Flemish or Belgian Dutch, or Vlaams) is the Dutch language as spoken in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium, be it standard (as used in schools, government and the media)[4] or informal (as used in daily speech, “tussentaal (nl)” [ˈtʏsə(n)ˌtaːl]). There are four principal Dutch dialects in Flanders: Brabantian, East Flemish, West Flemish and Limburgish. The latter two are sometimes considered separate languages.
Linguistically, ‘Flemish’ is sometimes used as a term for the language of the former County of Flanders, especially West Flemish. However, as a result of political emancipation of the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, the combined culture of that region (which consists of West Flanders, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Antwerp, Limburg) and of Brussels has come to be known as ‘Flemish’ and so sometimes are the four dialects or the common intermediate language. Despite the name, Brabantian and in particular its local dialects of Antwerp and Mechelen is the dominant contributor to the Flemish tussentaal. Using it for the official language in Flanders is not entirely correct: the official language in Flanders is standard Dutch.
Flemish includes more French loanwords in its everyday vocabulary than does Netherlands Dutch, but there are exceptions: for example, the former Belgian gendarmerie was known as the Rijkswacht (“Guard of the Realm”) in Belgium while the equivalent body in the Netherlands is the Koninklijke Marechaussee (“Royal Military Constabulary”).
The traditionally most spoken Dutch dialect in Belgium, Brabantian, has had a large influence on the vocabulary used in Belgium. Examples include beenhouwer (Brabantian) and slager (Hollandic), both meaning butcher (slager is however used in Belgium to mean the kind of butcher who sells salami, sausages, etc.: cf. the difference between beenhouwerij (butcher’s shop) and slagerij (delicatessen)); also schoon (Brabantian) vs. mooi (Hollandic) “beautiful”: in standard Dutch, schoon means clean, whereas in Belgium it is often used for pretty or beautiful. Another notable difference is ge / gij (“you” in Brabantian and “thou / thee” in the Dutch Bible, originally translated by Belgian Protestants fleeing the Inquisition under Philip II of Spain) vs. je / jij (“you” singular in Hollandic), jullie (“you” plural in Hollandic). The changes (isoglosses) from northern to southern Dutch dialects are somewhat gradual, both vocabulary-wise and phonetically, and the boundaries within coincide with territorial borders. There is a distinct boundary located in the river area of the Netherlands, a historical border of the Roman empire, south of which “Brabants” is spoken, a Dutch dialect with some of the phonological traits commonly associated with Belgium. A second distinct border area is located around the border with the Belgian territories, where the transition is mostly lexical, but also with an intensification of the phonological diversion from northern Dutch. An exception to the border with the Belgian territories for this border is Zeelandic Flanders (“Zeeuws-Vlaanderen”), a part of the Netherlands where Flemish is spoken.
The differences between Dutch in the Netherlands and Flemish are significant enough for Flemish and Dutch television shows with rather informal speech occasionally to become subtitled for the other country in the standard language.
In 2009, one of the main publishers of Dutch dictionaries, Prisma, published the first Dutch dictionary that distinguished between the two natiolectic varieties “Nederlands Nederlands” (or “Netherlandish Dutch”) and “Belgisch Nederlands” (“Belgian Dutch”), treating both variations as equally correct. The selection of the “Flemish Dutch” words was based on the Referentiebestand Belgisch Nederlands (RBBN): an electronic database built under the supervision of Prof. Dr. W. Martin (Free University in Amsterdam, Netherlands) and Prof. Dr. W. Smedts (Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium).
Professor Willy Martin, one of the Flemish editors, claimed that the latter expressions are “just as correct” as the former. This formed a break with the previous lexicologists’ custom of indicating Dutch words that are mostly only used in Flanders, while not doing the same for Dutch words mostly only used in the Netherlands, which could give the impression that only usage in the Netherlands defines the standard language.
In the Dutch language, around 3,500 words exist which are considered “Flemish Dutch”, and 4,500 words which are considered “Netherlands Dutch”.
In November 2012 the Belgian radio channel Radio 1 wrote a text with many Flemish words and asked several Dutch speaking people to “translate” it into general Dutch. Almost no inhabitant of The Netherlands was able to make a correct translation, whereas almost all Flemings succeeded.
