European Union Forums

[Edward.G.Ellis]

I speak fluent German, Dutch, and Spanish next to English and I'm planning on going to Belgium on a beer tasting tour. I'm curious if I can get by with Dutch, German, and English alone.

[DanaRHoward]

I can't believe this is a serious question, because if you really speak fluent Dutch then you know that you can get by without a problem in Belgium, and even if you are in southern Belgium and you don't speak French, you can use English, or depending on the area, German. Someone who is "fluent' in these languages wouldn' t even ask this question. And as we all know, the Belgians and the Dutch are VERY clever when it comes to languages and normally speak at least 3.
So NO, you won't have a problem, especially after a few beers when we all speak the same language!

[Cherie.K.Duran]

You'll be fine with Dutch, it's the same as Flemish pretty much, despite what the Belgians say about it.

[Eddie]

If you only go to a "beer tour", you won't need to speak French if you already know Dutch,English and German.
But I advise you to learn a few sentences and some vocabulary in French too, in case you meet some French speakers...It's a question of respect, since Belgium is officialy also a French-speaking country.

[SandraJPulido]

Very much so. As 40% of Belgium's population speaks French. 70% percent speak Dutch(Flemish) , 1 % speak German. So you will be just fine. Not too sure why you didn't already know that...

[AmosJAllen]

German and Spanish will not be of any use but certainly Dutch is. You should have no problem with speaking English and Dutch

[John.B.Lovato]

if you speak fluent Dutch, german, spanish and english then you will have no problem.

In Wallonia, they speak french (some speak english too) but for a beer tasting tour you don't have to speak fluent french