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Recently, I went to a city called Lille in France. Surprisingly enough I noticed that some people were using 'septante' and 'nonante' instead of the regular used ones in France. I thought this was only in Belgium, or is this because it's a border region (since Lille is very close to the Belgian border)? If so, where else does this occur?
And also, does everyone in France (and Canada f.e.) understand 'septante' and 'nonante'?
Bonjour, En France je ne connais personne qui n'utilise ces deux mots, c'est spécifique à cette région et dans le reste de la France nous n'utilisons pas ces expressions. Si par exemple vous allez dans le sud, vous aurez d'autres expressions bien spécifiques. Un autre exemple à l'ouest de la France, le pain au chocolat est appelé Chocolatine. Si vous avez d'autres questions à ce propos, dites-moi 😉 Lulucmy
Septante et nonante are used solely in Belgium and Switzerland. So it's normal that their use would leak a bit into French regions that are close to them. It's even more of a contemporary phenomenon near Lille, because the EU has very much facilitated exchanges in that region, many people even commuting daily.
