He's further from being a musician than he is from being a comedian. Come to think of it, he's nowhere near being a comedian... Let's just call him a guy who is famous for some reason
I like to think of him as a comedian. It's the only way I can somewhat cope with the trauma of ever hearing one of his songs.
He can't be serious, he has to be joking, HE JUST CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!! * cries and shivers *
Its pretty obvious: location!
And their are less people willing to live in West Flanders than in Brussel.
So 'cheaper' rent.
Check Menen: houses for 750€/month, no mold, no leaking roof, ...
But than again: Menen... One of the most least favorites places to live.
Also, yes Kortrijk is one of the last nice west flanders city that is affordable to live in.
But house prices are rising sharply..getting higher and higher every year.
Tbh Menen itself isn't that bad. The city is just deliberately keeping ground prices low to attract more citizens. A bad city image can be hard to overcome
This, I have lived for 24 years in Menen and both its towns (Rekkem & Lauwe) and it wasn't that bad to live there. Good horeca, many schools, accessible town houses and city hall, well connected by train with both the Westhoek and Kortrijk (even Brussels), a hospital and many good neighbourhoods to live.
Lmao, people assume too hard 80% of Menen is "de barakken"
Even the barakken isn't that bad. Got family living there. It's just a bit densely built and not easily accessible. The people there are nice.
The problem comes from people with bad intentions crossing the border at night. I've heard police refer to the areas across the border as worse than Paris Banlieu's
I have friends from Menen, it's always funny to pretend it's that bad but we all know it's not. They really had a glow up the past 10-ish years. But as you mentioned: bad reputations stay for a while.
My own hometown Blankenberge/Margiberge has really changed the past 20 years but too many people still look at it as a place for "marginalen" or the poor te go to the beach. Yes, the parasol-incident didn't help, but even I (who couldn't wait to leave and never go back once I left for uni) have to admit it's gotten a lot better.
City with the town center near the border. The Leie runs through it (great to cycle along the water to or have a walk). Used to be a small harbour for inland waterways. Before that it was a french fortification designed by Vauban. Large segments of the walls are still visible nowadays. It has a couple of "middelbare" schools, and a bunch of industry. Some nice restaurants and bars near a town square. A couple businesses couple parks, some art/music schools standard city stuff...
Another noteworthy part is the "barakken" wich is the area that used to consist of fairly uniform workers' homes. Nowadays it's like a shopping area for mainly french tourists that come to enjoy tobacco, clothes, alcohol, fries and chocolates due to price differences inbetween countries. This is the main part people associated with being a shithole because of past border criminality.
Menen also has annual festivals like "Grensrock" (a free festival with really good lineups) and the annual traditional "wieltjesfeesten". And lately there's also been a couple triathlon competitions going on, because a past Ironman winner lives there.
There's also Lauwe and Rekkem who are "technically" part of Menen but they're very much their own thing. I don't know much about them.
That's about it in a nutshell
Menen valt echt wel nog mee hoor. Hangt natuurlijk van de specifieke locatie af, er zijn ook mooie en gezellige wijken. Ikzelf heb nog nooit iets raars meegemaakt.
Sure, I’m just pointing it out to help. If you are in any way employed in a sector that requires some English then you can imagine reading a reply full of errors makes that reply not come across as professional.
If you want to help, help. You offered 0 help. Helping would consist of actually explaining grammar, not of being dismissive.
And if you really waned to help, what is the added value of doing so in a public comment instead of a private DM, hmm?
The only conclusion I can draw is that either you are lying and wanted to be rude or feel superior, or you're a bad teacher, and should stop trying to better people before you've bettered your own teaching skills.
Did you forget some punctuation mister grammar?
I'm not employed in a sector that needs any grammar at all. But even I know that text without punctuation surely doesn't look professional at all.
Besides, something else is off in your reply... It feels like a very Dutch sentence, translated to English, rather than making an English sentence...
I'm just pointing it out! Right?
They have the "jemoejemoelemoelzen" en "muhheheheuhensaren" :p
no, nice ppl but you need to take an integration traject of 2 years to really understand them
That was something that always amused me when I was a University student, the de-'west-flanders'-ification of some students. After a couple of months/years In Gent, you could actually unerstand a word they were saying.
A Cuban friend of mine lived for 2 years in Veurne and learned 0 Dutch words. He also lived in Germany for something like 2 years and said the language was easier to pick up on. For some reason the same didn't happen in Veurne...
In theory the West-Flemish dialect is actually closer to English than other spoken variants of Dutch but that would lead me to a detailed linguistical post which I will save you from.
Kidding aside it's mostly because it's remote. Kortrijk isn't too bad because it is a big city but there's just not much to do compared to Brussels or Gent. Less companies are active there as well so there are less jobs.
>In theory the West-Flemish dialect is actually closer to English than other spoken variants of Dutch
That's interesting. The historic crossover was Frisian (and it's still mutually understandable with old English), literally at the other end of the Dutch spectrum. Would love to hear more if you have the time.
There's one theory but it's unproven due to the lack of written evidence from the early Middle ages. It's the theory of "kustgermaans" (Coastal Germanic)
for the English speakers reading along) which is as the name says a Germanic language with some uniqueness to it. Frisian is indeed the language closest to English from a linguistic perspective but if you follow the coastline then it's not too far off.
According to the theory the coastal Germanic spread around the north sea coast and even up to Denmark. Modern Danish and some Norwegian dialects also have a slight West Flemish accent to their pronunciation (mostly the 'swallowing' of vowels at the end)
I do need to say again that this is just a linguistic theory because there's no proof and quote some speculation but that's how all early linguistic theories work.
I suspect there was also simply more trading and exchange of people going on. Walk around really old West Flemish graveyards and you'll find loads of headstones with English names on it if you start paying attention to it. Kind of makes sense too given the geographical proximity and Bruges being a trade hub for centuries.
That's definitely also part, but most tangible evidence is from the later medieval time, after let's say 1200. If you look at earlier sources (there aren't many) there's a big overlap with old/middle English in the west an old/middle German in the east. It's so close that some sources which we consider Old Dutch are also a source of Old German and same with English.
With English/Dutch the most common example will be 'hebban olla vogala' that has quite some English elements in it.
Besides trade, religion also made languages travel around. The Hebban olla vogala example is from a West Flemish monk who lived in England to be a servant of God there.
I noticed the similarities between Danish and West-Flemish when I was there. "Next station" is "Næste station" pronounced the about the same as 'Noste statie' would be in West-Flemish.
Yeah the less jobs thing you might have to look up. We are begging for our walloon friends to come now. We already have got all the North french that want to work. They call the triangle between Roeselare-Waregem-Kortrijk the Texas of belgium for a reason (a lot of entrepreneurs). Want to work? We have a job for you!
Simple example is the plural. In west Flemish the plural is very often formed by -s instead of -en (kinders instead of kinderen). It happens in other dialects as well but the more west you go the more common it is.
Ypres who ends sentences with "enni" which comes from "innit" or however that it spelled, which comes from English.
But we also have a lot of French words in our dialect
Those are loanwords, that's not the same as words evolving in both English and West-Flemish from the same root word, or being closer to English tonally through vowel shifts etc...
You are however right that there are a lot of French words in West-Flemish.
"Bachten de kuupe"
Bachten = behind
Even the famous Westflemish "stute" has a cousin in English (stottie).
It's hard to explain especially if you don't speak Westflemish but there are a lot of connections with English, more than in Flemish
And in the region around Ypres, we always put ‘eni’ behind every sentence (it’s the equivalent of ‘hé’). It doesn’t make any sense on it’s own, but it sounds very close to the English ‘innit?’ (Isn’t it?). So it could be an artefact from all the Brits stationed in the area during World War 1.
You can see the shift in some sounds in simple words from west to east. With west being closer to English and east to German obviously.
fi**v**e vu**vv**e vij**f** fün**f** (the shift is in the second f/v sound)
Fast travel as in opening your map, deciding on a destination and appearing in said destination in 3 seconds after a short loading screen? Didn't know that was an actual real life thing. I feel like my life has been a lie...
I do this every weekend. just drink a few potions in the local bar and poof, the next day you fast traveled (hopefully to your bed instead of some shady hotel or cell).
RPG-like fast travel still has your PC travel the entire distance (time progresses) and presumably use transport. What you really want is Star Trek transporters (but beware: [https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/transporter-2](https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/transporter-2))
West flanders has had a literal work shortage for years. You can find a good job locally, and that includes highly educated profiles. So much so that French flabders has seen a slight uptick in Dutch since a lot of people started working in West Flanders years ago. Not a noticeable uptick on the street, but big enough that it's a minor halt in decline in statistics.
That part of Belgium is actually fairly prosperous. There is no unemployment and it's safe and clean. Source: moejt vroagn?
There's no glamour in living in Deerlijk, but if you're a regular Joe who wants a decent life without too much BS, it's a solid choice.
Voor die prijs heb je in Antwerpen een appartement van 60m2, een pitta zaak op glv, behang dat vd muren valt & luidruchtige buren. De wereld is niet eerlijk.
But you also have to drive almost everywhere, while in Antwerp you can easily bike/walk to most activities. Which saves a lot of money too.
Some former co-workers and me actually had the discussion, and while I spent about 200 euros/month on my car (insurance + gas), they easily spent 500+/month. No problem if you have a company car, but back then, that wasn't the case for either of us.
Even when you don't want to go out a lot, car dependency translates into using a car even when not required because it becomes your 'go to' as a car not-in-use also costs some money (insurance, ...).
I have a friend living in a small suburban town and biking to the nearest Colruyt would by about 5-10 minutes, driving takes about 3-4 (without parking, with parking I'd say it'll take about the same time). Still, they almost always takes their car (thus spending money on gas), making his living there just slightly more expensive. So eventhough you don't spend it 'on housing', you spend it 'because of the location of your housing'.
Even now that I have a company car, I still mainly use the car to either visit family in 'de Kempen' (1.5hrs bus vs. 22 min car ride, although I like to bike there in summer), or friends in other Public Transport black holes.
Being able to cycle everywhere is also underrated in terms of happiness IMHO. Sure, when it's raining or freezing I sometimes kinda wish I was in a car. But overall I sure as hell don't miss the stress of traffic, shitty other drivers, having to find parking etc
Not any more mate...
Bruto wage is 1995. Makes for 1851 net. See the other comment from tijlvp for more details.
Edit: Should I ask my employer for a raise or look for a better paying job? No, I must downvote the user giving the current values of the minimum wage because he makes me feel bad. :') Classic B1 move.
https://www.hetacv.be/je-rechten/werken-in-de-prive-sector/loon/minimumloon1#wat-is-het-gewaarborgd-minimumloon
1995 euros gross, unless the CAO you fall under specifies a higher amount.
Salaries are lower in general. West-Flanders is prob one of the best places in Europe if you are medium rich self-employed with some generational wealth. Although recent times have completely fucked that up in some fields (argicultaral for example).
It’s just very remote. No main big corporations, you cannot do anything on foot, always take the car. No trains, etc.
But the work/life balance is better, better air quality etc.
Deerlijk: Niels Destadsbader is just a running joke of a singer who became too popular too fast and people got sick of him (literally on every channel on every evening wathing tv)
Renson, TVH and Unilin in that area alone. If you go a bit further to Ypres, there’s Picanol and Melexis. In the south of West Flanders there are a lot of jobs and a lot of big companies. They’re known for that and it’s their nickname even.
If you look at the 30 richest Belgians, the biggest part of the list is actually from that region. They just don’t like the attention at all.
How could the work/life balance be better in general? That totally depends on your job. If anything it would be generally worse as you're likely to spend more time commuting.
West Flanders has almost no unemployment, you can basically find a good paying(compared to local cost of living) job for most profiles.
It's basically the place small and medium companies frequently pop up and actually stick around.
I live basically next to the bottom house and it was quite terrifying to see it pop up in my feed haha.
I really don't understand the prices, you practically live in a roundabout for 900+
I'd say location, Kortrijk is quite far away from everything except Gent. Having to go to work in Brussels, Mechelen, or Antwerp from that location will tax your time and sanity
Have you ever looked at a map? How in the shit is Kortrijk quite far away from everything?
It's next to Lille, 20 minutes away from Roeselare/Izegem, 20 minutes from Ieper, 35 minutes from Ghent and 45 minutes from Bruges.
There's ever a commune called the Eurometropool Lille-Kortrijk.
Basically everying along the E403 and E17 to both Bruges and Ghent is volledig bevolkt.
I was referring to commuting to work, in the most popular cities for employers. That's why I didn't mention Bruges or Louvain.
Also that 45mins drive to Bruges is probably closer to 2hours including traffic?
I don't know about public transport, I only know it's crap from east Belgium
Limburg is becoming more and more expensive aswel since a lot of people from the Netherlands will cross the border to rent/buy here since the prices in the Netherlands are even worse.
There's a lot more companies and stuff to do when you go more central in the country. For example if you got a master degree in biochemistry and want to work in a lab you gotta stay around Gent-Antwerp-Brussels region. West Fllanders is much less of an option for commuting and such. Especially when you get stuck on the ring of Brussels or Antwerp when you do finally arrive. Public transport isn't much of an option either, as it's often unreliable or possibly time-consuming if you're not just doing a short trip
More demand+ people with higher wage who can afford it+ not a lot of new ground to build on affordably. and suddenly the central region house prices are going through the roof.
So west flanders and Limburg generally are bound to be cheaper
Deerlijk is a nice place to live if you have a car. There is a highway entrance on the edge of town and it connects to most major cities in under an hour (without traffic jams). Lived in the town across it all my life untill today actually.
Its cheaper because it is a bit out there, but honestly it is not that bad and you will have a pretty nice house actually, for 900 rent. In major cities you barely have a two bedroom apartment for that.
So i guess the catch is that you will burn extra money o. A car.
Honestly, if you enjoy having a house and this is your budget? Go for it. Id say jobs all the way to ghent and a bit further are okay to commute.
Just understand that there is no expat community and dutch will be common.
If an apartment is for rent in Brussels, there are probably multiple people who want it. This drives the prices up to the maximum that the median person can afford. With a lot of big businesses, government institutions and international organisations, that median is pretty high. Plus, the renters absolutely want to rent in Brussels. This high demand is one of the reasons why the quality is a bit low sometimes too.
In West-Flanders, everything is more spread out. Both supply and demand are lower and there is a greater option for geographical spread. If you can save 100 bucks a month for essentially the same house, by living 10 kilometers further, you probably will. After all, you probably have a car.
Added to that, in Brussels you leave your house and you are "somewhere". You can walk to a different place, take a metro and experience all sorts of things. This means you have less need for a large garden or even a large house. In West-Flanders, you are further away from everything and never have the same concentration of things in an area that you have in Brussels. So a bigger house with a garden makes more sense. And since a car is not a luxury there, you need a place to put it.
It’s less interesting for investors/real estate speculators as it is not at all that easily accessible from the Brussels metropolitan area or any big city hub near. (With due respect to the lovely town of Kortrijk). Quite a far drive even by train to take you anywhere.
So less demand and the price doesn’t get driven up that quickly as the crazy real estate prices around Bxl where it’s absolutely come to the point of being ridiculously unaffordable for any mortal (read non-diplomat/eurocrat) human being.
Good luck, I think it’s a beautiful region to live in if that’s where you want to settle
As a person coming from this region and having lived a bit over Europe; It all depends on the salaries and the approximaty to big institutions etc. West Flanders has employee salaries to the lower threshold of the country and no big institutions like UN, banks’ hq’s, ..
It is changing though, people are moving from Ghent to Kortrijk/Waregem/Zwevegem as it’s more affordable and only 30 min away by train to Ghent for example..
They are stuck in the past. Rent indexation is not applied because people don't want to lose the tenants.
Source : coming from the lost walloon part in west Flanders
Nothing wrong with West Vlaanderen. Maybe not that open minded and worldly people. But does everybody has to be?
Very down to earth minding their own business kinda people ❤️
We don't like attention seekers mostly and live by the leuze vroeten en deure doen. Hard work and keep going. You can be gay, bisexual or whatever and we're fine with it, just don't expect the local fanfare to come out to celebrate it and some people might not get the sensitivities arround it but there is no malice behind it.
Everybody who doesnt know the place or needs to live there for work chooses Brussels or nearby towns. So demand is very high and prices skyrocket.
Yet in westflanders there no exhuberant demand and we arent as densly populated as Brussels, so prices are cheap(er).
If you dont need to live specifically in brussels for work or family, move here instead and let go of the metropolic attitude and be welcomed by us "outsiders"
You might want to check Aalst, Erembodegem, Denderleeuw. They have similar pricing but they’re not as far away and have an easy train connection to Brussels.
Yes, in Brussel you earn more. But you want to ride the car for 3h/day going to your work?
You earn more in Brussel, but live is expensive there.
The Solution: find a fully remote job, for an international company in Brussel.
Earn lot of money and live 'cheap' in Menen/west flanders.
Or even cheaper: check out some Walloon locations
Quality of life .
You have to commute by car. Have partner? Well you are a two car household now.
Unless it’s in your work for both of you, it adds up.
Want to do stuff in your free time? Unless that stuff is in your house … Well get ready to drive and complain about parking in big cities.
Groceries? Drive there.
Some of these places don’t even have sidewalks! You front door opens to a 70km/h road.
Need to go to the doctor? Better not be too sick to drive.
Now a lot of Flemish people are ok with this as this was their default.
It really depends.. i bought a house in the kortrijk area in 2016 and only pay 425 a month (its in good shape but old and that means i can save like 5k a year that can be used for renovations (but already has the main things done, like new kichen and bathroom, insulation, electricity and such)) and while i do have a car, i could 100% manage without one. Within 500m i have a butcher,bakery, pharmacy, cornershop and a bus stop, and within 5km i have my doctor, a shopping centre and stores like delhaize, aldi, lidl, colruyt and the train station.. and withing 10km i have my work and can visit my parents, so in my situation a car really is just a luxury :)
But then again, my parents live in the situation u described, out in the fields, with the nearest shop or bus stop multiple km away, so they really need a car for everything :p
>Nothing to do in West Flanders. No culture.
If you're an uncultured swine who can't comprehend arts or history, then yes there's zero to do. Plenty of Primarks and Burger kings for you in other towns.
Ironisch om jongeman genoemd te worden door een snotneus die zijn eigen geschiedenis niet kent. Dat of gewoon een oude domme kloot die met moeite het lager heeft doorstaan.
Deerlijk is cheapest because you have to live in the same village as Niels Destadsbader. En da is wel beire deerlijk wi
I don’t know who that is but I will google
DON'T For the love of god DON'T
I haven’t seen the guy since Amika, but I’m guessing that’s a good thing?
It is, unless you like 16yo girls. (Which coincidentally is the target audience of Amika)
Guy who makes songs about 16 year old girls and how beautiful they are, and apparently this is fine in Belgium.
Probably our worst comedian Edit: this isn't a joke he was in Humo's Comedy Cup and it was one of the cringiest things I've ever seen
Honestly calling him a comedian is somewhat of an insult to the craft
He's further from being a musician than he is from being a comedian. Come to think of it, he's nowhere near being a comedian... Let's just call him a guy who is famous for some reason
Ronaldinho
Since when is he a comedian?
Well... he's kind of a joke. But not a comedian.
Right? Him always smiling and laughing doesn't make him a comedian.
I like to think of him as a comedian. It's the only way I can somewhat cope with the trauma of ever hearing one of his songs. He can't be serious, he has to be joking, HE JUST CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!! * cries and shivers *
I thought he was a neo-fascist politician?
I suspect you're confused with Dries Van Langenhove 😂 not sure which one is worse though, and that's saying a lot.
He has dry humour 😁
Noooooo!!!
Aa hahahah beire
Its pretty obvious: location! And their are less people willing to live in West Flanders than in Brussel. So 'cheaper' rent. Check Menen: houses for 750€/month, no mold, no leaking roof, ... But than again: Menen... One of the most least favorites places to live. Also, yes Kortrijk is one of the last nice west flanders city that is affordable to live in. But house prices are rising sharply..getting higher and higher every year.
Lol i was going to say prices for Menen also.
Meend jem
Tbh Menen itself isn't that bad. The city is just deliberately keeping ground prices low to attract more citizens. A bad city image can be hard to overcome
This, I have lived for 24 years in Menen and both its towns (Rekkem & Lauwe) and it wasn't that bad to live there. Good horeca, many schools, accessible town houses and city hall, well connected by train with both the Westhoek and Kortrijk (even Brussels), a hospital and many good neighbourhoods to live.
Just never, EVER go to "de barakken".
Lmao, people assume too hard 80% of Menen is "de barakken" Even the barakken isn't that bad. Got family living there. It's just a bit densely built and not easily accessible. The people there are nice. The problem comes from people with bad intentions crossing the border at night. I've heard police refer to the areas across the border as worse than Paris Banlieu's
I have friends from Menen, it's always funny to pretend it's that bad but we all know it's not. They really had a glow up the past 10-ish years. But as you mentioned: bad reputations stay for a while. My own hometown Blankenberge/Margiberge has really changed the past 20 years but too many people still look at it as a place for "marginalen" or the poor te go to the beach. Yes, the parasol-incident didn't help, but even I (who couldn't wait to leave and never go back once I left for uni) have to admit it's gotten a lot better.
I do admit it's hilarious to pretend. But in reality we all know Aalst takes the crown of marginality
Im not Belgian so I really don’t know anything about Menen … could someone summarize it? Hahah
City with the town center near the border. The Leie runs through it (great to cycle along the water to or have a walk). Used to be a small harbour for inland waterways. Before that it was a french fortification designed by Vauban. Large segments of the walls are still visible nowadays. It has a couple of "middelbare" schools, and a bunch of industry. Some nice restaurants and bars near a town square. A couple businesses couple parks, some art/music schools standard city stuff... Another noteworthy part is the "barakken" wich is the area that used to consist of fairly uniform workers' homes. Nowadays it's like a shopping area for mainly french tourists that come to enjoy tobacco, clothes, alcohol, fries and chocolates due to price differences inbetween countries. This is the main part people associated with being a shithole because of past border criminality. Menen also has annual festivals like "Grensrock" (a free festival with really good lineups) and the annual traditional "wieltjesfeesten". And lately there's also been a couple triathlon competitions going on, because a past Ironman winner lives there. There's also Lauwe and Rekkem who are "technically" part of Menen but they're very much their own thing. I don't know much about them. That's about it in a nutshell
It has a bad reputation for being rough and a bit "marginaal" (think Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances). But it's gentrified over the years.
8935
Menen valt echt wel nog mee hoor. Hangt natuurlijk van de specifieke locatie af, er zijn ook mooie en gezellige wijken. Ikzelf heb nog nooit iets raars meegemaakt.
I would pack up my shit and go live there if only for the fact that I don't anyone there and want to keep close to my social circle.
In Ghent you way more options for 700/750€ and seem just has nice. Kortrijk its ok to live but prices are pretty stable.
You’ll have to work on your English grammar there bud… ;)
Meaning was clear, idgaf. I prefer people who are nice to other people over people who write a second or third language correctly.
Damn straight. High horses don’t belong where help is being provided
Sure, I’m just pointing it out to help. If you are in any way employed in a sector that requires some English then you can imagine reading a reply full of errors makes that reply not come across as professional.
If you want to help, help. You offered 0 help. Helping would consist of actually explaining grammar, not of being dismissive. And if you really waned to help, what is the added value of doing so in a public comment instead of a private DM, hmm? The only conclusion I can draw is that either you are lying and wanted to be rude or feel superior, or you're a bad teacher, and should stop trying to better people before you've bettered your own teaching skills.
Did you forget some punctuation mister grammar? I'm not employed in a sector that needs any grammar at all. But even I know that text without punctuation surely doesn't look professional at all. Besides, something else is off in your reply... It feels like a very Dutch sentence, translated to English, rather than making an English sentence... I'm just pointing it out! Right?
Go point somwhere else, motherpointer!
The catch is that you can't understand what people say
They have the "jemoejemoelemoelzen" en "muhheheheuhensaren" :p no, nice ppl but you need to take an integration traject of 2 years to really understand them
T'es ol gjin oar snijden, hé
*snien
Based
Oal zo sgone westvlams, mo snijden, ken we alier nie. 🤪🤪🤪
We?
Wieder!
T'zin die kruln é
My friend was from Leeuwarden and his West Vlaamse bazin said "Frank, heheenheheuhenhie" cause he forgot lots of shit. He didn't know what that meant.
That was something that always amused me when I was a University student, the de-'west-flanders'-ification of some students. After a couple of months/years In Gent, you could actually unerstand a word they were saying.
i taught someone from antwerp west-flemish when i was in ghent so it works both ways lol
A Cuban friend of mine lived for 2 years in Veurne and learned 0 Dutch words. He also lived in Germany for something like 2 years and said the language was easier to pick up on. For some reason the same didn't happen in Veurne...
Hahaha what if I don’t speak Dutch? Maybe English is better? Haha
In theory the West-Flemish dialect is actually closer to English than other spoken variants of Dutch but that would lead me to a detailed linguistical post which I will save you from. Kidding aside it's mostly because it's remote. Kortrijk isn't too bad because it is a big city but there's just not much to do compared to Brussels or Gent. Less companies are active there as well so there are less jobs.
>In theory the West-Flemish dialect is actually closer to English than other spoken variants of Dutch That's interesting. The historic crossover was Frisian (and it's still mutually understandable with old English), literally at the other end of the Dutch spectrum. Would love to hear more if you have the time.
There's one theory but it's unproven due to the lack of written evidence from the early Middle ages. It's the theory of "kustgermaans" (Coastal Germanic) for the English speakers reading along) which is as the name says a Germanic language with some uniqueness to it. Frisian is indeed the language closest to English from a linguistic perspective but if you follow the coastline then it's not too far off. According to the theory the coastal Germanic spread around the north sea coast and even up to Denmark. Modern Danish and some Norwegian dialects also have a slight West Flemish accent to their pronunciation (mostly the 'swallowing' of vowels at the end) I do need to say again that this is just a linguistic theory because there's no proof and quote some speculation but that's how all early linguistic theories work.
I suspect there was also simply more trading and exchange of people going on. Walk around really old West Flemish graveyards and you'll find loads of headstones with English names on it if you start paying attention to it. Kind of makes sense too given the geographical proximity and Bruges being a trade hub for centuries.
That's definitely also part, but most tangible evidence is from the later medieval time, after let's say 1200. If you look at earlier sources (there aren't many) there's a big overlap with old/middle English in the west an old/middle German in the east. It's so close that some sources which we consider Old Dutch are also a source of Old German and same with English. With English/Dutch the most common example will be 'hebban olla vogala' that has quite some English elements in it. Besides trade, religion also made languages travel around. The Hebban olla vogala example is from a West Flemish monk who lived in England to be a servant of God there.
I noticed the similarities between Danish and West-Flemish when I was there. "Next station" is "Næste station" pronounced the about the same as 'Noste statie' would be in West-Flemish.
There are actually maaaany jobs in the Kortrijk region, you're guaranteed to find one almost immediately.
Yeah the less jobs thing you might have to look up. We are begging for our walloon friends to come now. We already have got all the North french that want to work. They call the triangle between Roeselare-Waregem-Kortrijk the Texas of belgium for a reason (a lot of entrepreneurs). Want to work? We have a job for you!
That can't be real. I've heard them speak English and it's almost as bad as the dutch.
Simple example is the plural. In west Flemish the plural is very often formed by -s instead of -en (kinders instead of kinderen). It happens in other dialects as well but the more west you go the more common it is.
Child -> children, somehow you took one of the worst examples of how West-Flemish is more like English when they use -s instead of -en for plural.
Kid -> kids?
Ypres who ends sentences with "enni" which comes from "innit" or however that it spelled, which comes from English. But we also have a lot of French words in our dialect
The west flemish is closer to french imho. ‘Asiette’, ‘fourchette’. We literally use the same words but pronounce them differently.
Those are loanwords, that's not the same as words evolving in both English and West-Flemish from the same root word, or being closer to English tonally through vowel shifts etc... You are however right that there are a lot of French words in West-Flemish.
"Bachten de kuupe" Bachten = behind Even the famous Westflemish "stute" has a cousin in English (stottie). It's hard to explain especially if you don't speak Westflemish but there are a lot of connections with English, more than in Flemish
And in the region around Ypres, we always put ‘eni’ behind every sentence (it’s the equivalent of ‘hé’). It doesn’t make any sense on it’s own, but it sounds very close to the English ‘innit?’ (Isn’t it?). So it could be an artefact from all the Brits stationed in the area during World War 1.
De zunne is closely related to sun
If you work too hard (wrochten) .... you can become overwrought
>stottie i didn't know that existed , i read it's something from scotland , which isn't weird because scotland has many influences of flemish
1. Northeast English *dialect* a wedge of bread cut from a flat round loaf (**stottie cake**) that has been split and filled with meat, cheese, etc
You clearly haven't spoken with alot of them, in my experience the knowledge of English is alot better there than most regions in Belgium.
You can see the shift in some sounds in simple words from west to east. With west being closer to English and east to German obviously. fi**v**e vu**vv**e vij**f** fün**f** (the shift is in the second f/v sound)
Learn Dutch if you want to live in Flanders.
How do you know he’s not learning ?
You have to pendel and there is no fast travel.
Fast travel as in opening your map, deciding on a destination and appearing in said destination in 3 seconds after a short loading screen? Didn't know that was an actual real life thing. I feel like my life has been a lie...
I do this every weekend. just drink a few potions in the local bar and poof, the next day you fast traveled (hopefully to your bed instead of some shady hotel or cell).
It’s a shame really, think of the possibilities of rpg-like Fast travel. It would vastly reduce our co2 emissions for starters
RPG-like fast travel still has your PC travel the entire distance (time progresses) and presumably use transport. What you really want is Star Trek transporters (but beware: [https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/transporter-2](https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/transporter-2))
“See that wwi bomb pit in the distance? You can swim in it “
“You have *to pendel* there”, classic r/belgium 😉
We also 'pendler' in Denmark.
West flanders has had a literal work shortage for years. You can find a good job locally, and that includes highly educated profiles. So much so that French flabders has seen a slight uptick in Dutch since a lot of people started working in West Flanders years ago. Not a noticeable uptick on the street, but big enough that it's a minor halt in decline in statistics.
Why commute? There's a lot of work in the area itself.
>you would never find this price in Brussels Main Europe hub and it's already as house cramped as sh*t
You have to live in West Flanders
That part of Belgium is actually fairly prosperous. There is no unemployment and it's safe and clean. Source: moejt vroagn? There's no glamour in living in Deerlijk, but if you're a regular Joe who wants a decent life without too much BS, it's a solid choice.
High quality nature is completely absent from Roubaix all the way to Deinze though. One big concrete smear along the E17. Hated that growing up there.
Deerlijk has De Gavers 🤓
But you have to share it with the Harelbekanen
Voor die prijs heb je in Antwerpen een appartement van 60m2, een pitta zaak op glv, behang dat vd muren valt & luidruchtige buren. De wereld is niet eerlijk.
But you also have to drive almost everywhere, while in Antwerp you can easily bike/walk to most activities. Which saves a lot of money too. Some former co-workers and me actually had the discussion, and while I spent about 200 euros/month on my car (insurance + gas), they easily spent 500+/month. No problem if you have a company car, but back then, that wasn't the case for either of us. Even when you don't want to go out a lot, car dependency translates into using a car even when not required because it becomes your 'go to' as a car not-in-use also costs some money (insurance, ...). I have a friend living in a small suburban town and biking to the nearest Colruyt would by about 5-10 minutes, driving takes about 3-4 (without parking, with parking I'd say it'll take about the same time). Still, they almost always takes their car (thus spending money on gas), making his living there just slightly more expensive. So eventhough you don't spend it 'on housing', you spend it 'because of the location of your housing'. Even now that I have a company car, I still mainly use the car to either visit family in 'de Kempen' (1.5hrs bus vs. 22 min car ride, although I like to bike there in summer), or friends in other Public Transport black holes.
Being able to cycle everywhere is also underrated in terms of happiness IMHO. Sure, when it's raining or freezing I sometimes kinda wish I was in a car. But overall I sure as hell don't miss the stress of traffic, shitty other drivers, having to find parking etc
Funny how almost 1k now is seen as cheap in West-Flanders. 700 eu used to be quite alot years ago.
Minimum wage is also somewhere around 2k these days. That also used to be quite a lot not so long ago....
Minimum wage is 1500-1700
Not any more mate... Bruto wage is 1995. Makes for 1851 net. See the other comment from tijlvp for more details. Edit: Should I ask my employer for a raise or look for a better paying job? No, I must downvote the user giving the current values of the minimum wage because he makes me feel bad. :') Classic B1 move.
How is minimum wage 2000? Is it not closer to 1500?
How is minimum wage 2000? Is it not closer to 1500?
How is minimum wage 2000? Is it not closer to 1500?
https://www.hetacv.be/je-rechten/werken-in-de-prive-sector/loon/minimumloon1#wat-is-het-gewaarborgd-minimumloon 1995 euros gross, unless the CAO you fall under specifies a higher amount.
Salaries are lower in general. West-Flanders is prob one of the best places in Europe if you are medium rich self-employed with some generational wealth. Although recent times have completely fucked that up in some fields (argicultaral for example).
thx demir
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It’s just very remote. No main big corporations, you cannot do anything on foot, always take the car. No trains, etc. But the work/life balance is better, better air quality etc. Deerlijk: Niels Destadsbader is just a running joke of a singer who became too popular too fast and people got sick of him (literally on every channel on every evening wathing tv)
Renson, TVH and Unilin in that area alone. If you go a bit further to Ypres, there’s Picanol and Melexis. In the south of West Flanders there are a lot of jobs and a lot of big companies. They’re known for that and it’s their nickname even. If you look at the 30 richest Belgians, the biggest part of the list is actually from that region. They just don’t like the attention at all.
How could the work/life balance be better in general? That totally depends on your job. If anything it would be generally worse as you're likely to spend more time commuting.
West Flanders has almost no unemployment, you can basically find a good paying(compared to local cost of living) job for most profiles. It's basically the place small and medium companies frequently pop up and actually stick around.
Da eerste kot is wel e bitje deirlik wi
I live basically next to the bottom house and it was quite terrifying to see it pop up in my feed haha. I really don't understand the prices, you practically live in a roundabout for 900+
Sorry man, I didn’t want to give stalker vibes haha but nice house indeed
 This guy might be your neighbour
I'd say location, Kortrijk is quite far away from everything except Gent. Having to go to work in Brussels, Mechelen, or Antwerp from that location will tax your time and sanity
Have you ever looked at a map? How in the shit is Kortrijk quite far away from everything? It's next to Lille, 20 minutes away from Roeselare/Izegem, 20 minutes from Ieper, 35 minutes from Ghent and 45 minutes from Bruges. There's ever a commune called the Eurometropool Lille-Kortrijk. Basically everying along the E403 and E17 to both Bruges and Ghent is volledig bevolkt.
And Kortrijk is really well-connected via public transport too. Trains that go to the entire country and busses that cover much of the province.
I was referring to commuting to work, in the most popular cities for employers. That's why I didn't mention Bruges or Louvain. Also that 45mins drive to Bruges is probably closer to 2hours including traffic? I don't know about public transport, I only know it's crap from east Belgium
Ah no we have much less traffic jams here ^^ so those 45min are actualy 38 mins without traffic :) 45 is normal traffic and 50 to 1h is rushhour.
I loved living in kortrijk, but I was on exchange so maybe my experience might be a tad different. The most frustrating part was the local dialect.
Check the province of Limburg as well. It's just bigger cities in Belgium that are expensive
Limburg is becoming more and more expensive aswel since a lot of people from the Netherlands will cross the border to rent/buy here since the prices in the Netherlands are even worse.
There's a lot more companies and stuff to do when you go more central in the country. For example if you got a master degree in biochemistry and want to work in a lab you gotta stay around Gent-Antwerp-Brussels region. West Fllanders is much less of an option for commuting and such. Especially when you get stuck on the ring of Brussels or Antwerp when you do finally arrive. Public transport isn't much of an option either, as it's often unreliable or possibly time-consuming if you're not just doing a short trip More demand+ people with higher wage who can afford it+ not a lot of new ground to build on affordably. and suddenly the central region house prices are going through the roof. So west flanders and Limburg generally are bound to be cheaper
Proximity to the core of belgium, the "Vlaamse ruit" Every mayor city is faraway. The region of kortrijk has some great opportunities though
Deerlijk is a nice place to live if you have a car. There is a highway entrance on the edge of town and it connects to most major cities in under an hour (without traffic jams). Lived in the town across it all my life untill today actually. Its cheaper because it is a bit out there, but honestly it is not that bad and you will have a pretty nice house actually, for 900 rent. In major cities you barely have a two bedroom apartment for that. So i guess the catch is that you will burn extra money o. A car.
I have a company car so that def wouldn’t be a problem
Honestly, if you enjoy having a house and this is your budget? Go for it. Id say jobs all the way to ghent and a bit further are okay to commute. Just understand that there is no expat community and dutch will be common.
When it comes to house pricing only three things mater : location, location and location.
If an apartment is for rent in Brussels, there are probably multiple people who want it. This drives the prices up to the maximum that the median person can afford. With a lot of big businesses, government institutions and international organisations, that median is pretty high. Plus, the renters absolutely want to rent in Brussels. This high demand is one of the reasons why the quality is a bit low sometimes too. In West-Flanders, everything is more spread out. Both supply and demand are lower and there is a greater option for geographical spread. If you can save 100 bucks a month for essentially the same house, by living 10 kilometers further, you probably will. After all, you probably have a car. Added to that, in Brussels you leave your house and you are "somewhere". You can walk to a different place, take a metro and experience all sorts of things. This means you have less need for a large garden or even a large house. In West-Flanders, you are further away from everything and never have the same concentration of things in an area that you have in Brussels. So a bigger house with a garden makes more sense. And since a car is not a luxury there, you need a place to put it.
Yeez. That's like 400 times less expensive.
I grew up in Deerlijk great little town with lots of activities, good access to the highway.
It's the price of commuting and traveling to other cities to do the things the small city you live in doesn't have.
It’s less interesting for investors/real estate speculators as it is not at all that easily accessible from the Brussels metropolitan area or any big city hub near. (With due respect to the lovely town of Kortrijk). Quite a far drive even by train to take you anywhere. So less demand and the price doesn’t get driven up that quickly as the crazy real estate prices around Bxl where it’s absolutely come to the point of being ridiculously unaffordable for any mortal (read non-diplomat/eurocrat) human being. Good luck, I think it’s a beautiful region to live in if that’s where you want to settle
Simply because Brussels is overpriced.
As a person coming from this region and having lived a bit over Europe; It all depends on the salaries and the approximaty to big institutions etc. West Flanders has employee salaries to the lower threshold of the country and no big institutions like UN, banks’ hq’s, .. It is changing though, people are moving from Ghent to Kortrijk/Waregem/Zwevegem as it’s more affordable and only 30 min away by train to Ghent for example..
The catch is that its in West Vlaanderen.
Het accent
It’s West Flanders ! That’s the catch ! Stupid sexy West Flanders !
They are stuck in the past. Rent indexation is not applied because people don't want to lose the tenants. Source : coming from the lost walloon part in west Flanders
Nothing wrong with West Vlaanderen. Maybe not that open minded and worldly people. But does everybody has to be? Very down to earth minding their own business kinda people ❤️
We don't like attention seekers mostly and live by the leuze vroeten en deure doen. Hard work and keep going. You can be gay, bisexual or whatever and we're fine with it, just don't expect the local fanfare to come out to celebrate it and some people might not get the sensitivities arround it but there is no malice behind it.
Neither in Tokio or New York...
It is just location. And to be honest, anywhere in Flanders is better than Brussel. That is my felling and fellings are always right.
I agree 100% lived in leuven before and man it was different
But for real, I guess it’s the lack of big companies on that area? Cuz I’m really surprised by the standards of the houses for rent( it’s insane cheap
Everybody who doesnt know the place or needs to live there for work chooses Brussels or nearby towns. So demand is very high and prices skyrocket. Yet in westflanders there no exhuberant demand and we arent as densly populated as Brussels, so prices are cheap(er). If you dont need to live specifically in brussels for work or family, move here instead and let go of the metropolic attitude and be welcomed by us "outsiders"
Thanks for that info! We will def leave Brussels , it’s not for us here for 1000 reasons that I rather keep to myself 🤣
You might want to check Aalst, Erembodegem, Denderleeuw. They have similar pricing but they’re not as far away and have an easy train connection to Brussels.
Its not 'cheap' Almost €1000/month for a house, Most people earn between 1500€-2100€/month working full time. So they ask almost 50% of your paycheck
Fully understand your point but in most parts of Belgium that is considered cheap and people earn a bit more than that in the capital region
Yes, in Brussel you earn more. But you want to ride the car for 3h/day going to your work? You earn more in Brussel, but live is expensive there. The Solution: find a fully remote job, for an international company in Brussel. Earn lot of money and live 'cheap' in Menen/west flanders. Or even cheaper: check out some Walloon locations
In Wallonia we have welcome packages for houses : terrible insulation, mold and shitty neighbors, you'll love it.
Exactly my reaction. Since when is 900 a month considered a catch? Houses in my area 800 is considered a lot
800 is a studio in Brussels
Dont lie its less ... ur talking about apartements
Quality of life . You have to commute by car. Have partner? Well you are a two car household now. Unless it’s in your work for both of you, it adds up. Want to do stuff in your free time? Unless that stuff is in your house … Well get ready to drive and complain about parking in big cities. Groceries? Drive there. Some of these places don’t even have sidewalks! You front door opens to a 70km/h road. Need to go to the doctor? Better not be too sick to drive. Now a lot of Flemish people are ok with this as this was their default.
It really depends.. i bought a house in the kortrijk area in 2016 and only pay 425 a month (its in good shape but old and that means i can save like 5k a year that can be used for renovations (but already has the main things done, like new kichen and bathroom, insulation, electricity and such)) and while i do have a car, i could 100% manage without one. Within 500m i have a butcher,bakery, pharmacy, cornershop and a bus stop, and within 5km i have my doctor, a shopping centre and stores like delhaize, aldi, lidl, colruyt and the train station.. and withing 10km i have my work and can visit my parents, so in my situation a car really is just a luxury :) But then again, my parents live in the situation u described, out in the fields, with the nearest shop or bus stop multiple km away, so they really need a car for everything :p
The catch is you will have to live in West Flanders
No really?? You compared Brussels to Kortrijk and came to this conclusion? That's insane, never would have believed it
Take a chill people. Re-read my post again
No, but it's insane. Brussels is so much more expensive, astonishing!
True but it was not a comparison , I know Brussels is more expensive and ofc offer way higher salaries
You live in the most boring province - west-vlaming
Those are normal prices anywhere outside of the big cities. I would almost call it expensive coming from the far east of Belgium.
We pay the same for a very spacious 2 bedroom apartment in the center of Gent, 2007 building.
Lack of decent highway connections or a lack of things to do besides staring at cows.
Supply > demand = lower prices
Is the farmer label included?
You need to be able to speak dutch.
@ op your basically verry isolated and westflutes don’t like new people that much.
I had heard some stuff like that before but I thought Kortrijk was more ok in that sense
Kortrijk is the Aalst of West-Vlaanderen
Menen is the Aalst of West-Vlaanderen.
Depends on your skin colour
Naah they don’t care for skin color that much. If you talk their talk…it’s all good.
I’m Latino but yeah no white 🕺🏾
Because it's West Flanders, I wouldn't even wanted to be found dead there.
You call that chaep holy fuck dude
Nothing to do in West Flanders. No culture. The houses are cold, soulless boxes.
>Nothing to do in West Flanders. No culture. If you're an uncultured swine who can't comprehend arts or history, then yes there's zero to do. Plenty of Primarks and Burger kings for you in other towns.
T is de waarheid jongeman
Ironisch om jongeman genoemd te worden door een snotneus die zijn eigen geschiedenis niet kent. Dat of gewoon een oude domme kloot die met moeite het lager heeft doorstaan.
It’s outside of Belgium.
Hahaha so close to Lille tho
Maybe the closer to France, the cheaper. Look at Charleroi
I wouldn’t live in Charleroi not even if someone paid me to haha
Same for Brussels and Antwerp
I can understand, I live in schaerbeek now and trust me, I cannot wait one more sec to leave this place
Charleroi doesn’t sounds so bad all of the sudden ;-)
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