Date and time notation in Belgium
Date
According to the BIN standard (NBN Z 01-002), there are three ways to write a date in Belgium:[1]
- dd/mm/yyyy ("22/10/2010") 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 in English (e.g. 22:51), the letter "h" when writing in French (e.g. 22h51) or the letter "u" in Dutch (e.g. 22u51). Generally speaking, Belgians are not used to seeing time written in 12-hour notation, and doing so might lead to misunderstandings.
The minutes are usually written with two digits; the hour numbers are usually written with (when colon used as separator) or without (when "h" or "u" used as separator) leading zero.
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
- ↑ "Datumnotatie - Wat is de notatiewijze voor een datum?" [Date format - What is the notation for a date?]. Taaltelefoon (in Dutch). Vlaanderen. 2010-04-19.
- ↑ VVKSO. BIN-NORMEN. Brussels: LICAP CVBA. ISBN 978-90-6858-651-0. Short version:
- ↑ http://users.skynet.be/palm-mar/Taal_NED_bin_norm.htm
- ↑ http://trac2.assembla.com/Team6GPR/export/3/BIN-normen.pdf
- ↑ Belgian Federal Government – Portal
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