Taking a Look at Belgium Culture

If one walks through one of the large cities’ streets in our country. They will hear and experience a variety of languages. Our history and tradition of being a land of immigrants is reflected in the languages we speak. This means that the USA is home to a vast number of languages, one would be hard pressed to find a language that is not spoken in the U.S. The official list as the number of languages spoken in the United States go as high as 322. The most spoken and prominent languages in the country being English, Spanish, and French. English has the highest number of speakers with 215 million. Spanish is the second most spoken language with 28 million speaker. The French language is the third most spoken language with a million and a

1) Because of differing state policies when approaching multiple languages, Belgium only gains antagonism from multiple languages while Switzerland has more unity. Belgium gives autonomy to regions based on the two differing languages they speak, which creates more difference. Switzerland has four national languages, because they are using their diversity as a unifying factor rather than a dividing one.

From doing this first assignment project, I learned how focused the French culture is on art and how involved it is in their everyday lives. Art can come in so many forms in the French culture, a few being paintings, sketches, sculpting, and making music. As well as this, I learned about Impressionism which is a form of art that specifically came from the French culture in the 1870s and the 1880s. This form of art was created by a group of Impressionists whom were all French. Lastly, I learned how the French culture is full of elegance and love, which is also displayed through their artwork as well.

Gern1any consists of sixteen separate states, who govern themselves, with the largest of them being Bavaria. Gern1any is bordered by many thriving nations such as Austria, Switzerland, and Luxembourg which have all chosen German as the national language. This superpower of a country has left its mark on many culture Though the Netherlands and Gern1any are separate lands they share the same ancestors of the Germanic race. Some Northern Germans speak in a dialect that is sounds close to the Dutch language that it can be picked up in mannerisms by natives. German is the most taught language around the world and is made 35 different dialects.

Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium is a sovereign state in Western Europe. Belgium is one of 28 members of NATO, which is based in Brussels, Belgium. They are basically all allies, when a country attacks a member everyone else helps defend that country. Belgium is also a founder of the European Union. It has a Constitutional Monarchy is a type of government in which governing powers of the monarch are restricted by a constitution. The closest allies to Iceland are Norway, Canada and the United States.

The Democratic Republic of Congo formerly known as Belgian Congo and Zaire is the 11th largest country in the world with an area of 2,344,858 sq. km. It is located in Central Africa just northeast of Angola. There are over 200 African ethnic groups in the country of which the majority are Bantu. It has a population of about 79 million people. Widely spoken languages are French, Kingwana and Lingana.

Canada is one of many countries today that speak French. One of the provinces in Canada, Québec, though there can be some people who speak English, mainly speak French. Where the official language is French, many citizens, typically those of which that live in the metropolitan region of Montréal, become bilingual and learn both French and English.

Exposure of the indigenous people of North America to Euro-American cultures reflects within Native American art. Euro-Americans here being used as term for Europeans and their descendants who emigrated to North America. From the point Europeans traveled in large numbers to America they caused severe changes in the peoples who lived in North America. Due to the trade with Europe and the crops they brought to North America, indigenous peoples were able to expand the materials they used for their art. Forced integration, migration, and fighting with Euro-Americans created changes within the stories represented in their visual culture. Examples of changes caused by trade can be seen in a Potawatomi bag from

2.In Canada only two languages are famous, English and French. These are two official languages however diversity even in small towns are increasing the languages used. But Toronto, China town, Arabic, Italian, etc. each using their own languages.

Belgium, a really small country, is located in northwestern Europe. The neighboring countries are the Netherlands to the North, Germany to the East, Luxembourg

Vietnamese by birth, my parents were the first in their families to immigrate to this land of infinite opportunities in pursuit of a higher education and superior life. Although they have somewhat assimilated American culture into their lives and allowed my brother and I to absorb it, they haven’t let us forget our Vietnamese heritage. Being integrated into Vietnamese culture, its ancient history, language, and old fashioned customs, has caused me to reconcile and balance the differences between the typical life of an American child and the one imposed upon me by my parents’ deep-rooted traditional beliefs.

As I tagged along my parents to everywhere they go, many people, especially from my native culture, complimented on my ability to understand and to speak Vietnamese. This was what my parents have been extremely proud of. Growing up, I had the pleasure of living in two very different cultures. One of which is a culture I had easily assimilated to, while the other is a heritage that I must not forget.

Music is a part of everyday life. Musical genres in Belgium vary from the classical to hip hop. Many famous classical composers are Belgian Cesar Franck, Guillaume Lekeu and Wim Mertens were born in Belgium. The jazz scene in Belgium has attained international acclaim with popular bands such as Octurn, Maak's Spirit, and Aka Moon. The most renowned jazz musicians in Belgium are guitarist Philip Catherine and harmonicist Toots Thielemans. Popular Belgian bands include Hooverphonic, Axelle Red, Vaya Con Dios, and K's Choice. As for Belgian hip hop they have Starflam, CNN0 and Stormae

Holland homes usually have small front doors and big windows that stand out. Their houses are full of large amounts of furniture, plants, and flowers, they're crowded but clean and in order. Holland houses are packed together and are highly populated. The Dutch style appeared after Spain and Holland were divided in 1581. Rich Dutch sellers started building fairly small but impressive houses, that were high, deep, and thin overlooking a canal, in Amsterdam. Modern became the main style after World War ll, when the prices of houses started rising. Rotterdam is one example of this. Rotterdam was severely damaged after World War ll, the main part of the city was rebuilt by Americans. The American style was steel and glass skyscrapers. Hollands lands were divided in rectangles and mondrian- like squares to save room. The Netherlands have a complicated network for railroads and thicker bicycle paths. Some people would even have church at their houses

In the first stage, which is called pre-encounter, black children incorporate the values and beliefs of a Eurocentric culture, as they are unaware of their status and their group membership has yet to be realized. At some point in a child’s life, life and circumstance will bring about situations in which they will reflect on what it is to be black, after which they will continue on to the next phase, which is called the encounter stage. In this stage a young person has a newly found sense of awareness in which they are able reflect on what it means to be a part of a group that is at a