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 Bill, Wow, you have been traveling quite a lot, I am glad to see that you like to cross over the North Sea to visit the main land of Europe! As French we also have difficulty to understand the accent from Nord Pas de Calais as they have an regional dialect specially tricky to understand! If you have the chance to see the movie "Le Tchi" which is a french movie about a mail man from the South of France who has to go and to live in the region of Nord Pas de Calais. You would understand that even for us it is difficult to catch what they want to say! :D Enjoy your French learning, Let me know what you think about the movie, Regards, Nathalie

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

Does anyone know of a good French school in Brussels for groups...beginning/intermediate?

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 tout le monde, Does anybody have any suggestions for some french movies to watch, more with the southern, or Parisian accent please as I am just begining and don't want to confuse myself to much. merci beaucoup

Salut, A couple of my favorite movies that you can check out are: Les bronzés font du ski and Nikita. Bon chance! :) Marie-Claire

Merci beaucoup

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