Ask a Belgian about Belgium!

[Cranos]

Well like the other threads, you can ask me questions here about my little country called Belgium. I also know quite a bit about other countries in Europe, so if you have any question regarding them, I'll do my best to answer those as well.

 

[Nebulous]

What is the official language of Belgium and is it spoken in other countries?

 

[Cranos]

We've got 3 official languages.

- Dutch, which is also spoken in The Netherlands (Holland) and is my native language.

- French, which is also spoken in France.

- German, which is also spoken in Germany.

 

[Jazzy]

What's the economy like?

 

[Cranos]

Well I'm just going to tell you what I know, but I'm 19 years old so I don't have any experience at actually finding a job for example.



First of all, we have about the same wealth as most other western countries, but due to a very complicated political system with different governments the country managed to get a very high debt. Not as high as Greece or Portugal, but we're going to have to be careful. Also, because of that complicated system, the government has been unstable resulting in many companies leaving.



Wow that sounded very bad XD. Actually we do still have a lot of wealth and we were able to take the necessary steps against the bank crisis that started a few years ago. As I can see it a lot of jobs were lost to the economical crisis though, but we're slowly recovering and if you have somewhat the right education it's not that hard to find a job.



We've also had elections a month ago, which are supposed to end the political instability and get us back on track.

 

[Jazzy]

Is it true, to say Belgium produces the best beer in the world. If so, why is that?

 

[Cranos]

I know Belgian beer wins the award for best beer in the world a lot. I also know I can buy Belgian beer everywhere in Europe, that's not the case with beers from other countries. So yeah, I'd say we have the best beer.



As to why, we have a tradition of creating beers throughout history. Generally they're brewed by monks here, so there's no mass production, no lowering production costs, etc. That way we can keep the quality high.



It is however a question of taste, Britain has a lot of good beers as well. The problem is they don't serve them cold and tap them wrong, which doesn't appeal to a lot of people (including me).

 

[Nebulous]

Have you looked at this page: http://www.goodnewsforliberaldemocracy.org/belgianantidefamationinstitute/



What do you think of it?

 

[Cranos]

These are actual stereotypes? LMAO

TBH if I read the explanations, it's a joke really. For example, white people dance like white people. You see the same moves in The Netherlands, Britain and elsewhere.



And seriously? 10. BELGIANS EAT JEWISH CHILDREN wtf?



The only ones that are somewhat correct in that article are:

1. BELGIANS MAKE GOOD BEER

4. BELGIANS ARE GOOD AT MATH

5. BELGIANS ARE UNTRUSTWORTHY / BELGIANS ARE DISHONEST IN MONEY MATTERS

 

[Nebulous]

I googled Belgian Stereotypes to see what I could ask you and that page popped up. I found it rather entertaining. XD

 

[Cranos]

Yeah, never heard of most of them...