[OSM-talk-be] Brussel - Bruxelles

[Ben Laenen]

Chris Browet wrote:
> Interesting one... I would have indeed intuitively thought the language
> usage would be defined by region.
> But as there is no "german" region (only community), where is german an
> official language (and how is it geographically defined)?


It's in the first lines of Belgian Constitution (article 4): translated a bit:


"Belgium is divided into four language areas: the Dutch language area, the 
French language are, the bilingual area Brussels-Capital and the German 
language area.

Each municipality belongs to exactly one of these language areas.

The boundaries of the four language areas can't be changed or corrected other 
than by a law, passed by majority of votes in each language group of each 
Room, on the condition that a majority of the members of each language group 
is present, and that the total of yes votes in both language groups reach two 
thirds of all votes."


So there you have it: four language areas, and they're geographically defined 
by the borders of the municipalities in each language area.


Ben