22-07-2025
In Belgium, it's Bonjour that's causing trouble — not Hi
By
Sometimes, it's saying 'Bonjour' — not 'Hi' — that gets a service worker in trouble.
In Belgium's Dutch-speaking Flanders region, a train ticket inspector is facing official backlash for greeting a passenger with 'Goedendag-Bonjour' instead of just 'Goedendag' — a reminder that language sensitivities aren't unique to Quebec.
'That a commission would say adding 'Bonjour' alongside 'Goedendag' is somehow illegal or a violation — it's a real shame,' Ilyass Alba, the train employee, said in a video posted on social media.
'It's regrettable that in 2025, in this era of globalization, someone would say: 'Hey, you can't do that because of a 1966 language law.''
The Dutch-speaking passenger filed a complaint last year with Commission permanente de Contrôle linguistique (CPCL), Belgium's language watchdog.
Because the interaction occurred in a Dutch-speaking area, Alba should have started the conversation with 'Goedendag,' the commission said in a statement last week.
The CPCL said Alba could have continued in French but only if the passenger had responded in French.
The language clash occurred as the train was approaching officially bilingual Brussels, where a Dutch-French greeting would have been allowed.
Reached by The Gazette on Monday, Alba said he was not authorized to speak to reporters. He noted that his employer — Belgium's national railway — 'considers the case closed.'
The Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges (SNCB) has downplayed the incident, saying Alba will not be punished for his transgression.
The railway is calling for more linguistic flexibility, saying 'current regulations are not sufficiently focused on the passenger.' It wants to 'put passengers at the heart of its priorities and be able to properly inform all travellers in the national languages, particularly for tourist destinations.'
Alba, a train influencer with more than 60,000 followers on TikTok and Facebook, is also calling for more linguistic tolerance.
'Speaking multiple languages isn't a threat to Dutch or to French,' he said in the video. 'If we make an announcement in Dutch in Charleroi (a French-speaking city), it's not a threat. On the contrary — it's really an asset. It's a sign of openness.'
The Bonjour blowup has sparked international headlines.
Alba is capitalizing on his newfound fame, selling mugs stamped with 'Goeiedag Bonjour' and a Belgian flag via 'Goeiedag' is a more informal variant of the Dutch greeting 'Goedendag.'
'Start your day with a mug that speaks volumes! Inspired by a viral anecdote, it adds a fun touch to your mornings,' Alba says on the Dutch–French bilingual website — using the English words mug and fun on the French-language side.
There are important differences between the situations in Quebec and Belgium.
For one thing, Belgium has three official languages — Dutch, French and German — while Quebec has declared French as its only official language.
Also, while Quebec's Charter of the French Language — commonly known as Bill 101 — guarantees consumers the right to be served in French, it does not ban service workers from saying 'Hi.'
Some Quebec francophones consider 'Bonjour-Hi' a sign of linguistic encroachment and a threat to French. Anglophones largely see the phrase as a polite way for workers to gauge a customer's language preference.
The National Assembly has twice — in 2017 and 2019 — passed resolutions urging merchants to say au revoir to Bonjour-Hi and just keep Bonjour. Mayor Valérie Plante has also weighed in, saying 'we should encourage people to only say Bonjour.'
The Legault government briefly floated the idea of formally banning Bonjour-Hi. It backed off after critics said it would be impossible to legislate conversations between citizens and service workers.
French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge has called on Quebecers to insist on receiving service in French and to report any violations to the Office québécois de la langue française.
Language complaints have soared under the CAQ government, with more than 10,000 filed in 2024-25.
By far the largest category of complaints — 40 per cent — concerned language of service. A decade ago, only 18 per cent of complaints addressed this issue.
Quebec periodically conducts investigations to monitor language-of-service trends, sending observers into stores posing as regular customers.
In the 2024 study, the use of bilingual greetings such as Bonjour-Hi rose from 4 per cent to 12 per cent.
A series of Gazette articles this year raised questions about the results of the latest study, including whether the use of secret shoppers from visible minorities may have skewed the results.
Some research suggests Quebec store workers are more likely to greet customers in English when they appear to be from visible minorities.
