Liedje van de dag: Blankenberge

This might be a perfect song to practice the Flemish pronunciation of words. Hugo Matthysen is a Flemish columnist with a very recognisable sence of humour. Again, this song is in "clean" Dutch, but the parlando might be extra helpful. In this song, Blankenberge, he pronounces every sentence syllable per syllable. Maybe a bit fast for the beginner, but those who have reached a somewhat intermediate understanding of Dutch can use the lyrics as a good pronunciation exercise.

Liedje van de dag: Arme Joe

Another artists who sings in Flemish is the sixty years old Will Tura and he has been bringing out singles since 1957. Every Fleming, young and old, knows his songs and in 2001 he has been knighted by the Belgian king. His voice is very recognizable and he has always made an effort to sing in "clean" Dutch, although he has made some songs in the West-Flemish dialect as well.

Liedje van de dag: Daar gaat ze

Do you remember the previous song, België? "Het Goede Doel" was talking about considering to move to Belgium because "dat taaltje is zo zacht". As I am a Vlaming (a Fleming: a Dutch speaking Belgian) myself, I am very willing to introduce you to this "soft language", although I wouldn't call certain Flemish dialects "soft".

Although Wikipedia quotes Taalunieversum by stating that the "differences between Dutch and Flemish are significant enough that it is customary for Flemish television shows to be subtitled in Dutch, and vice versa", Flemish people and Dutch people read the same books and actually speak the same language. To me, it is like comparing British and American English. There are some sound differences, there are some words that are particulary "Flemish" or particulary "Dutch". Once somebody gets to know these differences (both pure vocabulary differences and differences in meaning of the same word), it is fairly easy.

Liedje van de dag: België (is er leven op Pluto)

Songs are a good way to practice pronunciation, learn a bit new vocabulary and at the same time even explore some culture! The language used in songs and poetry is more free, the writer can choose to ignore some grammatical rules for the art form. Still I would recommend to listen to as much music in the language that you want to learn, watch their television shows, try their newspapers and see if they have released a good movie lately.