Most people here have very sensible things to say, but I would like to add one more thing. I am Flemish, and during my training as an interpreter, I was taught to use 'standard' Dutch in the booth.

SHORTLY before the war, the eminent Dutch essayist Menno ter Braak attended an international writers’ congress in Paris. Many distinguished writers had spoken before him, and the audience was very ...

I went to Brussels in September last year, and learnt some Dutch to use when I got there, but found that not one person there spoke a word of Dutch/Flemish. Instead I spoke in French all the time ...