Bilingual Belgium

Hate to see an empty Board so I'll introduce myself here! I live near London, England and visit France and Belgium regularly on day visits (car ferry or train sous La Manche). I've started the Rocket French course to improve from my current fairly pidgin schoolboy French (I suspect I probably sound to them like some of our own immigrants sound to us). I do find a fairly difficult accent in the Nord/Pas de Calais area where I usually go, and in the nearby Flemish part of Belgium they seem very averse to speaking French at all. My son speaks Dutch and can communicate well with them. My German friend can catch about 50% of it. I have visited Brussels, though, where French is generally spoken and found the Walloon Belgians spoke more slowly which made things easier when it came to understanding them. There is some lovely scenery in the Ardennes area of Belgium (which is French-speaking) and it's well worth a visit. Don't overlook Belgium for a visit to a French-speaking country but make sure you get the right area. If you go to the Flemish part (virtually all of the coast and most of the northern part) you'd be better off learning Dutch.
Bill

Hi, I have a lot of experience of Belgium because my wife was Flemish. I learned the language, and eventually worked 15 years in The Netherlands. A word of warning, the different language groups in Belgium don't get on together; and, if you come out with the wrong language in any part, they'll asume you're from the other side and be hostile. No problem if you take note of the language being used on the road signs. In Brussels, stick to English: it's the safest (even for the King), and most people there understand English because it's the European capital. English is EVERYBODY'S second language in Holland.

Wiffle the Wuff

Salut,
I would recommend doing a search on Google and perhaps see if you can find some review sites to read about what other people think of it.
I'm sure you will have plenty of options.

Good luck

Salut,

A couple of my favorite movies that you can check out are: Les bronzés font du ski and Nikita.

Bon chance!

Marie-Claire

Salut tout le monde,
Je pense que c'est nous aiderons de discuter en francais pour ameliorer notre francais, ca vous dites?