"dgs" ha scritto nel messaggio
news:676h3pF2msgjuU1@mid.individual.net...
> tile wrote:
>
>> do not forget that in Belgium there are parts where people speak French
>> and where people speak Dutch.
>
> So far, so good, but then:
>
>> So the real names are Bruges and Antwerp.
>
> No. Both of these cities are in the northern *FLEMISH* part of Belgium,
> where people speak Dutch (or variations thereof). Their "real" names
> are Brugge and Antwerpen.
>
>> ( of course. Anverse and Brugge exist.. )
>
> Anvers and Bruges are their names in *FRENCH*. Antwerp and Bruges are
> typically their names as rendered in English; English-speakers simply
> borrow the French name for Brugge.
>
>> In Bruxelles ffor instance. french will be spoken in town. but outside
>> Dutch will be spoken..
>
> Generally true, but there are occasional exceptions.
>
>> sometimes the names are puzzling completely different.. like Mons in
>> french and Bergen in Dutch.
>
> The two names mean the same thing: "Hills." There are many other
> instances in Belgium of the Dutch name not being the same as the French
> name:
>
> Liege (French) is Luik (Dutch)
> Tournai (French) is Doornik (Dutch)
> Gent (Dutch) is Gand (French)
> Ieper (Dutch) is Ypres (French)
> even across the border, Lille (French) is Rijsel (Dutch)
> ... and so it goes.
>
>> Or Aix la chapelle.. Aachen ??
>
> This is in Germany, not in Belgium.
> --
>
sorry for Brugge.
but I found it quite puzzling travelling by car and seeing names first in
Flemish then in french and so on a few kms away from each other.
what I mean that it is common to see indications first in flemish. and then
a few kms after. in French. and then again in Flemish and so on.
for a foreigner.. it will be very difficult to know that Aix la chapelle and
Aachen are the same town..
or Courtrai and Kortrijk
and so on.
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