Close up of a middle-aged Belgian man’s taped mouth. Permanent Commission for Linguistic Control .
Credit: Shutterstock, Golden Dayz
Language clash on a rush-hour train ignites political uproar in Belgium – and an official complaint. Belgium’s language watchdog, the Permanent Commission for Linguistic Control has got involved.
A seemingly innocent greeting from a train conductor has sparked a full-blown political row in Belgium, after a Dutch-speaking passenger took offence to a French ‘bonjour’ on board a rush-hour train.
The conductor’s attempt to please all passengers has instead ignited a war of words in a country already deeply divided over language politics. Now Belgium’s language watchdog, the Permanent Commission for Linguistic Control has got involved. That’s right, the big dogs have stepped in the ring. Who knows where this may take us next? What a time to be alive.
It all kicked off back in October when Ilyass Alba, a French-speaking conductor on a train from Mechelen (in Flanders) to Brussels, welcomed passengers with a cheerful “goeiemorgen, bonjour” – that’s “good morning” in Dutch and French, for those unfamiliar.
But for one Dutch-speaking commuter, Alba’s bilingual greeting was a step too far. He had crossed a line that was never meant to be crossed. “We’re not in Brussels yet!” the passenger protested, demanding that only Dutch be used.
Well, technically, they had a point. Under Belgium’s complex and often controversial language rules, conductors should only use both Dutch and French in bilingual areas like Brussels and a few select regions.
Alba’s greeting – mixing the languages – quickly became a political hot potato on the train and in Belgium as a whole.
Writing on Facebook, Alba explained that he’d simply aimed to accommodate all passengers, stating: “I always say ‘goeiemorgen, bonjour’ to make sure everyone feels welcome.” But for some, this wasn’t a simple case of good manners; it was an outright breach of the country’s strict language laws.
As the issue escalated, Belgium’s language watchdog, the Permanent Commission for Linguistic Control, jumped in. They’ve launched an investigation into whether the Belgian railway operator, SNCB, is sticking to its language policies. This ‘serious’ case of ‘language violation’ is now under review, and the Commission has requested more details from SNCB on how these rules are being enforced.
The drama has sparked heated political debates, with the country’s political landscape split along linguistic lines – Flemish (Dutch-speaking) politicians are demanding stricter adherence to the rules, while French speakers argue for a more relaxed approach.
French-speaking transport minister Georges Gilkinet – a member of the Green party – sided with Alba, declaring that Belgium’s language borders are crossed all the time in a country as small as Belgium. “Conductors should focus on giving a quality welcome,” he said, adding, “Using several languages to greet passengers doesn’t shock me in the slightest.”
However, not everyone shares his view. Sammy Mahdi, the leader of the Flemish Christian Democrat party (CD&V), called for a stricter stance, warning that “we can’t just throw our language legislation overboard like that.”
Meanwhile, SNCB has called for more flexibility when it comes to applying the rules. A spokesperson for the train operator suggested that “saying hello in several languages is just nice,” and added, “we can only thank our conductors for that.”
In Belgium, where politics and language are always intertwined, what began as a polite greeting has now turned into a full-blown linguistic tug-of-war.
Find more Belgian news in English
Read more news in English from around Europe.
Find more news from around Spain.
