World News

1018 readers

568 users here now

Rules:

Be a decent person
No spam
Add the byline, or write a line or two in the body about the article.

Other communities of interest:

[email protected]

founded 6 months ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Train conductor’s bilingual morning greeting raises hackles in Belgium (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The country’s language watchdog is investigating after a Dutch-speaking commuter protested a conductor’s use of “bonjour” – French for “good morning” – to welcome him onboard during a rush-hour train from Mechelen, in Flanders, to the capital, Brussels, in October.

Writing on Facebook, Ilyass Alba, the French-speaking conductor, said that on the day in question he greeted passengers entering his carriage with a resounding “goeiemorgen, bonjour”.

The use of both the Dutch and French greetings was not good enough for one Dutch-speaking passenger, who told him off, saying: “We’re not in Brussels yet, you have to use Dutch only!”

The passenger was technically right, as under Belgium’s complex language rules conductors should in theory use both languages only in Brussels and a few other bilingual regions.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

It's pretty pathetic for that passenger to complain about it. It's one thing to be refused service in Dutch when buying a ticket or some longer interaction, but this is just sad.