what language does belgium speak?
157219
From a linguistic point of view, Belgium is one of the more complicated countries in Europe. The majority speaks Dutch (the northern district of Flanders and a small minority in Brussels), but then again it is a particular variant of it, Flemish. Let's say it is a phonetically softer and more poetic variant of the Dutch spoken in the Netherlands. The minority speaks French (the southern district of Wallonia and the central district of Brussels, which is mostly French-speaking). Throughout the centuries, the people of Wallonia have come to ignore their own language (Wallonian, having both Germanic and Roman features) to the benefit of French. Brussels has become more and more French-speaking over the years, partly due to foreigners who think that Belgium is the equivalent of Brussels, and that French is the only language speaken in Belgium. There is also a small German-speaking part (about 50,000 people), but they are actually part of the French-speaking area of Belgium, and they are somewhat "hidden" in politics (they feel quite comfortable being part of Belgium rather than Germany). The people in Flanders tend to be highly multilingual (Dutch/Flemish, French, English, German, Spanish, ...) whereas the Wallonian people, in general, don't seem to be able or daring to speak another language than French.
355012
Spanish,English,French and Dutch
667377
Arabic is the most common language, the official language of all North African countries (which are often considered part of the Middle East), along with Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the sheikdoms surrounding it.  Turkish is the official language of Turkey.  Farsi is the official language of Iran.  Hebrew and Arabic are co-official languages of Israel.\n\nIn addition, there are many minority languages.  Berber languages are spoken in parts of North Africa.  Coptic is the liturgical language of Egypt's Copts (a persecuted Christian minority).  French is spoken by large numbers of people in Algeria and Lebanon.  There are Spanish speakers in Morocco.  And Kurdish is spoken by Kurds in a number of countries (Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq).  Israel has significant numbers of English and Russian speakers.  Just to name a few.
560980
I found this site for you, and I've copied below a bit of the dialogue from it, which may give you a start.\n\nhttp://french.about.com/library/bl-whatisfrench.htm\n\nFrench is the official language of France and its overseas territories* as well as Bénin; Burkina Faso; Central African Republic; Congo (Democratic Republic of); Congo (Republic of); Côte d'Ivoire; Gabon; Guinea; Luxembourg; Mali; Monaco; Niger; Sénégal; Togo; the Canadian province of Québec; and the Swiss districts of Vaud, Neuchâtel, Genève, and Jura. \n    \n*French territories \n    Départements d'outre-mer (DOM) \n        French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion \n Territoires d'outre mer (TOM) \n  French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, French southern and Antarctic lands \n Collectivités territoriales \n  Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Mayotte \n\nFrench is a co-official language in Belgium, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti (the two official languages are French and French Creole), Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Switzerland, and Vanuatu.\n\nIn many countries, French plays an important role, either as an administrative, commercial, or international language or simply due to a significant French-speaking population: Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Dominica (French patois), Egypt, Greece, Grenada (French patois), Guinea-Bissau, India, Italy (Valle d'Aosta), Laos, Lebanon, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Poland, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, United Kingdom (Channel Islands), United States (Louisiana, New England), Vatican City, and Vietnam.
969168
German\nGerman is by far the most widely spoken language in Switzerland: 17 of the 26 cantons are monolingual in German.\n\n \nFrench\nFrench is spoken in the western part of the country, the "Suisse Romande." Four cantons are French-speaking: Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel and Vaud. Three cantons are bilingual: in Bern, Fribourg and Valais both French and German are spoken.\n\n \nItalian\nItalian is spoken in Ticino and 4 southern valleys of Canton Graubünden.\n\n \nRhaeto-Rumantsch (Rumantsch)\nRumantsch is spoken only in the trilingual canton of Graubünden. The other two languages spoken there are German and Italian. Rumantsch, like Italian and French, is a language with Latin roots. It is spoken by just 0.5% of the total Swiss population.\n\nThe many foreigners resident in Switzerland have brought with them their own languages, which taken as a whole now outnumber both Rumantsch and Italian. The 2000 census showed that speakers of Serbian/Croatian were the largest foreign language group, with 1.4% of the population. English was the main language for 1%.
593863
English and French.\n\nCanada's two official languages are English and French. On July 7, 1969, under the Official Languages Act, French was made commensurate to English throughout the federal government. This started a process that led to Canada redefining itself as a bilingual and multicultural nation. Of Canada's 32.2 million population, Anglophones and Francophone represent 56.3% and 28.7% of the population respectively. The rest of the population represent persons whose mother tongues are Chinese, Italian, German, and Aboriginal languages. The following article refers to language by mother tongue unless otherwise specified.
131762
These countries have French as a national language:\nBelgium\nBenin\nBurkina-Faso\nBurundi\nCameroon\nCanada\nCentral African Republic\nChad\nComoros\nDemocratic Republic of Congo\nDjibouti\nFrance\nGabon\nGuinea\nHaiti\nIvory Coast\nLuxembourg\nMadagascar\nMali\nMonaco\nNiger\nRepublic of Congo\nRwanda\nSenegal\nSeychelles\nSwitzerland\nTogo\nVanuatu
1069957
Belgian.\nLove their beer, love their chocolate, love their music and I wouldn't have to learn a new language either.
418037
Spanish-speakers in US.  (see following quotes from wikipedia).\n_____\n\nSpanish is the second most common language in the United States after English. As of 2005, it is spoken by 30 million native citizens of the United States aged 5 or over, i.e. 12% of the population. \n\nOf Canada's 32.2 million population, Anglophones and Francophone represent 56.3% and 28.7% of the population respectively.  [French-speakers=about 9.24 million]
125939
it is dutch in a sort of way, actually it is more or less phonetic flemish, saying "merci, pretty thank you, for your mail, if i have time i will send you a reply through the digital cable, zee anzwer gums vrom (email adress)
326291
Switzerland is a multilingual state with four national languages— German, French, Italian, and Rhaeto-Romansh. As of 2002,63.7% of the resident population spoke German as their principal language, predominantly in northern, central, and western Switzerland; 19.2% spoke French, mainly in the west and southwest; 7.6% Italian, primarily in the southern region closest to Italy; and 0.6% Rhaeto-Romansh, used widely only in the southeastern canton of Graubünden (Grisons). The remaining 8.9% spoke various other languages. There are numerous local dialects.
460700
The only Belgians that don't have to vote are the ones not living in Belgium and possible prisoners and people with serious mental health problems.  And the ones living abroad are allowed to vote even if they have never paid taxes because they spent all their working lives outside Belgium.\nAlso Belgium doesn't have a president.  It is a federal kingdom with a king as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of working government.
1006812
learn to speak dutch...
35117
English is AWESOME!:)\n\nBut I also like french....
198915
paix french\npeace italian\npaz spanish\nvrede dutch\nειρήνη greek (try to read it:P)
961751
In the north (= Flanders) they speak Dutch (58 % of the population of Belgium).\nIn the south Wallonie, they speak French\nIn Brussels, they speak mostly French and a minority Dutch (Flemish).  Officially Brussels is bi-language (French and Dutch) but in practise this is not true.\nNear the German border their is a minority that speak German.\nMost of the Belgians have a good knowledge of English.   The Flemish and Germans speak in general also French fluently.   The Walloons not always Dutch.
765373
What language is it in?