What would I have done differently?

Last Friday I invited questions from readers, and AP asked what I would do differently regarding my time in Belgium if I had a chance to do it all again.

The answer is: not much. I’ve actually been very happy with the way my life here has unfolded and evolved. My only wish is that I had landed in a French-speaking commune.

I studied French for two years in university, and for six months before we moved to Belgium, I listened to French language tapes every day in the car while I was driving my kids to school. My hope was to refresh my French before arriving in Belgium, advancing it further once I got settled here, and use it as a tool to help me integrate in my new home.

Up until right before I moved, I mistakenly thought all of Belgium was bilingual and that either French or Dutch (Flemish) could be spoken anywhere in the country. I had no idea that each commune had its own official language and that speaking French in Flanders would be a cultural faux pas.

As it turned out, the school my children attend is in a Flemish commune. Initially we lived in an apartment in the center of Brussels and I was able to use my French, but because the children had a one hour bus ride to school and we needed more space for them to play, we moved to a house outside the city and close to their school—in a Flemish speaking commune.

I love our house, my neighborhood, and being only 10 minutes from the kids’ school, but I regret having lost the opportunity to improve my French and use it to gain access to the community.

Most of the Flemish-speaking Belgians in my area speak English and are happy to exercise their language skills with me, but my inability to speak or read my commune’s language meant I couldn’t read the local paper, signs, flyers, or menus, and I couldn’t speak with residents who did not know English.

Yes, I could have made an effort to learn Flemish, but it is not an easy language to learn. I didn’t want to invest all of my free time in mastering a third language that would do me little good in most of Europe and in the U.S. Not being able to work here, regardless of whether I knew Flemish or not, also entered into my decision. I figured by the time I knew enough Flemish to be able to have a conversation, it would be time to move back to America! However, if I knew we would be staying here for longer than three years, I would have either moved to a French-speaking commune or learned Flemish.

AP and Peter both asked if I planned to continue blogging once I return to the U.S. The answer is YES! I will have less time once I return to work, but I don’t plan on giving it up. The subject matter will shift and I may not be able to post as often as I do now, but I’m confident I’ll continue writing.

Prior to starting this blog, I had been keeping a journal for 33 years. Being a writer isn’t a hobby for me; it’s who I am.

August 12, 2007

Comments

[Ortizzle]

Well, that explains a lot about "getting into the language." It makes total sense to me that you would not want to spend valuable time becoming fluent in Flemish if you were not going to stay there on a more permanent basis. It's a shame you moved out of the French commune, but I can certainly understand being closer to your children's school. Which brings me to my question: is the children's school an international one with English as the primary language? Have the kids learned/had to learn Flemish?

[V-Grrrl]

My children attend an English-language school, but as one of their academic "specials," they take a weekly class on Belgian culture. Half the year they study Flanders (Flemish culture); half the year they study Wallonia (the French speaking culture). They study just a bit of the Flemish and French languages through this program, along with geography, traditions, holidays, art, history.

I looked into French lessons when they arrived but the cost was just too high.

[Nance]

Boy, I'd be tres disappointed too, if I wound up not being able to parlez Francais avec anyone after having my heart set on it!
:-)
I love to air out my Francais every now and again, and I pepper my blog with it, as you know. Maybe once you come back to the States, you'll find that you sneak a little Flemish in.

[AP in UK]

Thanks for the response. Happy to hear that you're pleased with the way things have turned out. And happy to hear that you'll keep blogging!

[Peter]

I'm glad you enjoyed 'the Belgian years' V ;-)

You know, I just returned from a weekend in Holland with members of my former diving school. They often use me as their translator as they don't speak one single word of Dutch.

Many of them only speak French and some words of what sounds like the Belgian variety of Pidgin English.

Most do live in the Dutch speaking area around Brussels or in the city (the Belgian capital officially is bilingual French/Dutch, but 95% are French-only speakers, or migrants who only picked up French)

But unlike yourself, they are permanent Belgian residents, who still use the argument
"I don’t want to invest any of my free time in mastering a second language that would do me little good in most of Europe"

Weird, isn't it?

While 6 out of 10 million Belgians speak Dutch, speaking Dutch in Belgium's capital (surrounded by Dutch speaking villages) is hardly a realistic option.

There even have been incident in Brussels where people died simple because the ER doctor did not speak a single word of Dutch.

Imagine visiting DC and continuously being addressed in a minority language like Spanish - well, that's what 6 million Dutch speaking Belgians experience when the visit their capital.

While I can handle 4 languages, visiting my own capital still feels like watching an episode from a show on the sci-fi channel.

Welcome to Belgium, one of Europe's linguistically most complex countries ;-)

[V-Grrrl]

You'll laugh, but being addressed only in Spanish or broken English IS a reality in parts of Washington and northern Virginia. ;) There are many areas now with more native Spanish speakers than English. I studied Spanish as a teenager and remember NOTHING.