Kirkpatrick, You are correct. Flemish is a dialect of the Dutch language that is predominant in Flanders, the northern portion of Belgium. In the southern Walloon region, the French language is universal. Although Brussels is in Flanders, French is the dominant language.
twasilverbullet, Although German (Deutsch) may be an 'official' language in Belgium, it is only used in a small portion of Eastern Belgium that was German territory prior to WWI. People in this region may be fluent in Deutsch, but it is usually their second language.
There is a point near the German city of Aachen where one can stand and be in Germany, The Netherlands, and Belgium. In this area, many people are conversant in all three languages.
The border has changed many times in the 1200 years since Charlemagne ruled the area. Aachen was once occupied by the Dutch. It was occupied by France for 20 years in the 19th Century where it is known as Aix la Chapelle. The Belgian city of Liége is Luik in Dutch and German road signs call it Lüttich since it was once part of the German Empire. And practically all of what is now Belgium was once part of Holland.
In the 19th Century after the defeat of Napoleon, the Wallonians wanted to break from the Dutch and join France. But the winning countries objected and forced the creation of Belgium.
Back on topic: I will be a very unhappy camper if AA again abandons JFK-BRU. I have a major customer in Aachen and base myself there for European business trips. I was a regular customer until the end of AA#98/99. I will not understand why this won’t work now for AA! At one time TW and (I believe) UA also flew this route along with both AA and the current DL. - plus CO from EWR. With the 10-country expansion of the EU, why isn’t the OD traffic expanding at the HQ in BRU sufficient to support another carrier? When AA quit, the station manager told me they had more profitable destination options for the equipment. But I am sure the announcement by a LCC, calling itself something like ‘Bird’, would be operating out of EWR must have played a part. Of course that never happened.
To me, with no status and plenty of bad experience, DL is no option - nor is CO at EWR. I used to go through LHR; but after 9/11, I gave up on anything there except O&D. When the new track is open and the very high-speed trains are inaugurated, FRA may be an acceptable option. But today I find CDG to be best in spite of lousy connection times to/from the two AA flights and the Thalys trains at the airport.
I have yet to see any promotion of the BRU flights in the NYC area; but I will do my best to improve the load factors.