Hi
I am British and have been here long enough to qualify for Belgian nationality, except my French (nor Dutch) isn't very good. Does anybody know the level of French needed, and is there a test/qualification I could take.
thanks
J
> I wonder which genius bureaucrat came up with that rule
The one who's salary is paid by your taxes.
There are about 1/2 dozen different procedures for getting Belgian nationality, and they all differ a bit. But I do know several people who have now been successful under the "quick" procedure and have had the language requirement waivered because they work here. (one actually works for the Flemish government and doesn't speak a work of French or Dutch)
May 12, 2017 18:06
SD
How can you work and live somewhere for five years without knowing the local language to at least a middling extent, it's baffling. You would almost have to go out of your way to accomplish this feat. They should really make the requirements and/and instead of or/or.
May 13, 2017 12:07
jbmac
I understand that if you work, is dificult to go to language courses, but somehow I managed to take dutch/french classes at the commune on and off in 3 years, and finally passed the A2 level in both.
The most difficult part of taking these classes is getting crazy teachers who force you to make speeches about some asinine subjects that even I can't master in my native language. Fortunately my last 3 dutch levels were taught by a sane teacher who believe that doing presentations doesn't help anybody in learning a language. Wasn't as lucky with french, but the 2 day a week courses had less people so no speeches. You should get out there and learn the languages. It is not that bad! :)
May 15, 2017 10:07
J
> How can you work and live somewhere for five years without knowing the local language to at least a middling extent, it's baffling.
No - It's Belgian. English is the language of business for international companies. And FYI, the person I know in this situation (who is a total mono-lingual-non-linguist and now Belgian) walked into a new job within less than 2 months of being made redundant recently.
> I wonder which genius bureaucrat came up with that rule
The one who's salary is paid by your taxes.
There are about 1/2 dozen different procedures for getting Belgian nationality, and they all differ a bit. But I do know several people who have now been successful under the "quick" procedure and have had the language requirement waivered because they work here. (one actually works for the Flemish government and doesn't speak a work of French or Dutch)
How can you work and live somewhere for five years without knowing the local language to at least a middling extent, it's baffling. You would almost have to go out of your way to accomplish this feat. They should really make the requirements and/and instead of or/or.
I understand that if you work, is dificult to go to language courses, but somehow I managed to take dutch/french classes at the commune on and off in 3 years, and finally passed the A2 level in both.
The most difficult part of taking these classes is getting crazy teachers who force you to make speeches about some asinine subjects that even I can't master in my native language. Fortunately my last 3 dutch levels were taught by a sane teacher who believe that doing presentations doesn't help anybody in learning a language. Wasn't as lucky with french, but the 2 day a week courses had less people so no speeches. You should get out there and learn the languages. It is not that bad! :)
> How can you work and live somewhere for five years without knowing the local language to at least a middling extent, it's baffling.
No - It's Belgian. English is the language of business for international companies. And FYI, the person I know in this situation (who is a total mono-lingual-non-linguist and now Belgian) walked into a new job within less than 2 months of being made redundant recently.
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