutch. The reason why most Flemish can speak and understand French is because it's a mandatory course in school. The only place in Flanders where French is the more prevalent language is Brussels, in spite of its bilingual status. If you like Belgian architecture be sure to put a visit to Gdansk in Poland on bucket list. It was build and decorated by Flemish artists who fled to Poland after the dutch sealed the port of Antwerp. If you ever come back to Belgium, don't miss out on the beautiful parts in the south: Dinant, Mons, Les Ardennes, ...
should have indicated "cheap" brown beer, also known as "table beer" (tafelbier), disgusting as a drink, but delicious in a dish
Your 'flemish' is awesomely good, dude! I'm very impressed! It really shows your love for languages. You nailed the essentials! Kudos!
Great video! Very interesting to know how foreigners experience Belgiium!