(Damn, the description didn’t make it into the pin, I’ll write it here)
As a refugee from Ukraine to Belgium, I recently learned about a language called Walloon, which is located in Wallonia.
I was wondering if anyone knows about the Walloon language? If so, do you speak it? Why hasn’t it become the official language of Belgium? Does your family speak it? Is it taught at school? Have you encountered native speakers of this language? etc.
It will be interesting to read your answers on this topic.
AriciaVC on
It’s to French what Flemish is to Dutch. We learned it in school (French) but I also had English and German, not everyone learns German even though it’s technically a national language as well. I don’t actually know if they teach Dutch in Walloon.
Emperor_Quint on
All I know is that the elite in Belgium spoke French so the Walloons started slowly ditching walloon for french if I’m not mistaken. But if they’re is anyone from Wallonia feel free to correct me if I’m wrong
Fantastic_Teach7115 on
Walloon is very different from French. Sure there are many similar words but as a Native French speaker I do not understand Walloon. I can get bits and pieces from conversations based on context and words I recognize but I wouldn’t be able to fully understand even a simple talk.
It is not really taught at school, some schools have optional courses where you can get 2h a week of either Walloon, Latin, Greek or whatever but it doesn’t have exams so most people don’t really learn much.
It’s mostly a dead language in day to day talk. Most old people still can speak, or at least understand it, but younger people usually don’t.
It’s still used in folklore, like for the carnaval, there are traditional songs that are sung every year and there are cultural events and groups that try to keep it alive.
There are a few Walloon words that entered the French vocabulary but they are few and far between and sometimes even specific to a particular region
5 Comments
(Damn, the description didn’t make it into the pin, I’ll write it here)
As a refugee from Ukraine to Belgium, I recently learned about a language called Walloon, which is located in Wallonia.
I was wondering if anyone knows about the Walloon language? If so, do you speak it? Why hasn’t it become the official language of Belgium? Does your family speak it? Is it taught at school? Have you encountered native speakers of this language? etc.
It will be interesting to read your answers on this topic.
It’s to French what Flemish is to Dutch. We learned it in school (French) but I also had English and German, not everyone learns German even though it’s technically a national language as well. I don’t actually know if they teach Dutch in Walloon.
All I know is that the elite in Belgium spoke French so the Walloons started slowly ditching walloon for french if I’m not mistaken. But if they’re is anyone from Wallonia feel free to correct me if I’m wrong
Walloon is very different from French. Sure there are many similar words but as a Native French speaker I do not understand Walloon. I can get bits and pieces from conversations based on context and words I recognize but I wouldn’t be able to fully understand even a simple talk.
It is not really taught at school, some schools have optional courses where you can get 2h a week of either Walloon, Latin, Greek or whatever but it doesn’t have exams so most people don’t really learn much.
It’s mostly a dead language in day to day talk. Most old people still can speak, or at least understand it, but younger people usually don’t.
It’s still used in folklore, like for the carnaval, there are traditional songs that are sung every year and there are cultural events and groups that try to keep it alive.
There are a few Walloon words that entered the French vocabulary but they are few and far between and sometimes even specific to a particular region
Here is a recent video of different people speaking walloon: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ7dDtG9qB4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ7dDtG9qB4)