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Bilingualism in Belgium A case study by Anna Benice Xavier, Avtarjit Kaur, Iylia Nur Attieka and Rhema Echo

Rajendram

The sociolinguistic map of Belgium is divided into three regions, Brussels, the capital, located in the center, the Flemish region to the north and the Walloon region to the south. Brussels is officially bilingual, whereby, both Dutch and French are widely articulated, inhabitants of the Flemish region speak only Dutch. Although the Walloon region is not officially bilingual, French and German is spoken in the south. The Flemings are the largest ethnic group in Belgium constituting of approximately 58 percent of the total population, followed by Walloon and mixed or other groups with 31 percent and 11 percent distribution respectively. With more than ten

individual languages and a variety of immigrant languages (please refer to Appendix 1 and 2), Belgium serves as an intriguing sample for linguistic analysis. Segregation of Languages in Belgium Several constitutional amendments granting the northern Flemings and southern Walloons formal recognition and autonomy have been made due to unresolved tensions between the different language communities. Colonialism has played a major part in the segregation of languages in contemporary Belgium. The timeline below summarises a period of Belgian history.
300 A.D. Atilla the Hun invaded Germany and pushed Germanic tribes into Nothern Belgium 100 years later, the Germanic tribes invaded and claimed Northern Belgium. As a result: Northern part of Belgium became Germanised Southern part of Belgium continued to be Roman and spoke derivates of Latin A significant instance of linguistic segregation

1st Century BC Belgium was forced to yield to Roman Legions Belgium remained a province of Rome for 300 years.

Other occupations: Occupied by Spain from 1519 to 1713 Invaded by Austria from 1713 to 1794

French Revolution Belgium was invaded by Napoleonic France in 1795

Battle of Waterloo Napoleon's army was defeated. Congress of Vienna seperated Belgium from France and made it a part of Netherlands in 1815

1830 Belgium won its indepdence from the Dutch

1914-1940 invidaded by Germany

1944 Liberated from German forces by British, American and Canadian armies.

Throughout battles and occupations, northern and southern Belgium have been subjected to significant linguistic separation. The Industrial Revolution in the 18 th and 19th century fuelled the division as the French-speaking Walloons experienced early industrial boom and were highly affluent and politically dominant. Contrastively, the Dutch-speaking Flanders, concentrated on agriculture and were outdone in all social and political aspects by Brussels and Wallonia. In recent years, Belgium has witnessed a giant shift of power from the Flemish to the Walloons, a result of massive economic development in the Flemish region and rapid decline in the Walloon region. The Flemish now constitute an absolute majority of the population.

Language Legislations in the Social Context The legislation of language policies in Belgium affect the administrative, juridicial, political and social aspect of Belgium. The language of administration and jurisdiction follows the language of the region. However, there have been cases where Dutch speakers were convicted in a French speaking court and vice versa (Fautre, 2011). In such cases, a number of options a number of options are available such as having interpreters or having the case moved to another court where the language of jurisdiction is the language spoken buy the convict. In politics, politicians are offered simultaneous interpretation in parliament. Furthermore, there is a clause in the Belgian constitution which states that the council of ministers must have a balanced number of French speaking ministers and Dutch speaking ministers. The same balance (50% French and 50% Dutchspeaking) also applies to the Court of Arbitration, the Council of State, the Court of Cassation, the Supreme Council of Justice, and other government organizations (Sattin & Franquet, 2000). Although the law intends to promote equality in politics and power, Fautre (2011) states that this had instead caused a major loop hole in Belgian politics as politicians are selected and voted by people of their linguistic region not by Belgian as a whole hence enhancing the language division in Belgium. In the case of government administration, it is important to note that using only one language in official communication is not permissible. According to Karra (2007), the law of 18 July 1966 states that federal administration must function in French in Wallonia, in Dutch in Flanders, and in French and Dutch in Brussels. Besides that, article 19 states that public administration must use the language of the person that is using their services (Karra, 2007). Official documents by the government is produced in all three official languages; Dutch, French and German

Bilingualism in Belgian Education Bilingualism in Belgium education has always been a controversial issue in the country. Belgium was initially known as a world centre for bilingual education after the signing of article 23 of the first Belgian Constitution, by which guaranteed linguistic freedom in education brought about the existence of dual-medium schools (Paulston, 1988, p. 71). However, it was speculated that the high rate of failure in Flemming schools was a result of the bilingual medium of instruction. This, in line with the increasing population of French-speaking Walloons and decrease in Dutchspeaking Flemmings led to the implementation of the 1932 Language Law which states that only Dutch will be used in Flanders and similarly French in Walloon. Brussels, on the other hand, was given a bilingual status in education and had a

choice between French or Dutch as the medium of instruction in schools (Paulston, 1988, p. 73). The 1932 Language Law has caused bilingual education to be removed in Belgium and consequently created a present situation in the country almost of a double bind, where bilingualism and bilingual education is highly demanded, but non-existent. Instead, there is teaching of a second language in the curriculum starting from the fifth grade, with a maximum of three hours a week (Craen et al., 1998, p.2). In the present, bilingual education is only allowed as educational experiments and teacher training in bilingual education is non-existent. Although universities were not included in the1932 language law they too reflect this design (Agirday, 2010, p. 309). A few projects have been conducted on the subject, such as the Foyer Project which involved the combination of bilingual instruction in Dutch with Turkish, Italian or Spanish. Although they have shown positive results, the situation remains the same (p. 308). Nevertheless, there might be a future for the return of bilingual education as more supporters of multilingual education are arising such as Pascal Smet, the new Flemish Education Minister who mentioned the possibility of bilingual education being introduced in Vlaanderen (Harrison, 2009, para 13). Multilingual Brussels Historically, Brussels is a predominantly Dutch region, as it is surrounded by the officially Dutch speaking Flanders (O Donell & Toebosch, 2008, para. 1). However, today, Brussels is the only region in Belgium that is officially bilingual, since 1962. On the other hand, Flanders and Wallonia operate under territorial monolingualism (O Donell & Toebosch, 2008, para. 2). However, bilingualism in Brussels does not refer to individual bilingualism, but rather to societal bilingualism (Baker, 2001), as cited by (Mettewie and Jenssens, 2007, p. 119). This is because although Brussels is officially bilingual, the establishment of territorial monolingualism in other regions of Belgium has lead to hostility towards each others language among the Flemish and Francophone citizens of Brussels. This is evident in findings from both O'Donnell (20002001) and Mettewie and Janssens (2007). According to King (2000), as cited by ODonell & Toebosch (2008, para. 3), Brussels residents identify themselves more closely with their language groups than with their families or their religions. As a result of this refusal to speak each others languages, Brussels citizens resort to English as a means of communication. Although English is neither the official nor the co-official language of Belgium, the widespread of English is clearly evident in policies of international and local institutions in Brussels. For example, NATO has English and French as its official languages.

Apart from the prominence of English, another core characteristic of Brussels is the absence of subnationality (O Donell & Toebosch, 2008, p. 119). In Brussels no official criteria exist to decide whether a particular citizen can be considered as a member of the Flemish or Francophone community (O Donell & Toebosch, 2008, p. 119). This is evident in situations where residents have a choice of choosing the language for documents such as driving license and passport, and the choice in one situation does not predetermine the other. (O Donell & Toebosch, 2008, p. 119). For example, one can choose to have the driving license in Dutch, and request for ones passport in French (O Donell & Toebosch, 2008, p. 119). In terms of education, bilingual education, where both languages are used as a medium of instruction, is forbidden by the law (Baster & Huguet, 2008, p. 123). Instead, the second language, either French or Dutch is taught as a separate subject in monolingual schools (Mettewie & Jenssens, 2007, p. 123). Hence, contextually, the term dual monolingualism may be more appropriate to describe the linguistic state of Brussels. Although both French and Dutch are the official languages, residents are generally observed to use only one of these languages, either in daily life situations or in education. However, it should also be noted that Brussels, being home to a multilingual and multicultural community, is witnessing a rapid spread of the English language. Thus, it can be concluded that linguistically, contemporary Brussels is gradually changing to accommodate the widespread of English, as old divisiveness and sensitivities still exist between the French and Dutch speaking communities.

Conclusion Belgium can therefore be seen as an example of how bilingualism in a country brings huge implications to the countrys political system, education and society. It has led to the formation of much legislation in the country, which has affected the country in many areas, causing the formation of linguistic territories and the change of educational system in the country. This has brought much change to the society in numerous ways, one of it being the spread of the English language as a means of communication. These effects of bilingualism in Belgium reinforce the power of language in a country and the extent of influence bilingualism can bring to every aspect of a country.

Bibliography

Agirdag, O. (2010, April). Exploring bilingualism in a monolingual school system: insights from Turkish and native students from Belgian schools [Online version]. British Journal of Sociology of Education. Craen, P.V., Vrije, Soetaert, R. (1998). Language teacher training and bilingual education in Belgium. Retrieved January 6, 2012 from userpage.fuberlin.de/elc/tnp1/SP6NatRepBE.doc Fautre, W. (2011, April 4) Belgium: the Political (mis)management of linguistic diversity. Human Rights without Frontier. Retrieved December 29, 2011 from http://hrwf.net/Joom/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=191:2 011&catid=36:linguistic-issues&Itemid=100082 Harrison, A. (2009, September 26). Living in Belgium: Bilingualism makes children smarter. Retrieved January 5, 2012, from http://livinginbelgium.blogspot.com/2009/09/bilingualism-makes-childrensmarter.html Karra, M. (2007, April 6) The Linguistic Conflict in Belgium. Retrieved January 5, 2012 from http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/1250/1/The Mettewie, L. & Janssens, R. (2007). In D.A. Baster & A. Huguet (Eds.). Multilingualism in European bilingual contexts: language use and attitudes. (pp. 117-143). Great Britain: Cromwell Press Ltd. ODonell, P. & Toebosch, A. (2008). Mulitilingualism in Brussels: Id rather speak English. Journal of Multicultural and Multilingual Development 29(3), 154169. Paulston, C. B. (1988). International handbook of bilingualism and bilingual education. Connecticut: Greenwood Press Incorporated. Sattin, A. & Franquet, S. (2000) Brussels & Bruges . New York: Citypack

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