Locale Nl Be
Use when working with the Dutch (Belgium) locale (`nl-BE`) — its endonym Nederlands (België), Latin script, left-to-right (LTR) direction, or spoken-population data. Reference data and translation guidance (register, grammar, idiom, typography) for this specific locale; see [[locale]] for general i18n/l10n concepts (BCP 47, plural rules, RTL) that apply across all locales.
Reference data for the Dutch (Belgium) locale — endonym Nederlands (België), written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).
Identifiers
- BCP 47 tag:
nl-BE - ISO 639-1:
nl - ISO 639-3:
nld - Script: Latn (Latin)
- Region: BE (Belgium)
- Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)
Speakers (approximate)
- L1 (native): 6,500,000
- L2 (additional): 500,000
- L1+L2 (total): 7,000,000
Base locale
This is a regional variant of Locale Nl 001 (Dutch), the base/macro locale for this language.
Pluralization
CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, other (2 forms).
- one —
i = 1 and v = 0(e.g. 1) - other — everything else (e.g. 0, 2~16, 100, 1000, …)
See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.
Translating into this locale
Apply Locale Nl 001 with Flemish (Belgian Dutch) conventions. Standard Flemish writing follows the same Taalunie spelling, but vocabulary, politeness, and some grammar differ.
- Register: "u" is more widespread in Flanders than in the Netherlands, especially in service text; "je" is accepted in consumer content. The spoken "gij/ge" is colloquial and not used in standard writing.
- Vocabulary: "GSM" (mobile phone), "kot" (student room), "schrijven" and other region-specific words. Use terms that Flemish readers recognize; Taalunie's Woordenlijst marks region-specific words.
- Institutions: Belgium has three languages; keep official Dutch names for Flemish bodies and bilingual forms for Brussels.
- Formats: euro; day-month-year; decimal comma; 24-hour clock.
Common pitfalls
- Using Dutch-Netherlands vocabulary and the casual tone of the Netherlands in formal Flemish contexts.
- Using spoken "gij" forms in writing.
- The general pitfalls in Locale Nl 001 also apply.
Learn more
- Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
- Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
- Taalunie, Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal (https://woordenlijst.org)
- Taaladvies.net (https://taaladvies.net)