Belgian French

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Belgian French
French of Belgium
français de Belgique (French)
Native to	Belgium
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Romance Italo-Western Western Romance Gallo-Romance Oïl French Belgian French
Early forms	Old Latin Vulgar Latin Proto-Romance Old Gallo-Romance Old French
Writing system	Latin (French alphabet) French Braille
Official status
Official language in	Belgium  DR Congo  Rwanda  Burundi
Regulated by	Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Linguasphere	51-AAA-i
IETF	fr-BE

Belgian French (French: français de Belgique), also known as Walloon French (French: français Wallon), is the variety of French spoken mainly among the French Community of Belgium, alongside related Oïl languages of the region such as Walloon, Picard, Champenois, and Lorrain (Gaumais). The French language spoken in Belgium differs very little from that of France or Switzerland. It is characterized by the use of some terms that are considered archaic in France, as well as loanwords from languages such as Walloon, Picard, and Dutch.^[1] The variety is also an official language in the former Belgian colonies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, with the latter two being co-official with English.

French is one of the three official languages of Belgium alongside Dutch and German. It is spoken natively by around 40% of the population, primarily in the southern region of Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region.