"Tom Kunich" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<
[email protected]>...
> Kenny, I read an article the other day that said that the overwhelming majority of babies being
> born in Belgium now are of ethnic Arab origin. They had a list of the most common babies names
> last year and the top 5 boys names were all Arabic and the top 5 girls names were also Arabic.
>
> Is there any truth to that do you think?
I don't beleive that. Every year the most popular names of babies being born in that year are
published in the newspapers. But I've never read arabic names like Achmed or Mohammed in the top ten
of the most popular names. If I'm not mistaken the last years names like Thomas, Kevin, Emma and
Lisa were chosen the most. So I don't think the source of that article wasn't checked well. I can
add that the birth rate in Belgium is very low. It dropped an end below 2 children per family. So
within 10 years a high amount of the Belgian population will be grey. This is the result of the
babyboom after WW2 in the 50's. But because the birth rate is much lower now, the active part of the
population will be less in number (in ten years) that than the people who retire then (those born in
the 50's). This will result in serious problems about paying pensions to the retired people.
Kenny
>
> "Kenny" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
>
news:[email protected]...
> > "Steven L. Sheffield" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:<BA5B5CCC.227CE%
[email protected]>...
> > > And what are the people who are born and raised in Brussels and
> the
> > > surrounding officially bi-lingual communes?
> >
> > Old people who were born and raised in Brussels and still live there speak a mix of Dutch and
> > French. It's a really cool dialect. I really mean people above 50. Cause Brussels is really
> > becoming a ghetto for immigrants. It's a really dirty city with high crime. Belgian people move
> > away from there. Because of the immigrants who only speak french and because of the fact that
> > the younger belgian people who still live there only speak french, you can't explain yourself in
> > Dutch no more. Only French. The cities arround Brussels aren't officially bi-lingual. Those
> > cities are originally dutch or french. But because the french speaking come and live in flemish
> > villages, those villages become french too. The reason is that Walloonsn who are french-speaking
> > don't learn dutch. In fact they
> get
> > "facilities". Those facilities are services from the local
> government
> > so that they can use french for administrative purposes. The result is that they don't learn
> > dutch at all. Belgian people are supposed
> to
> > be bi-lingual. Every flemish can explain himself in french (some
> very
> > well some rather poor, but they can) but only a minority of the walloons is able to say a few
> > words in ducth. Even the walloon ministers of the belgian government can hardly speak dutch.
> >
> > >
> > > Is Merckx a Fleming or a Walloon? He was raised in an area that
> generally
> > > speaks Flemish, but his marriage performance was conducted in
> French. It
> > > has been said that he is not fully comfortable speaking either ...
> > >
> >
> > Merckx was born in a flemish little village near brussels. His
> native
> > language is dutch. But because he lived near brussels he learned to speak french from a young
> > age. You can't really say he's flemish,
> but
> > he's definitely not a walloon. He's much more flemish then he is Walloon but to really
> > define him you can say he is a "Brusselaar". That's what what belgian people in brussels are
> > called. Those
> people
> > speak dutch and french. He is truely a real belgian because he speaks both languages without any
> > problems. It's true that his wedding was conducted in french, which led to an indignant reaction
> of
> > the flemish people. But i don't know the reason. But he speaks both languages that's for sure.
> >
> >
> > >
> > > in article
[email protected], Kenny
> at
> > >
[email protected] wrote on 01/27/2003 01:04 PM:
> > >
> > > > note: Johan Museeuw is a Fleming. He's Flemish and that's very different from being a
> > > > Belgian, which is something that doesn't
> exist.
> > > > You're a Fleming (speaks Dutch) or a Walloon (speaks French),
> not a
> > > > Belgian.
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > > Steven L. Sheffield stevens at veloworks dot com veloworks at worldnet dot ay tea tee dot net
> > > bellum pax est libertas servitus est ignoratio vis est ess ay ell tea ell ay kay ee sea aye
> > > tee why you ti ay aitch aitch tee tea pea colon [for word] slash [four ward] slash
> double-you
> > > double-yew double-ewe dot veloworks dot com [four word] slash
