Most native people in Voeren speak a variant of Limburgish, a regional language related to Dutch (in the Netherlands referred to as a separate language; in Flanders treated as a Dutch dialect) and German.
The same Germanic dialect is also spoken in the neighbouring Walloon municipalities  of Blieberg, Welkenraedt and Baelen and has been recognised by the French Community of Belgium as a regional language, the so-called Low Dietsch dialects since 1990.
 
Voeren is economically dependent on the surrounding provinces of Liège and Dutch Limburg and standard Dutch and French are also generally spoken.

Until the beginning of the 20th century language use in the area was mixed.
People spoke the local dialect in daily life.
The government institutions used French, while church and school used German or Dutch.
However, some influential inhabitants such as the local priest, Hendrik Veltmans, argued that Voeren was culturally Flemish and actively tried to bring Voeren into Flanders.

In 1932, with the introduction of new language laws, the linguistic alignment of Voeren was determined (as for all other towns along the language border in Belgium) on the basis of the results of the census of 1930.
According to this census 81.2% of the population of the six villages that now make up Voeren spoke Dutch and 18.8% declared that they spoke French.
Administrative changes were made as a result.
The results of the next census, held in 1947, were only made public in 1954 and gave a totally different outcome, with only 42.9% stating that they spoke Dutch and 57.1% French.
According to the 1932 legislation this would have meant that the linguistic status of the villages would have changed from Dutch speaking with a French minority to French speaking with a Dutch-speaking minority.

At that time however, due to the rising political controversy between the Dutch- and French-speaking communities in Belgium, a parliamentary committee (the so-called centrum Harmel, named after Pierre Harmel) was established to fix, amongst other things, the language boundary once and for all.
This committee proposed, notwithstanding the 1947 results (strongly disputed by the Flemish and recognised by the Belgian parliament as useless for determining the language border since the consultation was found to be rigged by nationalist francophones which is why the 1947 results were published in 1954 ), that the six villages were Dutch speaking with special regulations for the French-speaking minority to be decided after discussion with the town councils.

In 1962 the work of the committee resulted in a law proposed by the Frenchspeaking Minister of the Interior, Arthur Gilson, whereby Voeren would be officially Dutch speaking with language facilities for the French-speaking community, but would remain part of the French-speaking province of Liège.
The proposal included a similar system for Mouscron and Comines-Warneton who would be officially Frenchspeaking with language facilities for the Dutch-speaking community, but would remain part of the Dutch-speaking province of West-Flanders.

After fierce debate in parliament the proposal of minister Gilson was approved but subject to the amendment that Voeren would become part of the Dutch-speaking province of Limburg and Mouscron and Comines-Warneton become part of the Frenchspeaking Hainait province.

This amendment was introduced by the Walloon socialist politician and former mayor of Liège Paul Gruselin who wanted to transfer the Flemish towns with a Francophone majority Comines-Warneton and Mouscron to the Walloon province of Hainaut and offered to transfer the Voer region to the Dutchspeaking province of Limburg as compensation.
   
In order to understand this proposal of the Walloon socialists of Liège and Mouscron one must take into account the fact that almost everyone at the time, considered that a Dutch-speaking dialect, Low Dietsch was spoken in the Voer Region and that, consequently, their inhabitants would willingly accept this change.
The 75,000 inhabitants of the towns Mouscron and Comines-Warneton  brought one extr
Most native people in Voeren speak a variant of Limburgish, a regional language related to Dutch (in the Netherlands referred to as a separate language; in Flanders treated as a Dutch dialect) and German. The same Germanic dialect is also spoken in the neighbouring Walloon municipalities  of Blieberg, Welkenraedt and Baelen and has been recognised by the French Community of Belgium as a regional language, the so-called Low Dietsch dialects since 1990.  
Voeren is economically dependent on the surrounding provinces of Liège and Dutch Limburg and standard Dutch and French are also generally spoken.
Until the beginning of the 20th century language use in the area was mixed. People spoke the local dialect in daily life. The government institutions used French, while church and school used German or Dutch. However, some influential inhabitants such as the local priest, Hendrik Veltmans, argued that Voeren was culturally Flemish and actively tried to bring Voeren into Flanders.
In 1932, with the introduction of new language laws, the linguistic alignment of Voeren was determined (as for all other towns along the language border in Belgium) on the basis of the results of the census of 1930. According to this census 81.2% of the population of the six villages that now make up Voeren spoke Dutch and 18.8% declared that they spoke French. Administrative changes were made as a result. The results of the next census, held in 1947, were only made public in 1954 and gave a totally different outcome, with only 42.9% stating that they spoke Dutch and 57.1% French. According to the 1932 legislation this would have meant that the linguistic status of the villages would have changed from Dutch speaking with a French minority to French speaking with a Dutch-speaking minority.
At that time however, due to the rising political controversy between the Dutch- and French-speaking communities in Belgium, a parliamentary committee (the so-called centrum Harmel, named after Pierre Harmel) was established to fix, amongst other things, the language boundary once and for all. This committee proposed, notwithstanding the 1947 results (strongly disputed by the Flemish and recognised by the Belgian parliament as useless for determining the language border since the consultation was found to be rigged by nationalist francophones which is why the 1947 results were published in 1954 ), that the six villages were Dutch speaking with special regulations for the French-speaking minority to be decided after discussion with the town councils.
In 1962 the work of the committee resulted in a law proposed by the Frenchspeaking Minister of the Interior, Arthur Gilson, whereby Voeren would be officially Dutch speaking with language facilities for the French-speaking community, but would remain part of the French-speaking province of Liège. The proposal included a similar system for Mouscron and Comines-Warneton who would be officially Frenchspeaking with language facilities for the Dutch-speaking community, but would remain part of the Dutch-speaking province of West-Flanders. 
After fierce debate in parliament the proposal of minister Gilson was approved but subject to the amendment that Voeren would become part of the Dutch-speaking province of Limburg and Mouscron and Comines-Warneton become part of the Frenchspeaking Hainait province.
This amendment was introduced by the Walloon socialist politician and former mayor of Liège Paul Gruselin who wanted to transfer the Flemish towns with a Francophone majority Comines-Warneton and Mouscron to the Walloon province of Hainaut and offered to transfer the Voer region to the Dutchspeaking province of Limburg as compensation.    
In order to understand this proposal of the Walloon socialists of Liège and Mouscron one must take into account the fact that almost everyone at the time, considered that a Dutch-speaking dialect, Low Dietsch was spoken in the Voer Region and that, consequently, their inhabitants would willingly accept this change. The 75,000 inhabitants of the towns Mouscron and Comines-Warneton  brought one extr
Voeren