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Train conductor’s bilingual morning greeting raises hackles in Belgium (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The country’s language watchdog is investigating after a Dutch-speaking commuter protested a conductor’s use of “bonjour” – French for “good morning” – to welcome him onboard during a rush-hour train from Mechelen, in Flanders, to the capital, Brussels, in October.

Writing on Facebook, Ilyass Alba, the French-speaking conductor, said that on the day in question he greeted passengers entering his carriage with a resounding “goeiemorgen, bonjour”.

The use of both the Dutch and French greetings was not good enough for one Dutch-speaking passenger, who told him off, saying: “We’re not in Brussels yet, you have to use Dutch only!”

The passenger was technically right, as under Belgium’s complex language rules conductors should in theory use both languages only in Brussels and a few other bilingual regions.

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[–] 9point6 18 points 2 days ago

That seems ridiculous, if that's got legal backing the law should be changed. Multilingual announcements on public transport are commonplace across the world anywhere you can expect people to travel speaking several languages

I'm sure it would not be unusual for a french speaking person to use the train?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago

Taking the train in Belgium is ridiculous because of that. If you take the train from Liege to Brussels you have all the announcements in French only at the start, when it switches to Dutch only sound Leuven, finally you have it in both languages when you arrive around Brussels.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

In Belgium I knew there are quite a few French people that are very particular about using French there. I should have supposed there was the same type of person but in Dutch.

[–] WhiteOakBayou 2 points 2 days ago

I've had two Belgian French teachers in my life and they both said very demeaning things about the Dutch speakers casually when talking about their home towns. Small sample size but fits with the weirdness of this story.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

That sounds pretty racist.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago

French isn't a race, it's an ailment.