>If we look at the estimated current knowledge of the language of the linguistic region in which one lives, the level is the highest in the linguistic regions of the Walloon Region (French-speaking region or German-speaking region): almost 80% declare having the relevant language as their mother tongue or having an advanced knowledge of it. The percentage is about 60% in the Brussels-Capital Region and about 45% in the Flemish Region.
The number of persons with little or no knowledge, or a basic knowledge, is also the highest by far in the Flemish Region: about 33% compared to 17% in the Brussels-Capital Region and 9% in the Walloon Region.
Doesnt help that a lot of these people ~~get access to everything, after~~ pass~~ing~~ a *integratiecursus*, yet dont speak a word of dutch or french.
Who is letting these people pass the classes?
I mean, my wife is at a B2 level for Dutch and still has issues even getting an interview. At that point it’s not really the language barrier that’s the problem anymore.
As a native French speaker, B2 in dutch and almost fluent in English. I got rejected several times because of my dutch level, really frustrating.
Seg we gaan er toch geen taalmachientjes van maken e!?
More or less anyone 50 years old or above acts as if people are incomprehensible when they have even a slight accent. Sometimes to the point where someone with a Dutch accent from the Netherlands is too much to be acceptable to them. As if they have tiny lizard brains.
I can share my experience for high skilled workers. My girlfriend is from Finland and already speaks 3 languages: Finnish, Swedish and English. Many people in the EU area are like this, their native language + english and maybe a third one.
Almost 90% opt to learn French when they come to Belgium, even if it is to stay here because the added value on that investment is better. Also Brussels being mostly french speaking makes it easier to practice French.
So most of these high skilled EU immigrants are already busy with extensive work hours and having to learn 2 more languages in addition to your existing 2 languages (native * english) is not worth it for such a small fragmented market. At least with French they find it more useful if they would go to another country, and still somewhat have it useful in their daily lives in Belgium.
Only cases where I saw people learning Dutch were those coming to work specifically in Flanders for high tech sectors like pharma or some R&D or KUL for some PhD. But most of these people are already hired to immigrate here without previous Dutch knowledeg and work in English in many of these environments, I was a consultant in one of those pharmas and everything was in English..
I think its more of an issue for Belgium born Belgian citizens who work in more national companies that service the whole nation and not very international companies. Also for consultancy, even in Big 4, not having Dutch was ok if you had a good CV but then you would be limited to French speaking clients or Wallonia, effectively reducing your chances of getting hired or having better business opportunities.
I mean…obviously?
When I came to Belgium in 2013, I was totally devastated by the language barrier. Webdev in Flanders with fluent English was unable to get a job. I remember having 2 interviews in 3 years, and they were expecting me having senior level of experience for a junior wage, probably because they knew I can’t find anything else without Dutch or just wanted to get rid of me one way or another.
Sad thing is, I didn’t succeeded finding the job I wanted. But I accepted my fate after those years.
Makes me wonder what my chances are after my phd….
One of the many examples of belgium’s ridiculous navelstaarder-onder-de-kerktoren conservatisme and the biggest reason while we’ll remain an underperforming laughing stock in western Europe
yeah thats a big thing i speak dutch native , pretty good english but my french sucks and got refused a lot for my french being bad. its a massive barriere especially service delivery or IT sectors i noticed enless your a programmer then you get away with more stuff.
But a lot of company’s expect that people are great at french,dutch and english and sadly its not something all people can pickup or learn easily.
Personally i tried improving my french but after taking 2 years of evening lessons and still barely improving i kinda gave up on it. because you lose it so fast when you are not using it. wich is the frustrating part they might require it but you end using english only anyway so you end up losing any improvements you made in class
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This is a very interesting piece of information:
>If we look at the estimated current knowledge of the language of the linguistic region in which one lives, the level is the highest in the linguistic regions of the Walloon Region (French-speaking region or German-speaking region): almost 80% declare having the relevant language as their mother tongue or having an advanced knowledge of it. The percentage is about 60% in the Brussels-Capital Region and about 45% in the Flemish Region.
The number of persons with little or no knowledge, or a basic knowledge, is also the highest by far in the Flemish Region: about 33% compared to 17% in the Brussels-Capital Region and 9% in the Walloon Region.
Doesnt help that a lot of these people ~~get access to everything, after~~ pass~~ing~~ a *integratiecursus*, yet dont speak a word of dutch or french.
Who is letting these people pass the classes?
I mean, my wife is at a B2 level for Dutch and still has issues even getting an interview. At that point it’s not really the language barrier that’s the problem anymore.
As a native French speaker, B2 in dutch and almost fluent in English. I got rejected several times because of my dutch level, really frustrating.
Seg we gaan er toch geen taalmachientjes van maken e!?
More or less anyone 50 years old or above acts as if people are incomprehensible when they have even a slight accent. Sometimes to the point where someone with a Dutch accent from the Netherlands is too much to be acceptable to them. As if they have tiny lizard brains.
I can share my experience for high skilled workers. My girlfriend is from Finland and already speaks 3 languages: Finnish, Swedish and English. Many people in the EU area are like this, their native language + english and maybe a third one.
Almost 90% opt to learn French when they come to Belgium, even if it is to stay here because the added value on that investment is better. Also Brussels being mostly french speaking makes it easier to practice French.
So most of these high skilled EU immigrants are already busy with extensive work hours and having to learn 2 more languages in addition to your existing 2 languages (native * english) is not worth it for such a small fragmented market. At least with French they find it more useful if they would go to another country, and still somewhat have it useful in their daily lives in Belgium.
Only cases where I saw people learning Dutch were those coming to work specifically in Flanders for high tech sectors like pharma or some R&D or KUL for some PhD. But most of these people are already hired to immigrate here without previous Dutch knowledeg and work in English in many of these environments, I was a consultant in one of those pharmas and everything was in English..
I think its more of an issue for Belgium born Belgian citizens who work in more national companies that service the whole nation and not very international companies. Also for consultancy, even in Big 4, not having Dutch was ok if you had a good CV but then you would be limited to French speaking clients or Wallonia, effectively reducing your chances of getting hired or having better business opportunities.
I mean…obviously?
When I came to Belgium in 2013, I was totally devastated by the language barrier. Webdev in Flanders with fluent English was unable to get a job. I remember having 2 interviews in 3 years, and they were expecting me having senior level of experience for a junior wage, probably because they knew I can’t find anything else without Dutch or just wanted to get rid of me one way or another.
Sad thing is, I didn’t succeeded finding the job I wanted. But I accepted my fate after those years.
Makes me wonder what my chances are after my phd….
One of the many examples of belgium’s ridiculous navelstaarder-onder-de-kerktoren conservatisme and the biggest reason while we’ll remain an underperforming laughing stock in western Europe
yeah thats a big thing i speak dutch native , pretty good english but my french sucks and got refused a lot for my french being bad. its a massive barriere especially service delivery or IT sectors i noticed enless your a programmer then you get away with more stuff.
But a lot of company’s expect that people are great at french,dutch and english and sadly its not something all people can pickup or learn easily.
Personally i tried improving my french but after taking 2 years of evening lessons and still barely improving i kinda gave up on it. because you lose it so fast when you are not using it. wich is the frustrating part they might require it but you end using english only anyway so you end up losing any improvements you made in class