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Flemish, or Vlaams in Dutch, is the standard Dutch variant spoken in the Belgian region of Flanders by around 6.1 million speakers, sometimes also referred to as Southern Dutch. It includes several dialects, all of which (depending on who you ask) are interrelated with the southwestern dialects of Dutch.
Differences between Flemish and Dutch
Flemish, or Vlaams, is actually highly similar to the Dutch language used in the Netherlands. The official language in Belgium’s Flemish region is indeed Dutch, and along with German and French you then have the country’s three official languages. In essence, the Dutch languages are the same, and the only main differences are in pronunciation and frequency of some words. Because certain expressions (around 3-4,000) are more frequent in Belgian Dutch, many people refer to the language as Flemish, however, the words are really part of standard Dutch. There are no spelling differences between Dutch in Belgium and Dutch in the Netherlands.
Dutch pride
However, in actual practice, many Dutch nationals often question Dutch text content when they find it ‘suspicious’ or slightly off. This is probably a natural reaction and similar to what Germans things of Austrian and Swiss German: it simply sounds wrong.
Loan words in Dutch
In case of loan words, interestingly, Flemish speakers tend to apply Dutch pronunciation, whereas speakers in Netherlands maintain the original foreign pronunciation. Compared to Dutch, Flemish has also adopted many more loan words from French. The main difference between the languages is exposed in informal usage though. The pronunciation, slang expressions, and also common phrases can be very different, so different that Dutch television programs are sometimes even subtitled in Belgium and vice versa.
Alphabet
The Flemish alphabet is identical to the Dutch alphabet. The most frequently used letter is “e”. Also, notice the unique IJ character.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y IJ Z
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y ij z
