Sometimes people ask me what there is to see in my area. So I've been sharing pictures of our fields (specially the flowery season) to these people that ask me. Now there are other things to do then fields... but yeah, my area is largely fields. There are some cities where there are activities, but being from a rural area it's just not that exciting to most foreigners as a big city.
But there are some other pictures that always get a "wow" responds. They are the pictures of a little metal church that was build in 2011 by an architect/artist called "Gijs Van Vaerenbergh". So because most people went "wow", I'll share the pictures (wich are not mine) here too. The project was called: "Reading between the lines", and it has gotten a fair amount of media attention and won some prices.
You can find an article/introduction to the little monument over here: https://www.archdaily.com/298693/reading-between-the-lines-gijs-van-vaerenbergh https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/detail/reading-between-the-lines-for-a-church-made-of-metal_o (I also got most of the pictures from the first article)
... oh yeah. It's in the middle of a field :D
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Wonderful pics of a great installation. I was surprised to discover it was the work in fact of two artists in collaboration. Is that Flemish they are speaking and could you tell me exactly where I can find the work ?
@RodionRomanovitch The work can be found in Borgloon. It's out in the field.
Yeah, I think it's pretty cool too. It looks fancy. Flemish actually doesnt excist. It's just "dutch". But there is a lot of confusion about that, because in the Netherlands and the dutch speaking parts of Belgium the word: "Vlaams" (Flemish) is often used. But it's just dutch, we don't have our own language.
The other side of the country speaks French (also not their own language) and we have a small german part too. Belgium is complicated.
@RodionRomanovitch It's the exact same language. We do have a lot of dialects, specially in the Belgian part (like we have A LOT of dialects). But those aren't official. So the official language is "dutch".
People only use the word "flemish" because they don't have knowledge of the area. That's okay (like I'm not throwing a stone). It's the same mistake people make when they people talk "American" or "Austrian". Americans use English and Austrians speak German.
Certain English speakers probably diffrenciate between "English" and "American" too, even though they are aware it's the same language. But if you become educated in the language, you'll notice that Americans and English people don't use the same "sayings" as much as eachother, probably use a word more then the others use it. Because language always has a regional character even tough they are exactly the same. (I at least heared some english speakers making the diffrence)
You probably will notice this too, since you are French. If you go to the Belgian french area or even the North you'll hear diffrences in the language patterns, pronounciations and intonations. If this is true, then they'll sound a bit off to you, because they are outside what you consider to be the "norm" since you grew up in a certain area where most people use the same expressions and the same intonations. It's just a part of being socialised. People learn languages by mimicking others, and the person that teaches you will be really important in the process.
For dutch this isn't diffrent. Dutch and Belgian-dutch-speakers have the same aspect. If you are trained in dutch you'll spot a person from the Netherlands and a person from dutch part of Belgium right away. We also use some dutch words that got out of fashion in the Netherlands: Gij and Ge , are 2 words that aren't used in the Netherlands annymore but they are still officially a part of the dutch Language. It's not wrong to use them, but a certain territory just stopped using them over time. Languages and the use of them are also constantly in flux, new words come into excistence and become "normal" the more people use them the more obvious it becomes. Other people stop using them and they fade away in obscurity. It's a pretty normal process.
@Kwek00 I probably should have mentioned that I only live in France. I am in fact British myself. Been here seven years but only now am beginning to discern the difference in French spoken by Belgians and French natives , and Canadians too for that matter.
@RodionRomanovitch Yeah, Canadian French sounds really diffrent. I actually have difficulties understanding canadian french at times. If they talk really slowly and articulate it well, then there is no problems. But sometimes I just need to say: "can you repeat yourself because 🤷♂️".
But if you are british, then just forget what I say about the french and look at my "american" vs "english" comment. They are both english, but if you are familair with the language you can point out from wich country they are from without them having a dialect.
So you are an english guy that learned his french. That's pretty cool. You don't hear that that often :)
