The use and impact of English and migrant languages in Brussels

Brussels is characterized by the presence of two traditional language communities on which the whole political system, based on complex checks and balances, is constructed. Globalization with its inherent influx of immigrants and the international role of Brussels as seat of the EU-institutions and other important international organizations turned it into a multilingual and multicultural city. This linguistic shift provokes tensions and conflicts implying the precarious balance between the two traditional language groups and puts pressure on the political system itself regarding the implementation of the language laws in the given context. This presentation, based on survey research conducted in 2000, 2006 and 2011,  explores the impact of these different ‘other’ languages on the linguistic reality of the city, on the bilingual political model (administration, education …), on the realignment of the postwar political cleavages and on the identification with different ethnic, linguistic and geographical markers .