French Language Blog

The Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. A number of non-official, minority languages and dialects are spoken as well. Belgian French and the French spoken in northern France are almost identical, but there are a few distinct phonological and lexical differences. Almost all of the inhabitants of the Capital region speak French as either their primary language (50%) or as a second language (45%). For the most part it is identical to standard, Parisian French, but differs in some points of vocabulary, pronunciation, and semantics.

Influences

Until the beginning of the 20th century, most residents of the French-speaking part Belgium spoke both French and Walloon; thus Walloon had a large influence on Belgian French. Also, the proximity of Dutch-speaking Flanders and the Netherlands has led to a sizable lexical contribution from various Dutch dialects.

Pronunciation

There are a few differences in pronunciation between the French spoken in France and Belgian French. Regional accents can vary from city to city, but on the whole they vary more according to one’s social class and education. Stronger accents are more typical of working-class people. On the other hand, many upper-middle-class Belgian Francophones speak with a neutral accent.

Major differences include:

Lack of ɥ (sounds like the ‘u’ in French nuit): The combination ɥi is replaced by a “wee” sound, and in other situations ɥ becomes a fully vowelled y. Thus for most Belgian speakers, the words enfuir (to run away) and enfouir (to bury) are pronounced and sound the same.

The differences between the nasal vowels /ɛ̃/ (say the ‘a’ as hat or pat, and add a slight nasal sound to it) and /œ̃/ (like the “ir” in bird, nasalized) is noticable, whereas in France these two sounds have merged. Thus, to a French person, brin (stalk) and brun (brown), sound the same, Belgians say them differently.

While long vowels are found only in closed syllables in France, Belgian French also uses them in absolute final position. As a result, almost all feminine adjectives are distinct from their masculine counterparts for Belgians.

The letter “w” is, for the most part pronounced like the “w” in English, (also in Flemish). For example, the word wagon (train car) is pronounced /vaɡɔ̃/ in Standard French, but /waɡɔ̃/ in Belgian French.

For some speakers, voiced consonants are unvoiced at the end of a word. For example:
“d” becomes “t” – grande is pronounced “grat”
“b” becomes “p” – table is prononced “tap”
“g” becomes “k”

Vocabulary

Words which are unique to Belgian French are called Belgicisms. But basically, lexical differences between standard French and Belgian French are minor (much like the differences that might exist between American English and British English). Some of the better-known usages include:

The use of septante for “seventy” and nonante for “ninety” (in contrast to Standard French soixante-dix and quatre-vingt-dix). These words are also used in Swiss French. Unlike the Swiss, however, Belgians never use huitante in the place of quatre-vingts. Little interesting fact: septante and nonante were common in France until around the 16th century, when the composite forms began to dominate.

Many Walloon words and expressions have crept into Belgian French, especially in eastern regions of Wallonia. Examples include Qu’à torate (a cognate of à bientôt, “see you soon”), pèkèt (jenever), barakî (similar to the word chav in British English).

Germanic influence is found in Belgian French vocabulary:

Crolle reflects the Brabantic pronunciation of the Dutch word krul (curl).

S’il vous plait is used to mean “here” (when handing someone something) as well as “please”, whereas in France the meaning is limited to “please” – and “voilà” is used for “here”. This is comparable to the use of alstublieft in Dutch.

Sûr (from Dutch zuur) means “sour”, while in France, the word acide is used.

Dringuelle, is from the Dutch drinkgeld (standard French pourboire).

Kot (student room in a dormitory) from Dutch kot.

Ring (ring road) from Dutch ring (standard French: une ceinture périphérique).

Savoir (to know) is often used in the place of pouvoir (to be able [to]).

Blinquer (to blink), instead of briller, has a German origin, through Walloon.

Grammar

Germanic influence is also seen in the grammar:

Ça me goûte – I like it (only for food) comes from the Dutch construction Dat smaakt (standard French “ça me plait”)

Tu viens avec ? – literally “Are you coming with me?” is from Dutch Kom je mee? (standard French “Tu m’accompagnes ?”)

Ça tire ici (mainly said in Brussels) is from Belgian Dutch Het trekt hier (standard French “Il y a un courant d’air”, “there is a draft”)

Phrases with the construction of pour + verb is a grammatical structure coming from Dutch om te + verb ; ex : “Passe-moi un bic, pour écrire” – “Give me a pen, so that I may write” (standard French “Donne-moi un stylo, afin que je puisse écrire”).

“Qu’est-ce que c’est que ça pour un animal ?” comes from the Dutch construction Wat is dat voor een dier? – “What kind of animal is this?” (standard French “Quelle sorte d’animal est-ce là ?”).

Using une fois (once) in mid-sentence (especially in Brussels). Une fois cannot really be translated in other languages; its function is to soften the meaning of the sentence. It is a direct translation of the Dutch eens. French people who want to imitate the Belgian accent often use une fois at the end of the sentences, which is often wrong. Example: Viens une fois ici – literally : “Come once here”. The English equivalent would be “Could you come here?” or “Why don’t you come here?”.

According to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, A majority of the world’s French-speaking population lives in Africa and use French either a first or a second language making African French speakers an important part of the Francophonie.

When you think about it, or experience it, there is no single form of African French. Due to contact with many indigenous African languages French as spoken in Africa is different depending on the country you’re visiting. And because France had colonies in the past in Africa, French spoken in Benin is closer to that spoken in France than to French spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Belgian French).

The classification of French as a second language in Africa is debatable because in some areas (Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, Libreville in Gabon and the Island of Réunion and others) it is a first language and the only language spoken and written in schools, administrations, radio, TV and the Internet.

With a rapid growth in education and demographics, Sub-Saharan Africa is where the French language is most likely to expand. You may find some spoken forms of African French difficult to understand, but the written form is pretty much like the rest of la francophonie.

Pronunciation

I really can’t give an exact way to pronounce French in different African countries; each local pronunciation is influenced by the local African. But there are some pronunciations that are quite noticable. For example, You may hear the European French “r” (as in Paris) pronounced like a Spanish trilled “r” (as in perro) instead, but some speakers can also pronounce it as the Arabic letter ghayn (غ). Pronunciation of d, t, l and n, as well as other sounds may be also different. Standard French intonation can be also either maintained or not. Keep your ears tuned, and see what you can imitate.

Vocabulary

When it comes to vocabulary, you will see and hear the differences. First, you’ll find words that were borrowed from the local language. And on top of that, each regional variety of African French will have their own local words that are not found in other varieties. Check out this conversation from Senegal where French and Wolof (and some Arabic!) gets mixed together.^[1]

Rose: Assalamu Aleykum.
Aminata et Fatim: Maaleykum Salam.
Aminata: Rose!
Rose: Mame Fatim!
Fatim: Rose ça va, comment tu vas?
Rose: Ami.
Rose: Ça c’est Fatimata!
Fatim: Ah Fatimata!
Aminata: Ah salut comment tu vas?
Fati: Ça va merci!
Fatim: Prenez place!
Fati: Merci.
Rose: Sinon à Keur Massar?
Fatim: Oui ça va alhamdulliah!
Rose: Ça va!
Fatim: Oui ça va. Tout vas bien.
Rose: Aminata toi, à Sacré-Cœur?
Aminata: Sacré-Cœur tu sais ça bouge quoi
Rose: Ben oui on peut dire ça!
Fatim: Elle est tellement fière de son quartier.
Aminata: Ah, bien sur!
Fatim: N’importe quoi.
Aminata: Ah oui c’est le quartier des boss hein.
Fatim: Ah s’il te plait!
Rose: Ah bon depuis quand?
Aminata: Sacré-Cœur c’est le meilleur quartier au Sénégal, tout le monde le sait, n’est ce pas Fati?
Fati: Ouais, j’imagine, je ne suis pas allée là bas, je ne connais pas.
Aminata: Tu connais pas, d’ou est-ce que tu viens?
Fati: Oh je viens de Saint Louis.
Aminata: Oh Saint Louis!
Fatim: Hum d’accord.
Aminata: Sympa!
Fatim: Ouais!

The good thing is, people from other regions or countries switch to a more standard form of French to avoid the vocabulary mixup.

Another thing you will notice the use of some words with a meaning different from standard French. For example, the word présentement (“at the moment”) is used in sub-Saharan Africa with the meaning of “as a matter of fact” or “as it were”. So if you hear a word that seems out of context, see if you can figure out what it does mean by listening to the rest of the sentence. If you’re still stuck, there’s no shame in asking to repeat or explain what the word means in their locale.

If you’re going to mingle among the educated and upper classes of sub-Saharan Africa. Educated people there tend to speak a very formal sort of French which may sound a bit old-fashioned to Europeans French speakers.

Other local vocabulary includes slang (frowned upon by the educated), colloquial usage, and words that originated in slang terms, but then entered into formal use. The French spoken in Abidjan is a good example of these contrasting registers.

Abidjan French vocabulary

French is spoken by about 90% of Abidjan’s population, either as a first language or a second language. There are three sorts of French spoken in Abidjan. The educated classes speak a formal French. Most of the population speaks a colloquial form of French known as français de Treichville (a working-class district of Abidjan) or français de Moussa. Then, you have nouchi spoken by people in gangs (and by those who copy them). New words usually appear in nouchi and then make their way into colloquial Abidjan French after some time.

Here are some examples of words used in Abidjan French:

une go (European French – une fille) – girl or girlfriend.

un maquis (European French – un restaurant or une cantine) – street-side restaurant (a working-class restaurant serving African food). This word exists in standard French too but it’s not known exactly how this word came to mean street-side restaurant in Côte d’Ivoire.

un bra-môgô (European French – un copain) – bloke or dude. Borrowed from the Mandinka language.

chicotter (European French – battre) – to whip, to beat, or to chastise (children)

le pia (European French – l’argent) – a slang word meaning money.

As an example, let’s look at how a sentence would be constructed, depending on a few factors shown here:

English: The girl stole my money

European French: La fille a pris mon argent

Formal, educated Abidjan French: La fille a volé mon argent.

Français de Moussa: La fille-là a pris mon argent.

Nouchi: La go a soutra mon pia. (soutra is an Abidjan slang word meaning “to steal”)

Kinshasa French vocabulary

If Paris didn’t exist, what would be the largest farncophone city in the world? That would be Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a population of 10,076,099 (2010). Contrary to Abidjan where French is the first language of a large part of the population, in Kinshasa French is only a second language, and is influenced by the Lingala language. Here French is the language of business, administration, schools, newspapers and television. French is also the predominant written language.

French in Kinshasa has its own pronunciation and local words borrowed from Lingala. Depending on their social status, some people may mix French and Lingala. Just as in Abidjan, most educated people may frown upon the use of slang or Lingala terms.

cadavéré (European French – cadavre) – broken, worn out, exhausted, or dead.

makasi – strong, resistant. It is a loanword from Lingala.

anti-nuit – sunglasses worn by partiers at night. One of the many slang words related to nightlife and partying. A reveler is known locally as un ambianceur, from standard French ambiance.

casser le bic – to stop going to school.

merci mingi – “thank you very much”. Here’s an example of mixing French (merci) with Lingala (mingi – “a lot”).

un zibolateur – bottle opener. It comes from the Lingala verb kozibola (to open something that is blocked up or bottled) and has the French ending -ateur attached to it.

un tétanos – a rickety old taxi. In standard French tétanos means “tetanus”.

moyen tê vraiment – “absolutely impossible”. It comes from standard French moyen and Lingala
tê (“not”, “no”), to which was added French vraiment (“really”).

[1] Found at the Five College Center for the Study of World Languages and Five Colleges, Inc. website
View video here: Friends Greeting

It is a rare occasion if you’re invited to a French home, so do bring a gift for the host. If you know the receiver’s interests and tastes you can give an intellectual gift such as a book, or music; don’t worry if the gift is too expensive or not, choose something you know the recipient will like and appreciate. Give your gift before the entertaining proceeds. Gifts you can also bring would be flowers, high quality chocolates or liquers. Even then, there are some things to take into consideration.

Giving Flowers

If you decide to bring flowers, be very careful when picking out flowers as a gift. There are some taboos to keep in mind when it comes to giving flowers that are in accordance with the old European tradition. For example, do not give an even number of flowers, always give an odd number – except 13 (it’s considered an unlucky number). Another consideration is the type and color of the flower:

White flowers are typically only used during weddings
White lilies and chrysanthemums are flowers for funerals
Yellow flowers should be avoided as they are a symbol of infidelity.
A gift of red carnations can often be seen as a sign of bad will.
But, red roses are for lovers.

Giving Wines or Liquers

Remember – France is known worldwide for its wine and liquers, so do your homework first! The host usually prefers to make the evening’s selection. If you do want to give wine, make sure it is of the highest quality you can afford and it’s a special French dessert wine or high-quality liqueur. Otherwise, a dessert or a gourmet cheese also makes a nice gift.

If you have been guest at a dinner party or similar social gathering in a person’s home, send a handwritten thank-you note by messenger to your hosts the next day – trust me, it will make a great impression. You can also send flowers (remember the tips above) or a basket of fruit along with the note.

Business Gift Giving

In French business culture, displays of warmth and generosity between business associates are not highly encouraged. Giving presents is acceptable, but be wise in what you give; select something you think the recipient will appreciate. Don’t be overly concerned about whether your gift is too expensive or inexpensive

If you know what the recipient’s interests and tastes are, then giving a gift of esoteric books and music are good choices. Good gift selections are coffee table books about your home country, or anything that reflects the interests of your hosts that is representative of your country.

Don’t include a business card with the gift. Holiday cards can be appropriate, particularly to thank your business associates. In France, sending New Year’s greetings occurs during the whole month of January.