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Date and time notation in Belgium

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Date

According to the BIN standard (NBN Z 01-002), there are three ways to write a date in Belgium:[1]

  • yyyy-mm-dd ("2010-10-22") is common in an international environment. It is the basic form.[2]
    yyyymmdd ("20101022") is the form of the date when used in a data transmission.[3][4]
  • dd.mm.yyyy ("22.10.2010") is used in the reference line of letters.[5] The notation is also often used on posters and event announcements.
  • fully written out ("22 oktober 2010" in Dutch, "22 octobre 2010" in French or "22. Oktober 2010" in German). This is the preferred way for running text. It is also common in letters.

The first day of the week in Belgium is Monday.

Time

In written language, time is expressed exclusively in 24-hour notation using a colon to separate hours and minutes when writing "22:51" in English, writing "22h51" in French, writing "22.51 u." in Dutch, writing "22.51 U." in German. Generally speaking, Belgians are not used to seeing time written in 12-hour notation, and doing so might lead to misunderstandings.

In spoken formal language, people tend to use the 24-hour clock as well, in particular at work or to make appointments. When speaking informally, the 12-hour clock is not uncommon (but not a general rule either, in particular in French). There is no one-to-one equivalent of "am" or "pm" in French or Dutch though. Instead, people use a sentence to make it clear (for instance "om 9 uur 's avonds" in Dutch, or "à 9 heures du soir" in French, meaning literally "at 9 o'clock in the evening").

References

  1. ^ "Datumnotatie". Taaltelefoon (in Dutch). Vlaanderen. 2015-06-07. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ VVKSO. BIN-NORMEN. Brussels: LICAP CVBA. ISBN 978-90-6858-651-0. Short version: [1]
  3. ^ http://users.skynet.be/palm-mar/Taal_NED_bin_norm.htm
  4. ^ http://trac2.assembla.com/Team6GPR/export/3/BIN-normen.pdf
  5. ^ Belgian Federal Government – Portal
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