The West-Flemish language of Belgium | Bontje speaking West-Vlams | Wikitongues

Bontje speaks the Westhoek variety of the West-Flemish language of the West Flanders province in Belgium. It is related to Zeelandic and more distantly to standardized Dutch.
This video was recorded by Elliot in Veurne, Belgium. West-Flemish, known natively as West-Vlams and West-Vlaams, is spoken by as many as 1.4 million people, primarily in the West Flanders region of Belgium, as well as adjoining parts of the Netherlands and France. A Low Franconian Germanic language, West-Flemish is part of the broader Flemish dialect continuum, which encompasses the Dutch language varieties spoken in Belgium and the westernmost province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. Consequently, it is most closely related to the Zeelandic language and more distantly to standardized Dutch, Frisian, English, and Scots. Elliot's grandmother Bontje speaks a variety or "dialect" of West-Flemish from the coastal Westhoek region, which is sometimes also called Maritime Flanders. According to Elliot, it is one of the most distinct varieties of West-Flemish and often the most challenging for speakers of standardized Dutch to understand. Though Flemish is the most widely spoken mother tongue in Dutch Belgium, it is not politically recognized as such; instead, standardized Dutch is co-official alongside German and French.
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[@Mozzthecoolguy]

As a Thai speaker, I understand 0% of west-Flemish!

[@olenvailla]

@@jernygames8036 thats the joke...

[@your_antagonist]

Neither do the flemish speakers! According to my flemish Speaking friend

[@imwinningthisone7613]

@@your_antagonist im from De Kempen in Belgium and understanding a West Flemish person is incredibly difficult.

[@your_antagonist]

@@imwinningthisone7613 yeah my friend from Antwerp told me!

[@actua99]

As a Dutch speaker from the West of the Netherlands, I had to turn on the subtitles to understand what she was saying :S

[@ElliotCarver2]

This video is an ode to my grandmother Bontje who passed away two months ago. West-Flemish is one of the most vibrant dialects in Belgium, even young people (especially in the Westhoek) still speak it well. With that being said, it can always use some promotion! I actually made this video three years ago because I couldn't find a good example of 'pure' West-Flemish online (without too much influence of Standard Dutch). I knew I had to make this video for Wikitongues. Glad you're all enjoying the video so much! Let me know if you have any questions. Elliot

[@TheLittleZee]

May your grandma rest in peace friend ♥ I'm currently learning Flemish and I find it difficult to understand West Flemish hehe

[@conan4632]

As an indonesian, i know how to pronounce your grandmothers name, its like Bonce (e as in father)

[@TheLittleZee]

@@conan4632 It's not really

[@johnkelly6294]

So im trying to learn west flemish... Running into walls every which way i turn. Is there such a thing as a book? A straight up dictionary type translation book for english-west flemish and or vice versa? I am having no luck finding such a thing. Any help is appreciated thank you.

[@michaellejeune7715]

@@plantedbarnacle3353 I think the written form would already be a lot easier to read if we'd use æ, ø, å like in Danish and Norwegian (or ä, ö in Swedish) as we use the same sounds, and get rid of all the written oa, èè, ei, eu's.

[@albertconstantine5432]

West-Flemish dialects always leave me, as an English speaker, feeling like I ought to be understanding it and wondering if I've had a stroke that prevents it. Mme. Bontje is wonderfully expressive and convinces me of the truth of what she's saying, whatever it is!

[@JimmyTheTurtle892]

Mert Kocabaş It's perhaps not always that obvious, but West-Vlaams has a lot of influences from French. Historically, the county of Flanders (modern-day Calais, Ypres, Bruges... up to Ghent) was part of France. Even as part of Belgium, the Flemish language (or dialect of Dutch, whatever you choose) was for a really long time suppressed by the official French language of the south and the bourgeoisie.

[@ewoudalliet1734]

@@JimmyTheTurtle892 Yes, but this influence is mainly from later years (18-19th century onwards, mostly technological terms - Industrial Revolution).

[@cd180]

West-Flemish has a lot of words that are either English loan words or share an etymological background. For example, the west-flemish word for cobweb is "kobbenette".

[@farenmareeramos]

Same here…. I understand 0 but it’s the sounds I seem to feel familiar with. ❤

[@purple_purpur7379]

As a native Dutch speaker, I understood about 30%. It strangely sounds a bit like Danish to me.

[@michaellejeune7715]

No need for insults. ;)

[@readisgooddewaterkant7890]

@@michaellejeune7715 swede found

[@hirsch4155]

Almost a bit Frisian too? It weirdly closer to Frisian than to Holland dialects

[@ewoudalliet1734]

@@hirsch4155 Hollandic dialects are actually a mix of West-Flemish and Frisian, fun fact. This dialect continuum can actually be seen if one goes from the north of Holland (in some of the most extreme regions people will even speak Frisian) and to Zeeland (where it starts sounding more like West-Flemish and in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen people still speak West-Flemish). West-Flemish is in some cases recognized as a seperate language too.

[@ewoudalliet1734]

Only 30%... I though it was quite all right actually... especially her vocabulary.

[@danielmyers7748]

As a native English speaker and German teacher for many years, I'm surprised at how much I can understand from this interview!

[@esdet105]

I'm from Antwerp, Flanders, some 160 kms to the East, and at times I don't understand her. Go figure.

[@Wikitongues]

According to the video's author Elliot, Bontje's speech from Westhoek is among the most distinct varieties of Flemish and perhaps the hardest for speakers of other Dutch and Flemish varieties to understand :)

[@JimmyTheTurtle892]

Wikitongues That person would probably be right. My dad is originally from Poperinge, right between Ypres and the French border, and when he phones his mother, my mom and I can barely understand them sometimes. I am from the Kempen, by the way, about an hour driving from Antwerp.

[@SpottopsNL]

I grew up some 30 km north of you and I can also only understand 80/90%. Sounds a lot like NL Brabants though.

[@Constanze29]

I was born in Roeselare, so I understand her perfectly. Unfortunately I don't have many opportunities to speak my native language, my children were born in Gent and are annoyed when speak Westflemish because they can't understand me. So we use the inbetween language, also known as "verkavelingsvlaams".

[@csalvo3653]

K versta aar wel wi, moja kzien ook van Brugge eja

[@lowkeyswe2260]

The phonology sounds strikingly like Swedish and even some syntax

[@BL-zi9wb]

No

[@ceynro4315]

@@BL-zi9wb ja

[@mahakalabhairava9950]

Seriously, no. Rolls completely different.

[@dirk2518]

I tought the norwegian in north norway sounded like flemish

[@broodjeal-cohol5033]

One of the few so called dialects of Dutch which deserve to be called a language, I can understand maybe 1/4 of what she says while I'm a Dutch native speaker.

[@pablogovaerts6402]

The linguistic situation is yet so complicated in Belgium that the Belgian state won't recognize West-Flemish (West-Vlaams) as a separate language.

[@thomasv6545]

i understood 100% then again im a west flemming :p

[@Jefferson_starkid]

Antwerpenaar here! I understand about 60% I'd say, even though we technically speak the same language. So amazing that in our small country you can go 10 km away from your city and find a completely different dialect!

[@WossmoDragon]

Another Antwerpenaar! I understood roughly 35-48,% what she said. I had to read the subtitlrd to understand what was going on lol.

[@breerunaway8537]

As an Afrikaans speaker which is essentially a variant of Dutch spoken in Southern Africa, I can understand a bit of it 🤣

[@user-kk4lw4mr6i]

Ek verstaan amper vokkel, dis scary om te dink in n klein area soos Vlaanders daar al hierdie verslillende dialekte is maar kan bv. Een in oos vlaanders een in west vlaanders ampers nie eers verstaan.

[@pablogovaerts6402]

West-Flemish should be recognized as a language but the linguistic situation is yet so complicated in Belgium that the Belgian state won't recognize West-Flemish (West-Vlaams) as a separate language.

[@nostalgiakarlk.f.7386]

Really, European political linguistics as a whole needs a revamp. There are still so many languages that are considered "dialects" even though they're clearly significantly different from the standard language they're being grouped in with. Flemish (Traditional Flemish, not Tussentaal) suffers from these linguistic policies, as does Limburgish, and also the languages within the High German family, like Moselle Franconian, Ripuarian Franconian, Austro-Bavarian, Alemannic, etc.

[@ashleyclark1729]

A large part of my family is from Staden, West Flanders & I love to hear how my ancestors may have spoken!

[@ikbintom]

I'm from North-Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, and I can understand about 60%. It's not easy!

[@zennekelechien1610]

Remarkable. I'm fairly fluent in standard Dutch, and here, I'll understand several sentences in a row with little problem, and then it's all gibberish for a while, then it comes back. I get the gist of what she's saying, but in a noisier environment, we certainly couldn't hold a conversation. Nauwelijks 100km vanuit Brussel en deze taal is voor mee zo vreemd als bijv. Afrikaans...

[@jancovanderwesthuizen8070]

Nee wat Afrikaans is baie makliker as hierdie 😂 ek is afrikaans en verstaan skaars enigiets

[@zennekelechien1610]

@@jancovanderwesthuizen8070 Het moet veel makkelijker zijn te lezen dan te horen. Ik begrijp je zonder probleem (nooit naar ZA gegaan!), misschien zou het hetzelfde zijn met deze dialekt?

[@jancovanderwesthuizen8070]

Zenneke Le Chien dalk moet ons maar wag totdat iemand die transkripsie vrystel

[@obienator]

Ik versta 2 zinnen en dan ben ik de weg kwijt haha, ze lijkt wel een schat hoor.

[@Nienpet]

Ek verstaan slegs 10% van wat die tante sê. Julle kan gerus in Australië ook kom kuier. Daar’s ‘n hele klomp van ons mense wat lekker Afrikaans praat hier. Dalk sal ons ook oor 100 jaar so vreemd klink vir die mense wat in ZA gebly het 😆👍

[@zillionx]

Belgian flemish depending on the region is audibly very different from dutch. Not only has each region their own dialect where tones , accents and vocabulary changes over a distance of less than 20 miles. But belgian flemish tend to cut and add vowels and consonants to propositions and verbs.

[@pitbullpowersystems8704]

As an Afrikaner I can understand about 50%

[@MarieTilly]

I mostly speak standard flemish dutch, but i do understand all the accents. Especially this one cuz my gramps talks exactly like this 😁💜

[@memsom]

She sounds a bit like a northern British English speaker, maybe a bit Geordie or Yorkshire. But also like someone with a strong Scottish accent in places. It’s the weirdest thing. I feel like I should understand what she is saying.

[@citolero]

@m4tt3m50n Where are you from? As a native of Yorkshire, who lived in Scotland for 20 years, and who has had a lot of exposure to West-Vlaams in the last five years, I can honestly say that I don't, and never have, heard any such similarities.

[@memsom]

Andrew Casson nothing she is saying sounds like valid English, but the cadence and intonation of her voice sounds a little Geordie, a little bit like old school broad Yorkshire, and also like someone speaking in Scots. But it’s all mashed together, not like I can say that a a specific time stamp she sounds like X. It seems to move between accents in a single sentence. But all of the sounds fit with in my mental picture of what my native British English I grew up listening to sounds like. I get the same with Groenings, though that sounds more like North Eastern English. If you don’t hear it, fair enough.

[@anonb4632]

I hear a French language influence on this too.

[@citolero]

@@anonb4632 In what form? There's some French influence on Flemish (Belgian Dutch) in general, but I think it's really only in vocabulary and turn-of-phrase, such as the word "Allee" (< "allez") that the speaker says at the end here.

[@anonb4632]

@@citolero The sound. It sounds more French to my ear than Dutch in Holland proper. Perhaps the vowels.

[@annaweil5348]

German/English speaker and I understand 'platt' and maybe 'west,' 'normal,' 'sprekt,' 'naturlik,' 'wieder,' but that's about it. I have no idea how those words are spelled in Flemish 😅 anyway thanks for sharing, it's always fun to try and understand all these Germanic languages 😄👌

[@Malegys]

"Wieder" in (Westhoek) West Flemish means "us", There's also "Wulder" which means the same, but is used more in the Kortrijk region.Also, in Westhoek West Flemish, they pronounce the "shh" sound when using words like "Schoon, School, Schoen" etc, whilst 15 km east & North from the Westhoek, people start using "sk" for those same words 'Skoane, Skoale, Skoen"

[@stephandevos4246]

Ik ben een Zuid-Hollander, en praat puur Zuid-Hollands (zowel West-Hollands als zuidelijk Zuid-Hollands) en ik versta deze vrouw perfect/woord voor woord ;-) Lang leve ‘t West-Vlaams, dat deze prachtige taal nog lang mag blijven bestaan :-)

[@ikbintom]

Interessant dat de verstaanbaarheid zo per persoon varieert

[@brunoschraenvanpeperstraet9690]

Ik versta haar ook goed! In Frans Vlaanderen spreken wij ook West-Vlaams!

[@immortalituss]

lijkt me sterk, zeker een woord als olsan is onbestaande it t hollands

[@stephandevos4246]

@@immortalituss Enkel omdat een woord niet voorkomt in een andere (streek)taal, wil nog niet zeggen dat daarmee de verstaanbaarheid in gevaar komt. Daarnaast bestaat er tussen het West-Vlaams en Zuid-Hollands genoeg gemeenschappelijks om een woord als 'olsan' (altijd) te verklaren uit de context van een gesprek. Nogmaals: ik heb totaal geen problemen om West-Vlaams te verstaan.

[@immortalituss]

@@stephandevos4246 daar kan je flink de mist mee inlopen, net zoals valse vrienden met het duits. Pas op met raden, want zo hebben nederlanders met het woord poepen al flink veel problemen gekregen

[@Nitzpitz]

Valt mij mee dat ik het nog voor de helft kan volgen ongeveer.

[@mathewnotgivinmalastname7302]

Beautiful language 😍 and super cute grandma 💖

[@hannofranz7973]

What a lovely lady!

[@jimidave6281]

The way she speaks sounds like an extremely strong Scottish accent speaking Dutch.

[@BobWitlox]

As a native Dutch speaker from Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands I understand around 70% but I need to pay close attention. It goes from easy to understand Dutch to complete gibberish, back and forth.

[@abdoolsattarcassim6717]

I'm South African and this sounds like the Afrikaans the old oumas in my town speak. Very similar indeed

[@jancovanderwesthuizen8070]

Ek praat Afrikaans en verstaan lekker boggerol van hierdie 😂

[@abdoolsattarcassim6717]

Janco van der Westhuizen boetie, as jy by die ou plase in die vrystaat kom, sal jy dit goed verstaan 🤣

[@jancovanderwesthuizen8070]

Abdool sattar Cassim sjoe man ek wens :/

[@Herr_Flick_of_ze_Gestapo]

@@abdoolsattarcassim6717 net so. Afrikaans en Vlaams is baie meer naby aan mekaar as afrikaans en nederlands. Dis n linguistiese en geskiedkundige feit die. En jys reg....... as jy in Vrystaatse gehuggies kom wat net bestaan uit twee plase, n petrolstasie en n graansilo dan sal jy nes jy se hierdie type van taal kan hoor. Dis so lekker ongeartikuleer. Deesdae word tjinners mos oor die vingers gerasper as hulle nie mooi artikuleer en duidelik praat nie. Nie die nie .... dis n lekker lui maklike type van praat waar jy sommer lekker alles meng tot n sop van klanke.

[@celestinclauw]

As someone living in Ypres. I could understand it perfectly 😉

[@TheGabygael]

OMFG I understood 😮, I'm a Walloon from the region and it always frustrated me not to be able to speak the dialects close to where I live, now I can start to get the gist of what someone is saying in West Vlaams 🙌

[@impishDullahan]

West-Vlaams? Bedoelde gie Best-Vlams? Although in all seriousness, sounds like I'm home at my grandmother's and it's so cozy, even if not quite Tielts.

[@jancovanderwesthuizen8070]

I speak Afrikaans and standard Dutch and understood very little of this

[@mrswitbooi]

I've heard people say that Afrikaans is closer to Flemish than Dutch. I find it easier to understand Dutch once my ear is but only a few sentences from this dialogue.

[@jcawly1]

I am American who speaks German. I understood a great deal of this.

[@karliendeklerk4751]

Also Afrikaans-speaking. I can almost but not quite understand what she is saying, certain words I can understand the full meaning stays just out of reach.

[@docholl93]

Sounds like WE SHOULD understand but dont xD

[@Herr_Flick_of_ze_Gestapo]

Linguisties gesien het Afrikaans meer ooreenkomste met Vlaams en Nedersaksies as met standaard moderne Nederlands. Vlaams en Nedersaksies is ook aan mekaar verwant en baie naby aan mekaar aangesien die Sakse (asook die Friese) oorspronklik uit Frans-Vlaandere afkomstig is. Nederland was in die vroË middeleeue n volstrek onbewoonbare moeras en see gebied. Ek wat Nedersaksies as moedertaal het (en ook glad Afrikaans en selfs oorlams kan praat) het geen probleme om hierdie tannie se wes-vlaams te verstaan nie

[@nickvandenheede3989]

damn she sounds exactly like my grandma and aunts, wish i could speak this language as good as a native but i've lost a lot of it over time

[@danlyle531]

As an English speaker who knows German, listening to this, it's a similar accent and intonation as an English speaker from northern/eastern England and I'm hearing lots of words that I recognise, but I just can't get enough for the context, even though it feels like I should be able to understand

[@jcawly1]

I am American who speaks German. I understood quite a good amount. Surprised really, as I don’t understand much Nederland but this pronunciation is much more “familiar” sounding.

[@danlyle531]

@@jcawly1 I also thought it felt a lot more familiar than Dutch! And the knowledge of German really helps for the familiarity of Germanic words. Unfortunately though, I couldn't understand it enough to really get what she was talking about, but I feel like if I had enough exposure to the language, I'd find it quite easy to pick up

[@linguaphilly]

I have to say that in Dutch if you hear a word that is similar to a German word, there is about a 50% chance they will have the same meaning and a 100% chance they'll differ in use (like what register they belong to)

[@Herr_Flick_of_ze_Gestapo]

Northumbrian and scottish border dialect was historically spoken by saxon and frisian and mixed saxon/frisian ppl who lived in northumbria (Deira and Bernicia). Both the saxons and the frisians originated from french-flandres, they lived along the "littus saxonicum" (saxon coast/ chanel coast) on the spot where the chanel-tunnel is today. Hence the many similarities in words, melody, cadence. thats why it sounds so farmiliar to you.

[@teghem6723]

@@Herr_Flick_of_ze_Gestapo I can somehow confirm you statement. Having regularly meet a truck driver from Dunkirk who delivered kerosene to the Ostend airport, I was interested how slightly different his accent was from ours. Turn out that the more you go west, the more Frisian/Saxon the language is (was).

[@flemishrepublic2016]

Very nice to hear my own language!

[@geertclaeys6209]

😊😊😊 tès stief hoed wè ...

[@Mustafa1998]

I speak standard Flemish as L2, I understand most of it, but the exact context is hard to know due to the words used here. She's talking about newer generation speaking west Flemish or not.

[@shrmpnyoung]

as a german-speaker i understand about 10% 😂

[@maximeschmitt2094]

Sorry Dutch people but this specific Dutch sounds much softer and beautiful. ❤

[@ScarletEmber64]

West-Flemish life we are often subtitled

[@FreekVerkerk]

Met een beetje moeite kon ik, geboren in Amsterdam, toch nog veel begrijpen, eigenlijk het meeste. Leuk dat je dit hebt opgenomen, want ik denk dat deze dialecten nu snel verloren gaan.

[@lordhumungus4165]

My Grandmother (rest her soul) came from Lier Belgium and met my grandad toward the end of WW2 She always had a thick accent her whole life, as me & brother got older we asked her "Is that Dutch or French nan?" To which we were told about the Belgian separation of languages and the regional dialects But yes, flemish is a fusion of Dutch, French and a hint of germanic influences, a very difficult language to pick up

[@Laroling]

My grandmother lived in knokke de panne, I've always understood her (with a little difficulty) but could never pronounce it myself. She hardly understood my very dutch accent 😂. She was very hard of hearing and had a stubborn character, was a little racist towards my dutch dad so it wasn't helping the cause.

[@martinperon4576]

Without the title I think it would've taken me a while to guess the language!

[@hannofranz7973]

As a German who is learning Dutch I can understand a few things. I definitely recognize it as a Dutch dialect ( Flemish ) so I would imagine that a native speaker of Dutch would understand most of it with some difficulties in between.

[@DikWhite]

I grew up bilingual (English and Dutch) and l have absolutely no problem understanding standard Dutch but here l understood very little. Durch people living in the Netherlands probably understand this dialect better because they have more exposure to it. Just guessing here.

[@teghem6723]

Ja ma ja! Zie is en "aangespoelde". It is some times amazing that through the mosaic of germanic languages, accents far appart can sounds like the same. As an example the west flemish pronounciation of "restaurant", a word of french orgine: Restaurang

[@bifflowman2000]

The intonation and phonology are both quite close to modern English.

[@Wikitongues]

Have you seen our video of other Low Franconian languages? In particular, you may like our Zeelandic video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/naSQeaaVj8alpKc. It's the closest language to Flemish besides standardized Dutch and also has a cadence that is reminiscent of English :)

[@eb.3764]

@@Wikitongues hello a transcript was provided for Guangxi cantonese but weren't implemented

[@oliveranderson7264]

Interestingly, that part of Belgium (West Flanders) is very much influenced by English culture since it's located at the Belgian coast near Great Britain. Many sailors during the 19th and 20th century married English women who introduced many words to the West Flemish language. To this day, many Belgians from the coast have English last names and can claim some British ancestry.

[@Wikitongues]

@@eb.3764 Daniel here. I'm sorry about that! It looks like the Google Doc doesn't have share permissions with [e-mail]. I've just sent a request for that. Once you add us, I can add the transcript to the video description and comments. In the meantime, if you would like to add it as subtitles, you can do so here: amara.org/v/C2elW/.

[@eb.3764]

@@Wikitongues Hi I just resent the document hopefully you are able to see it now!

[@Datacorrupter234]

my great grandma spoke west flemish my mom always talked about her

[@brunoschraenvanpeperstraet9690]

Het West-Vlaams is ook ons dialect in Frans Vlaanderen.

[@victordewitte2094]

There are some theories that some sentences that we speak in West Flanders is similar to some dialects from northern countries

[@stevemount2441]

I have heard it said, that if the Saxons had beaten the Normans at Hastings in 1066, the English language would be similar to this now

[@thischannelhasnoname5780]

It would sound more like a cross between Frisian and Norwegian I suspect

[@octohex2908]

@@thischannelhasnoname5780 frisian more close to anglisch?

[@thischannelhasnoname5780]

@@octohex2908 Yes - by far the closest relative to English, even though heavily influenced by Dutch now

[@darkrai24100]

Its more likely that if the Normans were beaten back, English would've sounded similar as it does today just without all the Norman loanwords.

[@thischannelhasnoname5780]

@@darkrai24100 I suspect it would sound more Frisian/Scandinavian than it does in pronounciation also

[@adorno_gang37]

I'm from Flanders (close to Brussels) and can understand the majority of what she's saying but certainly not all of it. For those interested: She's talking about the prevalence/use of West Flemish as a dialect as opposed to standard Flemish. She says it's pretty strongly rooted as a spoken tongue and is probably here to stay, even though the trend towards speaking standard language is much stronger than in her youth ("That's how things are nowadays"). Then more towards the ending she's telling some anecdotes of people from elsewhere in West Flanders - even just 10km away from her town - using words she couldn't understand. It's interesting to me because, even though West Flemish is an extreme example, all of Flanders has a huge scope of dialects and dialect varieties. On the other side the reality is that they are disappearing more and more. My grandparents and father still speak in their local dialect from the Druivenstreek ("Grape Region", to the southeast of Brussels) but when speaking to me, they always use standard Flemish, even though I can 100% understand their dialect. I just never learned to speak it myself. This probably goes for a lot of young people who don't speak in full-fledged dialect anymore because they are simply not as firmly rooted in one specific village as they used to be decades ago.* IMO it's silly and regressive to be nostalgic about this past: I think it's a positive evolution that people are becoming gradually more mobile and free. Admittedly it would be sad if some dialects were to be erased as a side-effect, but that's just how living languages evolve, and it doesn't weigh against the improvement in life quality gained by becoming more mobile. * However, again, in West Flanders this evolution definitely hasn't gone as far as in my region.

[@stafverstegen2408]

I don't think I agree with the last point you make. I think we can preserve our dialects if we only keep teaching them to our children and using them. You may not be able to use it outside your village, but you can at least still speak it. And outside of the village/region, you can use standard Dutch as everyone knows that.

[@adorno_gang37]

​@@stafverstegen2408 to be clear, I'm really not against efforts to record and preserve dialects. I also think the dialectal differences are fascinating to notice and examine. My point however was: to some extent it's inevitable that languages evolve along with society, and this isn't a new phenomenon either. So while I surely don't want to accelerate the vanishing of dialects I don't want to keep deliberately grasping onto their preservation in the current form too much either.

[@jandron94]

So it means that in some decades the West Flemish dialect will be just spoken in the French part of Flanders (I mean around Dunkirk and Lille) ? And in the "Grape Region" did they speak the same dialect as in Brussels which is also inside Flemish Brabant, or is it that the Bruxellois are now speaking a different Flemish dialect ? All those nuances are surprising because that territory is so small !

[@flybeep1661]

Understand 100%, very easy....I'm from that region lol. Oostende to be precise but I no longer live there already for 2 decades (live near Leuven). I only speak this dialect with my brother who lives near me. But I love hearing my dialect spoken as I don't get to hear it that often. Also, she speaking rather civilized easy form of West Flemish, this isn't "plat" West-Flemish like we would say. This is essentially the dialect on easy mode like a general west-flemish dialect applicable to most of the West-Flanders region as opposed to a specific local West-Flemish dialect. Also, it's pretty easy for most West-Flemish speakers to distinguish from the way the dialect is spoken to hear if they're from the coastal region or more land inward. I could hear whether someone is from Brugge or Roeselare or from Oostende. The distance between these cities is only about 25km.

[@martinfrostnas6610]

JFC, if that's "easy mode" then what's "hardcore mode" in the Westhoek like? :D Als iemand die vloiend standaard-NL spreekt (als 4e/5e taal) kon ik maar uiterst weinig begrijpen van wat deze dame zegt.

[@onlinemusiclessonsadamphil4677]

In Scots we’d say ‘Lang Stracht’ long street, ‘ken’ know. ‘Trachel’ hard. ‘Dochter’ daughter. ‘Thrang’ tenacious. ‘Fan’ when. In Aberdeen we use a dialect called Doric and it’s a mix of Scandinavian and Dutch words added in. I guess it’s like a very exaggerated Geordie

[@bruvyo8180]

Woah!! That’s pretty cool!

[@Malegys]

The Flemish word for "throwing" is "gooien" (pronounced Hoy-un) & i know that Geordies (Newcastle) use "Hoy-un" as a verb to "throw something.

[@3762302]

I wonder if this was the dialect of old Dutch from when Jan van Riebeeck in the year 1650s

[@YangSing1]

I’m English and this sounds Scandinavian

[@gioq4702]

I'm Italian and I had the same feeling... like Danish

[@michaellejeune7715]

North Sea connection perhaps. There was a lot of trade historically in the early middle ages between the region and Scandinavia (the name for the city of Brugge - or Bruges as you may know it - is said to be derived from Norse Bryggja for instance.) Other than that, our dialect hasn't been influenced that much by German or other Dutch dialects when West Flanders became something like a Lord of the Rings Shire in modern times: sleepy, forgotten by time and not worthy of interference - besides the obliteration in WWI.

[@TheMichaelK]

@@michaellejeune7715 I realiy like how West Flamish sounds. I‘m a Low Saxon (Low German) speaker myself (there is also a connection to the Low countries), and (Hollandic) Dutch is always a bit unpleasant to my ears, but this sounds just wonderful 🥰 However, I seem to understand less of it than from Standard Dutch, but I‘m also totally not used to listen to it.

[@bruvyo8180]

@@gioq4702 like the Scandinavians joke about the Danes that they sound as if they speak with a potato in their mouth, we Flemish (not from West-Flanders) joke about it too and say the West-Flemings speak as if they have a potato in their mouth lol. All jokes aside we love our West-Flemish and our West-Flemings very much, amazing dialect ❤️

[@Malegys]

@@michaellejeune7715 Don't forget the Fishing culture too. Many North Sea fishing communities had a much longer & more intense knowledge of each other, that goes back much further than the Middle ages.

[@cambs0181]

I find it hard to explain this but will try. As an English speaker I can't understand it fully but there are bits which I get and seems pretty close to English.

[@Thibb_]

I am from East-Flanders here. Proud to announce I can understand every bit of this plus talk this way as well :^) Having had a youth mixed with West and East Flemish I can assure you that the Flemish dialect is a vibrant and interesting language. I am sad to see that most children here don't get in touch with our dialects anymore. Hence why experts state that Flemish is on it's way to exctinction.

[@larfons2075]

What along the lines is she saying?

[@Thibb_]

@@larfons2075 It's an interview asking the woman about her language. The video is split in a few segments about her current life, how she experienced the language back when she was a kid and what she thinks of the current evolution of "Vlaams" and her opinion on the generalisation of the Flemish dialects. If you want I can translate certain segments for you. As in, translate the words and explain them.

[@larfons2075]

@@Thibb_ thank you, that’s all really interesting, you only have to translate as much as you want to.

[@Thibb_]

@@larfons2075 No problem! As we say here in Flanders "tis mi ne genoehe".

[@martinfrostnas6610]

Is Flemish entirely going extinct? I thought tussentaal was the norm.

[@tdipower24]

Spreekn (talking) is usually “klapn” in west-Flemish. Although some use the more Dutch word for it now. West-Flemish is slowly fading away over the years.

[@Herr_Flick_of_ze_Gestapo]

In lower saxon the word is "klepn" with the swallowed end-"n". Not strange since historically the saxons lived on the Chanel coast near the area of Boulogne in french-flandres, neighbouring the Frisians who lived around the Duinkerke area before they all were forced to migrate north and ended up in modern day Friesland, Drenthe, Groningen and the saxon areas on the other side of the current german border after the 3rd Dunkirke transgression. Lower-saxon is my native language and i dont have much difficulty understanding this west-flemish lady.

[@stafverstegen2408]

@@Herr_Flick_of_ze_Gestapo Interesting.

[@saladspinner3200]

We say 'klappe' as Well in Brabant.

[@imwinningthisone7613]

Im from Belgium (De Kempen) and I have a lot of trouble understanding West Flemish

[@billbirkett7166]

It's the equivalent of Swiss German to standard German...a very close language to Dutch, but not quite the same thing. But after you pound a square peg into a round hole after several centuries, the square peg starts to fit a little better.

[@DikWhite]

I speak standard Dutch and understand standard German fairly well, but Swiss German is virtually impossible for me to understand. I understood about 30% of what this lady said.

[@robinceuleers5595]

Ik kom zelf uit Nederland. In Nederland hebben we verschillende dialecten zoals: Drents,Fries, Gronings, Achterhoeks, Noord Limburgs noem maar op. Ik heb nooit geweten dat België ook hun eigen dialect hebben!!!

[@bigeteum]

I lived on Leuven when I was a kid ( 2-6 years) , I use to speak Flemish, no days I can remember only "cry baby" because of a funny mocking kids song hahahah. I remember all my conversations on Portuguese( my native language)

[@sensur1]

As a Norwegian it sounds like she's talking Norwegian but makes no sense at all

[@mosheshaul7025]

As a fluent Danish speaker who lived in Norway for a year, I agree

[@Malegys]

There's quite a few "phonetic" sentences in West Flemish that sound exactly the same in Norwegian. For example, the sentence "Now you look better" in West Flemish would be (phonetically) 'Nu ziejjer der beter üt" which i know for a fact sounds almost identical in Nynorsk :)

[@teghem6723]

It is some times amazing that through the mosaic of germanic languages, accents far appart can sounds like the same. As an example the west flemish pronounciation of "restaurant", a word of french orgine: Restaurang

[@yentl]

As a native Dutch speaker I can only understand about 20/30% without Dutch subs. Maybe 40% for some parts/if I really focus.

[@Joysings86]

As a South African I understood her, sounds a lot like Dutch and Afrikaans

[@ElliKim73]

As a German native who knows no other Germanic language than English and German of course, I was going to comment that I understood not one word until one sentence I completely understood and then it went back to gibberish again 😳 just some words are similar I guess 😅

[@iberius9937]

Anyone find an uncanny resemblance to archaic Scottish English accents in inflection and vowels? This was probably what Old English sounded like, at some point, at least in some Northern dialects.

[@louisseyns5458]

Ik vind het nog steeds raar dat zoveel mensen van andere provincies dit niet verstaan haha. Klinken wij zo anders? Soms heb ik het gevoel dat de niet-west-vlamingen het gewoon niet willen snappen en begrijpen. Btw deze prachtige dame spreekt dan ook nog eens een vrij milde vorm van West-Vlaams als je vergelijkt met de zuidelijke delen van West-Vlaanderen.

[@saladspinner3200]

Het omgekeerde geldt ook vermoed ik. Zeker als je de Oost-Brabantse en Limburgse dialecten in beschouwing neemt. Het is geen kwestie van niet willen, het is gewoon té ver verwijderd van het bestaande referentiekader.

[@teghem6723]

Verstoa gie Limburgs of wil gie het verre nie.

[@martinfrostnas6610]

Ik spreek standaard-NL (als 4e/5e taal) en tenminste voor mij is het inderdaad überhaupt niet te begrijpen. Nieuwsgierig: in welk deel van "Zuidwest"-Vlaanderen wordt het meeste "hardcore" West-Vlaams gesproken van het grootste deel van de bevolking? Kortrijk? Menen? Ieper?

[@kwaaikat100]

As an Afrikaans speaker, I find it quite difficult to understand. And I can understand standard Dutch perfectly well. As ‘n Suid-Afrikaans sprekende vind ek dit redelik moeilik om te verstaan. En ek kan AB Nederlands heel goed verstaan. Dit is wel ‘n mooi taal, dit klink ‘n bietjie soos ‘n skandinawiese taal soos Sweeds, Noors of Deens.

[@chrislaws4785]

I of course can't understand her, but I do speak some German and can hear some resemblance to Dutch(German) and it even sounds similar to both modern Icelandic and Old Norse. It has always amazed me as to how so many modern languages like Icelandic, Zeelandic, Dutch and German have managed to retain so much of the influences of the original Old Norse or Old North Germanic languages. So much of the modern languages still sound like the original more than any other language I've heard. I mean modern English sounds NOTHING like Old English, old English would sound like little more then gibberish to modern English speakers as their is just about NO part of old English remains in modern English.

[@_Nibloke_]

As somebody that lives near Ostend and my parents can from the West-Hoek. I really don't understand why somebody form Flanders, or even Netherland, doesn't understand her a100%. In my ears she speaks perfect Dutch with a light accent.

[@saladspinner3200]

Zonder ondertiteling had ik er ongeveer 30% van begrepen.

[@yentlwouters7929]

As somebody from kortrijk i understand it completely

[@ymmv99]

Je hebt tijd nodig om als Nederlander een dialect als West-Vlaams te leren verstaan. Als je je hele leven met dat dialect bent opgegroeid is het moeilijk om te begrijpen waarom anderen er niets van verstaan. Het is gewoon Nederlands maar dan net iets anders. Met ondertiteling vallen de verschillen met Algemeen Nederlands voor mij best mee, maar zonder die hulp mis je opeens te veel woorden en zijn er hele stukken die je mist. Puur kwestie van gewenning. Maar die doe je dus enkel ter plekke op als je daar een tijdje woont.

[@DikWhite]

​@@ymmv99dat heb je heel goed gezegd, en je hebt groot gelijk

[@tariqkhader6196]

As a native Twi speaker who's fluent in Udmurt, I can understand 1.12548% of this.

[@mensenvandekempen1019]

Haha😂 how does YT know we are in Ostend ( coast) for a small holiday?

[@maliekjcksn]

Is it easier for Dutch speakers from The Netherlands and Suriname to understand Afrikaans than Flemish?

[@DikWhite]

As a standard Dutch speaker l can tell you that l understand Afrikaans better than many of the Flemish dialects.

[@pwkh763]

Ik heb erger gehoord aan de telefoon

[@melainemeyer8899]

As an Afrikaans speaker this sounds closer to my language than Dutch wooooww

[@PendelSteven]

I am Zeelandic Flanders and while talk Standard Dutch, I need to be able to understand elderly living here. As such what she said is 90 % understandable to me. Mostly some words from Oostended which makes no sense to me. And some pronounciations which differ, but some of those i've come to known from songs from Flip Kowlier for example. But yeah. As you can see, some Dutch can understand West-Flanders. Mind you, I can understand Frisian maybe 90 % - or perhaps 80 %, let's be honest, as well, so it's also me, I guess :)

[@PendelSteven]

But to be fair, Omrop Fryslân has been on Dutch televsion ever since I know it is on the television. So if you watch that growing up, you learn Frisian. At least I do.

[@m.4523]

She still speaks the very "formal" west vlaams. I know some people from the country side of around Dendermonde well even when they thought they were speaking clearly it was veeeeeeeeeery hard to understand.

[@ElliotCarver2]

Dendermonde is in East-Flanders.

[@luizguilhermemoreirasales1548]

HELLO I FROM BRASIL WHATS YOUR NAME ?

[@Malegys]

You hitting on the old lady in the video?

[@r.s.fletcher7066]

My German Dutch brain was like wait what?!

[@theophonchana5025]

West Flemish, West Flemish Dutch

[@niekvanderstel5160]

As someone from the Netherlands I had no fucking idea What she said

[@Rosie_The_Border_Collie]

kzoudn geirn ke ne video willen zien in t proper westvlams

[@flybeep1661]

Joat, dadde es iere eh betje proper west vlams in plekke von echt plot west vlams.

[@bruvyo8180]

like the Scandinavians joke about the Danes that they sound as if they speak with a potato in their mouth, we Flemish (not from West-Flanders) joke about it too and say the West-Flemings speak as if they have a potato in their mouth lol. All jokes aside we love our West-Flemish and our West-Flemings very much, amazing dialect ❤️

[@Linkknnkillnkju]

There's nothing in common with scadinavians or German unlike they want to believe. This is a Latin people who due to historical reasons and position opted to speak a language a Latin language with some germanic structure as French as a language gradually rise to the north through the southern Wallonia and assimilation with especially west-flandres. Nobody here even thinks about Germanic places cause yawn.

[@vg7735]

It sounds like a mix of Scandinavian and German.

[@slimedfries5234]

Turns out my great great uncles were flemish so I came to see what the language sounds like

[@mahakalabhairava9950]

Are you shocked?

[@pixapi2739]

Quina bellesa

[@allblacklatinmusic9453]

Tens raó... aquesta iaïa (que malauradament he llegit que ja no hi és..) ha deixat un missatge important. Cal preservar la llengüa i les tradicions SEMPRE. El món ha perdut un tresor... cada persona gran que se'n va amb el seu conèixement deixa un buit incolmable...

[@geraldvaughn8403]

Brabants

[@sadalien9049]

Just like French, I understand this language better when I see the words instead of hearing them. 😛

[@spitimalamati]

I speak and understand English and Deutsch. Without knowing what she is speaking about (her Theme) I am at 0% comprenension and less than 10% catching germanic phrases and words. If I know her Theme, my understanding would rise to 13%!

[@jotalagarta]

I'm ninety-nine percent sure she's making up the language as he speaks it xD

[@jean-pierredevent970]

Ze doet ironisch gezien, hier en daar toch wat inspanning om alles wat meer te vernederlandsen.

[@Lawtasaj]

sounds like a scottish accent!

[@hirsch4155]

De klinkers zijn wel heel sterk en bot uitgesproken lol

[@dutchigamemania]

As a northern Dutchmen, this is less comprehensible as Afrikaans

[@Shareenear]

Sounds like speaking Dutch but in cursive

[@tyson00001]

D schooiste toal va de wereld❤

[@nepotiums]

I don't know about the language but whatever she's saying, she's right. Go, grandma!

[@nv3399]

She’s talking about the flemish

[@benefiet]

Me de gordings toe lijk een echte. Ze zo azwo in min stroate kunn weunn.

[@keptins]

There is almost no trace of "stemhebbende g".

[@Wikitongues]

Interesting! Could you elaborate on that a little bit? (Daniel from Wikitongues here - I'm not a Dutch speaker, so I'm not familiar with the stemhebbende g phenomenon)

[@JimmyTheTurtle892]

Wikitongues I can't quite explain it in a way that would make the sound clear, but I did find this wikipedia article. It is also called the "zachte g" (soft g) as opposed tonthe typical Dutch "hard g". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_and_soft_G_in_Dutch?wprov=sfti1

[@FrankieParadiso4evah]

@@Wikitongues stemhebbend = voiced while stemloos = voiceless. Both g's are uvular fricatives. The northern hard one reminded a multi-lingual English friend of mine of a commercial for Fisherman's Friend. Hi Simon Colledge, quo vadis??

[@Herr_Flick_of_ze_Gestapo]

the hard g sound is a modern phenomena. In old dutch, middle dutch, flemish and lold saxon the hard g sound does not occur.

[@DikWhite]

​@@Wikitonguesthe way Flemings pronounce the G is often referred by standàrd Dutch speakers as "de zachte G".

[@Malegys]

Klapp'n, niet "Spreken", Bontje :)