Transcript of the video

Hello everyone. Today, we're going to talk about Belgium. More specifically, Belgian French. You know, it's 5:45 p.m. everywhere in Belgium.

A few months ago, I made a video on the differences between French in France and French in Belgium. You loved that video. So I've decided to do another one where I'll teach you more words, more differences between these two French languages.

Of course, I've prepared a downloadable sheet with all these words, with all these differences between French from France and French from Belgium. To download this sheet, just click on the link in the description of this video.

An important thing to know before you start is that if you use French words from France in Belgium, we'll understand you just fine, even if we may use other words. However, the reverse is not true. If you use Belgian French words in France, we won't necessarily understand you.

Let's start with frigolite.

Frigolite in Belgium, polystyrene in France. For example, if you buy a television, it will be surrounded by polystyrene or frigolite to protect it.

I just bought a new fridge. It was surrounded by frigolite in its box.

Second word, a bell. In Belgium, if I say I have a bell, in France it means I have a light bulb.

It's an injury you often get on your feet, or sometimes on your hands if you're climbing. I walked for five hours with bells all over my feet.

A burgomaster in Belgium and a mayor in France.

The person who runs a town or city. It is the person who has been elected by the town's inhabitants to run it. The burgomaster organizes many cultural events in his city to attract more tourists.

Une clinche. In France, we'd say a handle or a doorknob. A clinch is what you use to open a door. My door handle is broken.

I can't open the door.

In Belgium and France, we call our hair curly. When you don't have straight hair, it forms spirals. In Belgium, it's collés, and in France, it's bouclés.

Plasticine and modelling clay, in France.

Plasticine is a paste. I think it's a mixture of wax and oil. It's usually colored, and children play with it. They'll make shapes. The children played with plasticine all afternoon. They made plasticine snails.

A baking tray in Belgium and a hob in France. It's where you cook to make food, to cook. I turned on the hob to boil the pasta water.

I find this one much simpler in Belgium.

A pull cord. In France, we call this a zipper. It's a mechanism very often found on clothes, backpacks and suitcases. It closes things.

I broke the zipper on my coat closing it.

A cumulet. In Belgium, a cumulet is what we often do at school, in sports class, in gym class. You put your head between your hands and roll forward. In France, we call it a roulade. I did ten cumulets in a row and my head was spinning.

This one makes a lot more sense in Belgium, and I'll tell you why.

It's the verb doubler. Doubler, in this context, is used to say that you missed a year at school and have to repeat it. I missed my third year, so I'm doubling up.

I'm going to repeat this year at school. In France, the French say "redoubler". I'm repeating my third year. But that doesn't make sense, because normally, if you look at the word "redoubler", it means a third time.

You've already doubled once and you're repeating. But that's the word the French use. In Belgium, "doubler", in France, "redoubler".

A bundle. We stay in the world of school. A folder is where you put all your sheets of paper with your class notes. I forgot my folder in class. I can't do my homework. In France, a folder is called a classeur.

A lath. You use a lath in Belgium to measure. Use your lath to measure the sides of this triangle. In France, we call this object a ruler.

A pencil case. A pencil case is where you put your pencils, pens, glue and scissors when you go to school.

A pencil box.

In France, we'd call it a trousse, a kit. I don't have an eraser in my pencil case. Can you lend me yours?

Impalpable sugar.

Impalpable means we can't grasp it. We can't take it in our hands. Impalpable sugar is white sugar that looks a bit like flour. In France, we call it powdered sugar.

I ate my strawberries with whipped cream and impalpable sugar.

A Baxter. Sometimes, when you're in hospital, they put a Baxter in your arm. They put a needle in and it's linked to a bag with, for example, an antibiotic in it. Baxter is actually a brand name, but it's the word we almost always use in Belgium. In France, we call it a perfusion.

My uncle is in hospital. He can't move from his bed because he has a Baxter.

Be careful, this one is very difficult to pronounce. It's a cuistax. A cuistax. In Belgium, cuistax are mostly found on the North Sea coast. In France, we call it a pedal car or a rosalie.

We rented a cuistax and rode around all afternoon.

A mishmash. I love this word because I don't know its equivalent in French. A mêle-tout is a person who takes care of things that don't concern him or her. They go and take care of other people's business.

Thibault is a real meddler. He's always telling me what to do when it's none of his business.

Sonner. Of course, ringing the doorbell is used just as much in Belgium as in France. But in Belgium, we also use "sonner" to mean to telephone. Can you ring me this afternoon? I'm busy at the moment. It's mainly older people who use the term "sonner" instead of "téléphoner".

The last two words are part of the student universe. The first is a "kot". If you talk to Belgians who are students, or to parents who have children who are students, you're bound to hear the word "un kot" (K-O-T). A kot is a shared student apartment.

It's an apartment in which several students will be living. My kot is five minutes from the university. It's very convenient.

And last but not least, the verb "guindailler" is once again used mainly by students. And "la guindaille". That's the name. La guindaille is a party, but more specifically a student party. We had a great time last night.

We've been having a good time. I'm going out to Louvain-la-Neuve tonight. Louvain-la-Neuve is a student town in Belgium. That's it, the video's over. I hope you enjoyed it and learned a little more about the nuances between Belgian French and French from France.

Don't hesitate to use these words if you go to Belgium. The Belgians will always be glad you know them. And don't forget, if you want to review all these words, perhaps because you've got a trip to Belgium planned soon, you can download the lesson sheet by clicking on the link in the video description.

If you liked this video, put a "like" and if you are not yet a subscriber, subscribe and activate the bell so you don't miss any of my videos.

I'll see you soon.