Roger DeCoster's mother language is French or Flemish?

[Julian Hester]

Can someone please help..... French or Flemish. It is amazing that it is just impossible to find this on the internet.

[Guy Dick]

definitely Flemish

[Rudi Vandenplas]

Roger was born in Brussels, our capital city. People over there including Roger mostly speak both languages. Once married Roger moved to a small town called Tremelo which is situated in the Flemish part of Belgium. De Coster is a Dutch surname, most common in the Flemish part.
I'm not 100% sure but I think his mother language is Flemish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Coster

[Julian Hester]

That is very interesting. Even here on the Belgian forum it is not easy to determine Roger DeCoster's mother language. I first saw him in 1974 at the Trans AMA near my home in Georgia USA. He is the reason I love MX even still today. From his accent when he speaks English, I always thought it sounded French, I assumed his mother language is French. I know how a Dutch/Flemish accent sounds when someone speaks English and I never thought Roger had that type of accent, ever........ So I always assumed his mother language is French. Now I post the question on this forum and so far I have two replies, one says Flemish and one is unsure...... I am still waiting.........

[Julian Hester]

Misschien in het Nederlands iemand die is opgegroeid in de buurt van Roger zal mijn bericht opmerken, iemand weet welke taal Roger sprak thuis met zijn familie toen hij een jongen was ??

[Guy Dick]

Roger was born in Ukkel, 1 of the 19 villages that are united as Brussels. He must have had an education in Dutch: more then 50 years ago, when he was young, in Flemish schools you learned French as well, starting at the age of 9 years. When you had your education in French, you learned Flemish as from the age of 12 in classic education schools and as from 15 in tecnical education schools. But at the age of 15 most of these students stopped studying and go to work, speaking nly French... Rogers Dutch is simply perfect, I spoke to him 3 years ago, which means even at home he probably still speaks it (from time to time).

[Julian Hester]

It is starting to sound like Roger spoke Flemish at home when he was a boy.

On a recent video I saw of him (Moto Verte) he looked to be "searching for words" when he spoke French.

I just figured he had forgotten both French and Flemish over the years....

and I figured he spoke absolutely no French or Flemish while at home in California.

But after reading your post, it sounds like Flemish is actually his mother language.

we will see if anyone else posts any other info, thanks for your post.

[Simon Geets]

Maybe ask it himself on Facebook? There's no harm in trying. Personally I think he's bilingual, which isn't uncommon growing up near Brussels.

[Lander Vanderstraeten]

Kersvers antwoord van uit California:

Hello Lander,
Hi was born in Molenbeek on the south side of Brussels, we moved to Uccle or Ukkel when I was 2
At home we spoke both Flemish and French, but probably more Flemish, but I went to French speaking schools.
Best regards from California to you and your followers
Roger

[Julian Hester]

Well, thanks to the help of the nice guys on this forum we have learned some things.

Even though it is widely stated anywhere you look that Roger was born in Uccle, he states himself that he was actually born in Molenbeek.

For me personally - it is hard to imagine Roger as a 5-year old little boy speaking both Flemish and French with his parents - I would certainly think it was either one or the other but not a little of both ---- EXCEPT if one of his parents was a natural Flemish speaker and the other parent a natural French speaker, then it would make sense.

Now another thing..... Roger says he went to French schools.... This would make me think that the French language was really imprinted into his brain, especially if he also spoke French at home.....

but.....

when I see a video of him today (Moto Verte) he does seem to be struggling with speaking French
and
as Guy wrote earlier, he spoke to Roger three years ago and Roger spoke perfectly in Flemish.

SO....since Roger wrote "at home I probably spoke more Flemish"

...........the detective inside me tells me his "real mother language" is actually Flemish.

Now - the reason I went to all this trouble is just because I was curious whether Roger is actually Flemish or Wallonian.

I had always thought Roger was Wallonian just until a week or so ago when I read something on the Vital MX forum and it made me very curious.

So now I think I finally know, Roger is Flemish.......

Also I have learned that DeCoster is actually a Flemish family name, I always thought it sounded French.