We believe that the issue should not be addressed that way. We advocate a view on languages that is based on complementarity rather than competition.

The statutes of our association specify that there must be neither competition nor hierarchy between West Flemish and Dutch.

Each of the two languages has its own role to play. We are convinced that studying West Flemish can lead to studying the official languages of neighbouring countries (English, Dutch, German). West Flemish teachers make the most of the linguistic proximity of those languages in their courses for children and adults

Learning a regional language is very meaningful to students as it fits in with their immediate environment : expressions, place names, surnames, songs, nursery rhymes, traditional dishes, family celebrations, and so on offer them the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of learning the traditional local language. In addition West Flemish learners can easily get better language and cognitive skills to learn other languages of the same language family.