Arabic, Spanish, German and Turkish more widely spoken in Brussels

A study conducted by the VUB-Vrije Universiteit Brussel on 2500 adults, all living in Brussels, show a decline in mastering French, English and Dutch languages in Belgium's capital. These three languages keep being the most widely spoken languages in Brussels anyway. Just like in 2000, when the first study of this type was carried out, Arabic comes fourth in the rankings. In 2006, Arabic was nevertheless overtaken by Spanish.

The panel of Brussels' citizens who indicate that they notably speak Arabic has gone from 6.6 % to an impressive 17.9 % in a period of just 6 years. Demographic evolution in Brussels could explain this score.

According to the authors of the VUB study, there are always more Arabic-speaking people coming to live in Brussels and more of them are therefore included in the panel of people who are polled indeed. Brussels, also considered as the capital of Europe, is a linguistic melting pot (with a lot of expats coming to work in European institutions, federations and lobbies, at NATO, etc.) with 104 different spoken languages. The top 8 spoken languages remain identical to the one of 2006: French is first, English remains second and Dutch keeps the third rank. Arabic, Spanish, German, Italian and Turkish come next in the right order. Also to be mentioned: Dutch (Flemish), French and German are the three official languages of Belgium.

To have a close look at some of the results of this study, go to http://blog.lesoir.be/docs/2013/03/20/la-maitrise-des-langues-a-bruxelles/ (in French).

See also the article published in The Bulletin (the magazine for Brussels' expats) and on www.xpats.com (on 2013-03-20): http://www.xpats.com/english-remains-brussels-second-language (in English).


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