Walloons choose English over Dutch

31 May 2007

BRUSSELS – A random survey by La Libre Belgique shows that almost half of Walloons prefer to learn English as a second language. Only 42.3 percent of the respondents chose Dutch as a second language.

The survey, entitled ‘Tell Me More’, indicates that four in five Walloons (82.6 percent) think that all Walloon schools should employ bilingual education and that more time should be spent on language. Only one in ten (11.3 percent) disagrees with this and 6.1 percent say they “don’t know.”

The newspaper carried out another random survey in March. The ‘Tour de Flandre’ questionnaire asked Flemings what they thought of these issues. 75 percent of the Flemish also emerged as supporters of bilingual education.

More than 80 percent of the Walloons say that Dutch is not spoken enough in their region. Nonetheless 49.2 percent would opt for English as a second language rather than Dutch.

Subject: Belgian news