I live in the southern end of the Netherlands near the borders of both Germany and Belgium. We sometimes cross the borders for sight seeing and shopping and one time we decided to go to Liege, which is the French speaking part of Belgium.
I can speak Dutch so I did there as I had assumed they could too, seeing that it is one of two of the country’s official languages. Nobody could and they couldn’t speak English either so it was a real struggle communicating with them. I would later relate our experience to some Flemish (Belgian Dutch speaking) friends and they said it was common. Apparently, the French part of Belgium doesn’t speak any Dutch, if they can help it but some, not all, of the Dutch speaking Belgians can and do speak French as well. The best English speakers were also from Flanders (the Dutch speakers) and if you go into that part of Belgium, you won’t have problems communicating with the locals. There is something about the Wallonia part which is a lot like France but they, like their other country partner, can’t stand the French. So they are united in their resentment and hatred of the French but at the same time, they aren’t united enough to like each other.
I also have a cousin living in Switzerland in the French speaking part. She migrated there from Asia and learned French as it was what her husband speaks in that particular part of country where they live in. Some of them can speak German there but few are fluent at it and she has also no plans to learn German as well as it is too difficult for her, especially since she had already learned French. Only few of the adults there can speak English, depending on their respective professions but the younger generation are catching up.
Edit: What I thought was just a simple answer based on my own observations has turned into a bigger discussion and I have enjoyed reading and informing myself further about it. I do hope further discussions can proceed civilly and no further chastising needs to be done. Otherwise, I will have to disable the comments which is a shame as I do sincerely like to read how and what other people have experienced with regards to this particular discussion. Thank you.
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