Belgium’s Language Border

 

Where Languages Clash: Belgium’s Language Border

Let’s have a little quiz, shall we? What language do they speak in England? English, you say? That’s right. And in France? Yes, French. That’s too easy. What about Indonesia then? Indonesian? Close, but not quite right. It’s Bahasa Indonesia. Now a really hard one: Belgium; what language do they speak in Belgium?

Many countries around the world house an array of different languages. Let’s take Indonesia, one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, as an example. In 2021, 711 languages were spoken in the country. Even in this diverse linguistic landscape, there is one official language: Bahasa Indonesia. 94% of the population knows it, while it’s the primary language of merely 20% of the populace. It functions as a lingua franca, a common language used to communicate across an area where many different languages are spoken.

There are few countries in the world without such a dominant language. Think of South Africa, Switzerland, Luxembourg or India. But you’ll rarely find a country with two equally dominant languages, which both enjoy official status on the national level.

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