Even though Dutch was already the official language in Flanders at the time of my birth, my parents were of the opinion, that since that we were Belgian, it was necessary to be able to express ourselves in both Dutch and French. As a consequence, I was raised in Dutch by my parents, and at the same time, they have taught me French from the age of three onwards, when I was sufficiently proficient in Dutch to be able to learn a second language.
Subsequently, I can remember very well selling flowers for sea shells at the beach in De Panne, and that I did so in French. I was about 5 or 6 years old at the time. When I first started learning French at school, I was 8 years old, and as a consequence, I was already able to speak a little bit of French. It is clear that my parents were convinced that knowing French was a necessity in order to find work, or even in order to survive in life.
Incidentally, I have always obtained good grades for French during my school career. But, contrary to this, this does not mean that my French was always good. “Thanks” to a French teacher during high school, who was not really well suited to be a teacher, I have lost interest for my paternal language. After high school and receiving my high school diploma, I started studying English, and after that, I decided to become a social worker.
During my professional career, being proficient in French has helped me a lot. Even now that I am not working anymore, my French proficiency is still of help. And maybe, I like French even better than I did before!
And that is probably the reason why I wanted to state that my heart is Walloon, but my tongue is Flemish.
