BRUSSELS: The bilingual greeting of a train ticket inspector to a Flemish passenger has sparked a political war of words — and an official complaint — in language-divided Belgium.

The European country’s language watchdog said on Thursday it was investigating after a Dutch-speaking commuter protested a conductor’s use of “bonjour”, French for “good morning”, to welcome him on board. The incident took place in October on a rush-hour train from Mechelen, in Flanders, to the nearby capital, Brussels.

Writing on Facebook, Ilyass Alba, the French-speaking conductor, said that on the day in question he greeted passengers entering his carriage with a resounding “goeiemorgen, bonjour”.

The use of both the Dutch and French greetings wasn’t good enough for a Dutch-speaking passenger who told him off saying: “We’re not in Brussels yet, you have to use Dutch only!”.

The passenger was technically right, as under Belgium’s complex language rules conductors should in theory use both languages only in Brussels and a few other bilingual regions.

“The file is under review,” the Permanent Commission for Linguistic Control said, adding it would ask national railway operator SNCB for more information on its enforcement of language policies.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2024