Addressing the senior person in Belgium

Question

I would like to know how the junior person addresses senior person in big company of Belgium?? Is it "sir" or person's name?

Answer 1

If you are speaking in English, avoid at all costs "Sir", which sounds really odd and subservient to European ears.

Mr X is the right way to address people.

Younger people, and Flemish more than French speakers will easily turn to the first name.

The Flemish may be a bit more easy-going, partly a question of style (and influence of US movies) and also because of different grammar uses in French and Dutch, which make them use more informal-looking forms.

Answer 2

Google (sorry, you'll have to research the sites yourself):

Answer 3

Usually it's sir or mr. x*x

Answer 4

It really depends if it's a big Belgian company or the Belgian branch of an international company.

International companies: normally you say Mrs/Mr. until the person tells you to call him by his/her first name.  Even if they don't and you notice that all other colleagues call the senior by their first name, it's safe to do the same after a few days..

Belgian companies: the big bilingual and Dutch speaking companies follow more or less the same rules, maybe in banking it's more formal.

In French speaking companies it depends on the age of the management. People over 50 might still be very formal, but also there I would suggest: check what other colleagues do.

The reason why French speaking companies are more formal is because the term "vous" is used all the time. In Dutch we also use the polite form  "u", but it has a less formal connotation than "vous".

Answer 5

Granted I don't live in Belgium, but a neighbour country, but the business practices are the same and for the international company I worked for we had a Belguim subsidary I visited every month or so

In those visits I would occasionally meet the president of the subsidary then on the first occasions it was Mr X, and after that he asked me to call him by his first name.  This was the same with the Belgian sister sub as well.  

If in doubt go for the formal option and then ask a colleague/manager or observe what your colleagues do and then follow suit.  Office mentality does actually differ from office to office.  Also it differs if e.g. it is an American company, Japanese company, Belgian company etc etc, so there is no right or wrong other than what the specific company practice is