louvain belgium

[TunjiLees]

A useless anecdote, but I actually live in Leuven!   (which is the Dutch name. Louvain is the French name, and Leive the Flemish one)

[Viktoria]

Well Tunjilees, that surprises me,  during the years when we lived n Belgium ( from 1965 -1976) the students were struggling to get the lectures at Leuven University delivered in Flemish instead of French and the slogan was "Leuven Vlaamse". This was plastered all over public buildings and chanted whilst the said students were defying the police  charges and chucking the dug up road setts at them.My husband gave a lift to two students from Holland  who were travelling to join and support the protest. They had a banner with "Leuven Vlaamse" on it, not because they were Dutch but because that was the "official"slogan.
I can`t think why a map printed in Belgium would have Leuven as the town`s name if that is the Dutch name. People confuse Flemish and Dutch ,they are very similar but not the same-- for example sinaasappelen and appelsienen for oranges.Perhaps I am teaching my grandma to suck eggs, but I have never known that name for Leuven and I am very interested to hear more.Viktoria.

[TunjiLees]

Well a lot of people confuse Belgian Dutch and Flemish.
Belgian Dutch, 99% the same as Hollandic Dutch, is the official language, which is written but pretty much only spoken by newscasters, professors and children in certain regions.
Flemish can usually mean two things:
-The spoken language mostly used in Flanders, which is a mixture of the Flemish dialects with a pronunciation close to Standard Dutch.
-Any of a number of Flemish dialects, the main groups of which are: Flemish Brabants, Antwerpian, West Flemish, East Flemish and Limburgish.

Foreigners, including Netherlanders, often confuse this and use the terms Belgian Dutch and Flemish interchangeably, which can be confusing and is not a reflection of the linguistic reality. Flemish has no official recognition: the official language of Flanders is Dutch.

It's normal "Leuven Vlaams" (without the 'e') was written, because that's the standard language.
"Leive" is the name of the town in the Flemish Brabants. "Leuven" is the name in Dutch. The "Vlaams" probably referring to Flemish as in Flemish community, not language.
Flemish place-names are not used so much anymore due to influence from the standard language.

Sinaasappel/appelsien are both Standard Dutch words, though the former is widely used in the Netherlands and the later in Flanders. A difference between Dutch and Flemish is for example "de appel" in Dutch and "den appel" in Flemish.

I'm a student at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven by the way.

[kdu]

Thank you all for your messages and for taking the time to reply. I believe the family mystery has been solved!

[Viktoria]

Hi Tunjilees, thank you for the information and my apologies for the extra  e which I put on             Vlaams(e),it is a long time since I lived in Gent.
I did send a reply yesterday but must have not posted it properly----old age creeping  up on me!
I found it very interesting to see how the language or rather the spelling had changed so much over the years, just one example , menschen is now mensen isn`t  it.                                                      I  I remember the older ladies of the "British Colony" who would not use Flemish at all and only understood French,they were really snobbish about it .I liked to use Flemish although I made some embarrassing mistakes but found the Flemish people were so pleased I was willing to try they were very understanding and helped a lot.
I compliment you on your excellent English and wish you success with your studies. Kind regards. Viktoria.

[Louvain]

Hi

I have been researching my family's history over the last few years and am now looking for the leap from Louvain to Ireland.  My mother 'Louvain" was told by her Grandmother that the family were originally Hugenots who had come to Ireland when the persecution had started in Europe.  The family name is SAUSSE.

This is how I found your message.

Regards
Phyllis