Belgian French is the variety of French spoken mainly in the French Community of Belgium, natively by roughly 40 percent of the Belgian population and concentrated in Wallonia and Brussels; it also underlies the French spoken in the former Belgian colonies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. It differs only modestly from the French of France or of Switzerland, retaining archaic terms no longer current in France and borrowing from regional languages such as Walloon, Picard and Belgian Dutch. Distinctive features include the numbers septante for seventy and nonante for ninety, vowel distinctions preserved that have been lost elsewhere, and grammatical patterns showing Dutch influence.
Facts
RegionBelgian French is spoken natively by around 40 percent of the population of Belgium, primarily in the regions of Wallonia and Brussels. 1 Speaker CommunityBelgian French forms the base of the French spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, all former Belgian colonies, extending its speaker community well beyond Belgium. 1 Distinguishing FeaturesBelgian French is marked by terms considered archaic in France and by loanwords from Walloon, Picard and Belgian Dutch. 1 Classification
Variety Kind Sources
1. Wikipedia: Belgian French
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, characterization sentence
It is characterized by the use of some terms that are considered archaic in France, as well as loanwords from languages such as Walloon, Picard, and Belgian Dutch.
Lead section, distribution sentence
It is spoken natively by around 40% of the population, primarily in the regions of Wallonia and Brussels.
Lead section, colonial-influence sentence
The French spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi is largely based on Belgian French, as all three countries are former colonies of Belgium.
Variety kind, Belgian French entity page
Belgian French is the variety of French spoken mainly in the French Community of Belgium, natively by roughly 40 percent of the Belgian population and concentrated in Wallonia and Brussels; it also underlies the French spoken in the former Belgian colonies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.
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