[lg policy] blog: What do you think of the language policy in Belgium?

[Harold Schiffman]

What do you think of the language policy in Belgium?

Do you think things should change? For instance, should the mayors of
Linkebeek, Kraainem and Wezembeek-Oppem be sent away, and Dutch
language be used more by the municipality? Or should these become part
of Brussels? And cities like Ronse, should the facilities be abolished
there? What do you think?



Additional Details

Ariane, the problem with "bilingualism" in Belgium is that the French
speakers won't be bilingual, even if we Flemish are. You can see what
happened in Brussels, the city is officially bilingual but even people
who work for the local authorities don't speak Dutch too well. And
people in Brussels don't want to help you in Dutch. Municipalities
that were given language facilities for the French speakers around
Brussels are being Frenchified too (sending folders only in French to
their inhabitants, even though the official language is supposed to be
Dutch while French has a special statute in the municipality).

What I'm trying to say is that bilingualism doesn't work. Generally,
French speakers don't adapt, so this measure will not have
bilingualism, but French monolingualism as a consequence. Making
Brabant bilingual is like turning back time. And we all know it didn't
work then, and it will most certainly not work then.

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110208111706AAveGGi

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