What Does “Water” Mean to Belgians in Portugal?— The Goofy Zealot
Keith D. Smith III
Financial Literacy Advocate | Banking & Payments | Financial Markets
“Eu amo el Agua” (in an absolutely shattered accent)
I get a few confused and concerned blank stares…
“Me encanta el agua”
Continued blank stares…
I couldn’t tell what this group of friends was speaking to one another so I just kept throwing out what I knew.
“We speak English”
Now I feel pretty silly, but now I repeat my statement even more emphatically in my native language.
“I LOVE WATER”
They look at me for a second, realize the goofiness of my statement, and then share in my laughter.
All three of them are from Belgium and two are of Brazilian heritage.
Mind you, this is at the Pra?a do Comércio in Lisbon, Portugal.
They were speaking to one another in Dutch…
We dive deep into conversation about the culture in Belgium.
It turns out that Belgium is mostly divided into two main regions where different languages are spoken.
In the north is Flanders where citizens speak Dutch, and in the south is Wallonia where citizens speak French.
The split of primary language spoken is 60/40 Dutch to French.
Because of this, many Belgians are bilingual at least, and the high demand for English in major cities leaves some, like those I ran into, speaking English as well.
I did more research on the topic.
It turns out that the divide in language and geography runs deeper than just words and city lines.
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In the Flanders region, citizens often refer to themselves as Flemish and from Flanders rather than Belgian from Belgium. The Flemish also do not refer to themselves as Dutch, nor do the Wallonians claim to be French.
Because of this strong cultural divide, the country “enjoys” a bicameral parliamentary system.
This means that the government has two main branches that vote on political matters.
This divide has led to several government shutdowns and even a total collapse in the government’s history.
The government broke its own record for the longest period without government in 2020. This was a period of 592 days.
But the conversation I had with these friendly Belgians did not get this far.
Instead, I learned more about Portugal’s immigration issues from those flocking to the country from Brazil.
Seeking a better life, many Brazilians are migrating to the European country.
In 2021 numbers migrating from Brazil to Portugal reached a new high for the fourth year straight.
According to the strangers that have turned into friends, this is something that some Portuguese people have quarrels about.
I learned a lot from this conversation and it all started with a silly remark.
So what does “Water” mean to Belgians? Well, to the Flemish that statement alone could lead to an argument. For the 3 Belgians that I met, in this instance, it meant a place to have a good conversation.
Stay tuned, there’s something about water that can really spark an incredible conversation anywhere in the world.
Happy Monday! — The Goofy Zealot
Originally published on Medium.
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