Sir, - Your correspondent in Brussels, Patrick Smyth (The Irish Times, September 18th) depicts the French-speaking Belgians as the victims in a language war with the Flemings. He must be joking or else quite naive! For centuries, the Flemish (Dutch) language was aggressively discriminated against in both the Belgian and French parts of Flanders. For example, school children were punished and ridiculed if caught speaking Flemish. The result is that Flemish has almost entirely died out in French Flanders. Large parts of Belgian Flanders have also been Frenchified, especially Brussels, its capital, as up to the present century French was imposed as the only official language.
All that the Flemings are attempting to do is what others, e.g. the Quebecois and the Welsh, have also achieved quite successfully elsewhere, namely defending their native language. There is no question of exporting Flemish beyond the borders of Flanders - unlike the attitude taken by its southern neighbours!
I assume that Patrick Smyth has learned some French during his sojourn in Brussels - but little or no Flemish. His informants appear to be mainly francophone. He describes some excessive zeal bordering on silliness on the Flemish side, while completely ignoring similar abuses by Frenchspeakers, e.g. the fanatical closing down of a Flemish kindergarten school in Wallonia.
Patrick Smyth shows a striking lack of empathy for the historical underdogs in an increasingly Frenchified Brussels. His biased article exemplifies how very difficult it is for the voice of minority linguistic groups to be heard and understood. This is quite surprising, given Ireland's own similar history. - Yours, etc., Michael M. Delmonte,
Trafalgar Terrace, Monkstown, Co Dublin.