To give some context: in Belgium there is two main regions, Flanders and Wallonia. Flemish people speaks Flemish Dutch and Walloons speak French.
Since Flemish Dutch and French are the two official language of Belgium a lot of Fleming are learning French as a secondary language to be able to communicate with Walloons. Walloons on the other hand don’t care to learn Flemish Dutch at all.
So as consequence a lot of Flemish do know French but refuse to speak French with Walloons.
So as a French person I ended several time in a situation where I’m trying to communicate in English with a Fleming who refuse to use French with me, until he realize by my accent that I’m not Walloons, then he would start speaking to me in French.
I know a Wallonian that does the opposite: she lives in the Netherlands, reads, understands, and is able to speak Dutch, but she still will only speak English (or French)
Congrats, you are now Flemish!
To give some context: in Belgium there is two main regions, Flanders and Wallonia. Flemish people speaks Flemish Dutch and Walloons speak French.
Since Flemish Dutch and French are the two official language of Belgium a lot of Fleming are learning French as a secondary language to be able to communicate with Walloons. Walloons on the other hand don’t care to learn Flemish Dutch at all.
So as consequence a lot of Flemish do know French but refuse to speak French with Walloons.
So as a French person I ended several time in a situation where I’m trying to communicate in English with a Fleming who refuse to use French with me, until he realize by my accent that I’m not Walloons, then he would start speaking to me in French.
I know a Wallonian that does the opposite: she lives in the Netherlands, reads, understands, and is able to speak Dutch, but she still will only speak English (or French)
That’s fantastic, thank you!