Difference between revisions of "Belgium"

This page is about the country of Belgian specifically, and the Belgian people in general.

Language

Official Languages of Belgium are French, Dutch and German. French is used by 33% of population. Flemish, the local variant of Dutch, is used by more than 60% of the population, and is spoken in the northern part of the country. The languages learned at school are officially labelled French and Dutch. German, spoken by 1% of population can be found in the cantons in the east of the Walloon Region. Brussels, the capital of Belgium, has two official languages: French and Dutch. Luxembourgish is spoken by around 0.5% of the population, but the language has no official status. About 10% of the Belgian population are non-native, and languages spoken include Italian, Spanish, Greek, Arabic and Turkish.

Internet availability

High-speed Internet is very common in Belgium. Belgian sites are mostly in Dutch, French and English.

Addres formatting

- Address format is as follows: Genistraat, 1, 2000 Brusssels, Belgium. Note that in Germany, Belgium and France the postcode can be prefixed respectively by D-, B-, F as follows: B-2000 to indicate country. We don't have counties, just 43 something departments (arrondissementen).

- Belgium is on CET time zone, with summer daylight saving alterations. For convenience, it is often designated as GMT+1 (in reality it's UTC +1 or +2).

Date Format

Belgium, like almost all countries except the US of A, uses the little-endian date format:

• Day, Month, Year (dd/mm/yy or dd/mm/yyyy)
• Days of the week, starting on monday :

  Maandag, dinsdag, woensdag, donderdag, vrijdag, zaterdag and zondag (dutch)
  Lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi and dimanche (french)

• Month of the year, starting in january :

 Januari, februari, maart, april, mei, juni, juli, augustus, september, oktober, november and december (dutch)
 Janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, octobre, novembre and décembre (french)

Measures and weights

We use metric system

Length The standard unit of length in the metric system is the meter. Other units of length and their equivalents in meters are as follows:

1 millimeter = 0.001 meter
1 centimeter = 0.01 meter
1 decimeter = 0.1 meter
1 kilometer = 1000 meters 

We abbreviate these lengths as follows:

1 millimeter = 1 mm
1 centimeter = 1 cm
1 meter = 1 m
1 decimeter = 1 dm
1 kilometer = 1 km 

For reference, 1 meter is a little longer than 1 yard or 3 feet. It is about half the height of a very tall adult. A centimeter is nearly the diameter of a dime, a little less than half an inch. A millimeter is about the thickness of a dime. Mass The standard unit of mass in the metric system is the gram. Other units of mass and their equivalents in grams are as follows:

1 milligram = 0.001 gram
1 centigram = 0.01 gram
1 decigram = 0.1 gram
1 kilogram = 1000 grams 

We abbreviate these masses as follows:

1 milligram = 1 mg
1 centigram = 1 cg
1 decigram = 1 dg
1 gram = 1 g
1 kilogram = 1 kg 

For reference, 1 gram is about the mass of a paper clip. One kilogram is about the mass of a liter of water. Also take a look at the following website: http://www.mathleague.com/help/metric/metric.htm

PC Keyboard Settings

In Belgium, unlike in The Netherlands we use the Azerty keyboard. In The Netherlands they use the Querty keyboard

More information

You can find more information on Belgium at the following website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium

Geni Translation Dutch/Belgium

Template loop detected: Template:Translation

To edit these translations, edit the language specific template. To add to the list of available terms, edit the basic translation template. Add country specific terms within the country article.
If there's something you don't understand or need help see How to create a translation page and FAQ:Translation.
ALSO: Remember to check out the Translation Discussion!
Translation note: Do not translate text in CAPITAL LETTERS like NAME, NUMBER etc.

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Geni Translation French/Belgium

Template loop detected: Template:Translation

To edit these translations, edit the language specific template. To add to the list of available terms, edit the basic translation template. Add country specific terms within the country article.
If there's something you don't understand or need help see How to create a translation page and FAQ:Translation.
ALSO: Remember to check out the Translation Discussion!
Translation note: Do not translate text in CAPITAL LETTERS like NAME, NUMBER etc.

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