Re: rent car from Amsterdam to Brussels


"dgs" <dgs1300@xxxxxxxxxxxx> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:676h3pF2msgjuU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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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