LinguaTrans is a translation agency providing language services in Belgium for public and private clients of all kinds: from private individuals in need of a sworn translation to large projects of renowned companies and institutions. Here is a little bit about Belgium and why it is so important to us.

Belgium, whose official name is the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country on the European continent founded in 1830 and currently has a population of 11,549,888 inhabitants. It is one of the 27 sovereign states of the European Union. Its capital, Brussels, is the seat of most of the European institutions. It is a multilingual country with three official languages: French, Dutch and German.

With a total area of 30,688K^M2, Belgium is located in the north-west of the European continent. It is bordered to the north by the Netherlands and the North Sea, to the south and southwest by France, and to the east by Germany and Luxembourg. It is a federal state divided into ten provinces, three linguistic communities and three regions. As for the linguistic communities, we find: the Flemish community, the French community and the German community.
The Flemish community is located in the Flemish region and the city of Brussels, with an estimated 58% of the population belonging to this group; 42% of the population belongs to the French community, located in Wallonia and Brussels (a bilingual region shared by these two communities); and the German community is located in the east of the country, on the border with Germany, in the province of Liège, with less than 1% of the total population belonging to it. The regions largely coincide with the linguistic communities: the Walloon Region, to which five provinces belong and includes the French and German communities; the Flemish Region, to which the other five provinces belong; and the Brussels-Capital Region, comprising only the city of Brussels.

POLITICS AND ECONOMY OF BELGIUM

Politically, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a king, who is the head of state, and a prime minister, who is the head of government. The supreme rule of Belgian law is the Constitution, but only in Belgian domestic law, as in 1971 the supremacy of international and supranational law over domestic law was affirmed. Therefore, if an EU regulation and the Constitution conflict, the EU regulation prevails.

On the foreign policy front, Brussels is also home to the headquarters of NATO, of which Belgium is a member. Furthermore, it advocates that EU countries that are part of NATO should coordinate their positions. It is also an active member of the United Nations and, as a former colonial power, is particularly sensitive to African issues. Especially towards the countries that were part of its empire: the Belgian Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.

In terms of the economy, the primary sector accounts for a very small percentage of the country’s GDP. The secondary sector accounts for 20 % and the tertiary sector for 79.7 %. In the secondary sector, the chemical, metallurgy and transport materials industries stand out. Industry is mainly concentrated in the Flanders region and manufacturing is one of the most important sectors. The tertiary sector is the most important sector of the Belgian economy and employs about 80 % of the population.

TOURISM AND CULTURE

2018 saw an increase in tourism to the country, making it the second most popular tourist destination in the EU, behind Latvia. This is not surprising, since it is a country with a very rich culture, from its gastronomy or its artists, to its impressive medieval cities such as Bruges, Ghent or Antwerp Belgium is known for chocolate, beer, waffles and chips with mayonnaise; in fact, French fries are an extremely popular food. One of their best known and most extravagant dishes is fried potatoes with mussels.

Belgium also excels in painting, with names such as Jan van Eyck, author of the altarpiece The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb or  Peter Paul Rubens, author of The Descent from the Cross or Samson and Delilah. In addition, in Belgium we can find several places declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, such as the historic centre of Bruges or the Grand-Place in Brussels.

TRANSLATION IN BELGIUM