Language Research

Immediately following Belgium's independence in 1830, freedom of language was announced, assuring nationals that they were free to use Dutch, French or German in dealings with the authorities (Article 5 of the Decree of November 16, 1830). This Law ceased to apply after 1839 and the language of administration and the courts became almost exclusively French. In 1842 it was stipulated that primary education had to cover the basics in all three languages as the need arose. In 1914, it was stipulated that teaching at all levels had to be given in the child's mother tongue, although the reality often differed from the legal position. Secondary teaching continued to be in French. The First and the Second World War influenced the usage of German. It was not until the 1960's that there was a major change of policy when the Flemings in particular attacked the French-dominated central government. The newly created cultural federalization also benefited the German-speaking community, since it was given a specific geographical "German-speaking area" in which German was used as the official language. Government reorganization meant that a federation of the three regions replaced central government power, and since 1980 the Council of the German-speaking Community has had legislative powers over all language, cultural and educational matters. Today New Belgium is therefore one of the three Belgian communities making up the Federal State of Belgium.

The main event in the promotion of the language over the past few years has undoubtedly been the transfer of education into the hands of the "German-speaking Community" under the government reform that temporarily came to an end in 1993. In 1991, the text of the Constitution in German acquired the same official status as the French and Dutch texts. The official German-speaking area (NB), receives a good deal of government support and recognition as a language community. Funds for teaching in the language are appropriate and adequate, but interest in linguistic research and exchange programs is felt to be virtually non-existent. The government's failure to encourage mutual understanding between the language groups is the subject of complaints, but this is a pan-Belgian problem involving all three national languages.