where I should to move in Belgium? (advise)

4POSTS

13 years ago

Hello.
I'm a 25 years old girl, and I will move to Belgium this year, I'm thinking Brussels or Ghent (nothing sure yet).

I would like to know which cities of Belgium do you think that have something special to live there and why.

The kind of cities where I enjoy living are Amsterdam and London, cities with people around everywhere, stores/pubs open whole day/night, a lot of things to do anytime, I love the chaos of a busy city, in nutshell a city with energy, magic and move.

Then, where you advise me I should to move?

Thank you so much.... I appreciate your answer

have a great day!!!
:-)

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Aurélie ViP

22735POSTS

13 years ago

Hello joha mune.

Welcome to Expat.com!

Hope you'll get some advices from other members soon.

Thank you,
Aurélie

nak Member

18POSTS

13 years ago

hi,

I'm new in Belgium but anyways, my 2 cents!!!

Brussels is home to most of the multinationals, EU and has a bigger expat community compared. Normally, bigger cities are synonymous to more more opportunities, lots of people and a lot to do.

Ghent - I like Ghent more than Brussels (unfortunately am living in Brussels due to my work :S). Smaller city, better accessible. In my personal opinion better living and lots of opportunities mostly for technical and or Dutch speaking people. Not to mention beach is much nearer

Hope this helps.

regards

hannahhadman Serial expat

951POSTS

13 years ago

Personally I wouldnt go near Brussels. I hate how the place claims they speak to languages but getting someone to searve you in dutch is hard work and you never no what to speak to who. Not to mention the high crime rate in a lot of areas (The ones that arnt villa neighbour hoods). However one good thing about Brussels is yes more interntional people than gent and more jobs for just english speaking but not that meany.

I love Ghent. After living a month a little outside of bru I moved to Ghent country side. I had easy acess into Ghent and once I found Ghents ex-pats my social life improved. The Ghentse festable (or however you spell it basically a 10 day long party) is the best thing ever. Ghent is known as a very trendy artsy city with lots of things going on just takes a little looking. Looks of fa places to eat and even a starbucks if you want that sort of american style coffee (2 now actually)It is on a lot smallar scale to brussels. Another plus point they only speak dutch well flemmish and the dialect isnt to bad unlike antwerp. Its also the best place to be for easy driving to france or nederlands

As for stores pubs open all night. Not something u will find in eaither most places are closed on a sunday expect from resturants. A sushi place i go to is open sundays but apart from night stores all supermakets are closed from between 6 and 9

schoolmum Serial expat

726POSTS

13 years ago

Antwerpen, Leuven, Gent, Brussels, Liege (very little English ther but suitable for francophile). None of these cities are open 24/7 though.

hannahhadman Serial expat

951POSTS

13 years ago

I would say with Gent I hear more english than french around. But job wise there is little english expect in a few cleaning angentcies were they take dutch or englush

simonlo Member

2POSTS

13 years ago

hannahhadman wrote:
Personally I wouldnt go near Brussels. I hate how the place claims they speak to languages but getting someone to searve you in dutch is hard work

Please leave the politics out of it.... :
Although Brussel is officially bilingual French and Dutch, you will find that very few will speak Dutch with you. It has been exasperated by the continual language attacks by Dutch speaking politicians. 12 years ago, I used to use Dutch English and French around Brussels. Now I refuse to speak Dutch in Bruxelles. Of course I'll happily speak Dutch anywhere else (including in the French speaking regions!)

Back on topic:

Brussels is great, but there has been a rise in crime over the past decade. If you live in the gentrified areas then you are fine. The night life in Bruxelles is excellent. (not as good as London of course).

Gent is a great place to live with plenty of fantastic bars and clubs. It is a very pretty and liveable city. Close to Brussel.

Liege is understated, yet hides a vibrant city and nightlife. Good parties courtesy of Les Ardentes. Lots of new and old architecture ( e.g some art-deco). The restaurants serve excellent cuisine - The standard is high. It is much cheaper to live there (rents & cost of living). The people are very friendly. The central station (Liege Guillemins) has direct trains to Brussels (1 hour), and the Thayls to Paris FR and Colonge DE (1 hour) , and also to Maastrict NL (45 mins and to Amsterdam 3 hours). Most people under the age of 35 years olf speak reasonable English, and those older white collar workers speak English (e.g doctors dentists). You will need some level of French in order to live and a good level to work there. If food is your love then Liege may well be your home

And in case you wonder: I live in Amsterdam, which is even better (Except the healthcare system which is third world). ;P

schoolmum Serial expat

726POSTS

13 years ago

Brussels is officially bilingual. In reality, 8% of the Belgian population of Brussels are Dutch speakers, 92% of the Belgian population of Brussels are French speakers, of course some of those will be fully at ease in both languages. This is the simple reason why it is hard to be served in Brussels in Dutch. The stats come from the official Belgian office of statistics.

hannahhadman Serial expat

951POSTS

13 years ago

Brussels. I hate how the place claims they speak to languages but getting someone to searve you in dutch is hard work
Please leave the politics out of it.... :
Although Brussel is officially bilingual French and Dutch, you will find that very few will speak Dutch with you. It has been exasperated by the continual language attacks by Dutch speaking politicians. 12 years ago, I used to use Dutch English and French around Brussels. Now I refuse to speak Dutch in Bruxelles. Of course I'll happily speak Dutch anywhere else (including in the French speaking regions!)

Its nice that you tried but I lived some time around Bru and spent time in Bru and this is from my own experience that noone would serve me in Dutch (which i found offsenive to myself and made me feel awkard as I never knew what to say to anyone making learning dutch vert diffciult)Nothing to do with politics and most business say that they employ people who can speak both languages but in my experience i have no seen much of it. Its just not helpful sometimes when you want to speak Dutch

I basically spent a month living just out said of brussels. Then moved to Gent whilst spending my weekends and school holidays around Brussels (occionsally visiting it) and Leuven and Brussels is the one place i really do not like sorry don't really have anything good to say about it expect for more English speaking jobs.

schoolmum Serial expat

726POSTS

13 years ago

#10

Other than in official buildings where staff must be able to speak both French and Dutch well and Dutch teaching institutions, expecting to be served in Dutch in Brussels is like expecting to be served in Polish or Bengali or French in London.

hannahhadman Serial expat

951POSTS

13 years ago

#11

So yeah as I was tring to point out Brussels not the best place to be unless you know or want to learn French as I was very mislead by things thinking they would be lots of dutch around me there.

schoolmum Serial expat

726POSTS

13 years ago

#12

I can't understand why you'd feel offended by the lack of Dutch language skills held by many of those who work in Brussels. It's just a fact that over 18 out of 20 Belgians living in Brussels speak French as their main language and less than 2 out of 20 Belgians in Brussels speak Dutch as their main language. It was more likely that those French speakers you tried to speak French to also felt quite awkward faced with a language they could not speak fluently. Perhaps next time you go to London, try speaking in a shop to someone in Polish, seriously, the percentage of Polish speakers in London might well rival the percentage of Dutch speakers first language in Brussels. It is now estimated Arabic is spoken by a higher percentage of the Brussels population than Dutch is. English is certainly spoken (even as 2nd language) by a higher percentage of the Brussels population than Dutch is spoken (as a 1st language), which is why you find English increasingly in Brussels. All the recent literature from Bruxelles Propreté / Net Brussel was sent to every Brussels resident in English, Dutch and French. Information in STIB/MIVB public transport is now in English too.

Dutch is very popular as a 2nd language amongst the francophone population of Brussels now, come back in 20 years and you'll find the language skills of the francophones in Dutch has greatly increased.

hannahhadman Serial expat

951POSTS

13 years ago

#13

True but it was mostly at the time I from stuff i had read i was given the impression that almost everyone spoke dutch and French and then in restaurants etc. A few people I know also found themselves having these wrong exceptions However It was more the way because I couldn't speak French I felt talked down to. I think that the government figures put a misleading scope on Brussels. Like I said this has been my personal experience and Yes some people have loved Brussels and some people have fleed from its I think its one of those cities that you either love of hate. However I hate it for many reasons. However I am tring to get the point across that I wasn't bringing politics into it. I came to Brussels thinking one thing from what I had read and finding out something very different.

hannahhadman Serial expat

951POSTS

13 years ago

#14

Its also I have noticed that alot of people also for whatever reason expect free and cheap English speaking schools in Brussels

schoolmum Serial expat

726POSTS

13 years ago

#15

The government figures are based on voting, you register for your voting papers in the language of your choice. I'd say the government figures are pretty accurate. Remember that there a many non Belgians living in Brussels too. The stats are kept down to a fine art here, if you really wanted to, you could find out the mean income of all the people in your street, down to something like 20 houses!

hannahhadman Serial expat

951POSTS

13 years ago

#16

Yeah true dosnt matter however I moved away from Brussels as it wasnt for me and those are some of my reasons why lol

joha mune New member

4POSTS

13 years ago

#17

and what about Antwerp???
Actually I don't speak Netherlands, I just understand somethings, not too much. I can speak fluently English, Actually I would like to study a Master in Belgium in the future(of course in English )
Thank you

schoolmum Serial expat

726POSTS

13 years ago

#18

well depends on what the masters is in, if Antwerpen is the best place for those studies, then let there be it!

Just don't try to speak French there, not so many people speak it there, in the same way as don't try and speak Dutch in Liege or even in Brussels!!!! If you're a foreigner, there is less politicization of using the wrong language, but the best option if you cannot speak the majority language of the area in Belgium is to say in Nederlands "spreek U Engels?" or in French "Parlez-vous Anglais?"

You can live reasonably easily in Antwerpen without great linguistic abilities in Nederlands.

hannahhadman Serial expat

951POSTS

13 years ago

#19

Leuven has some good masters however few in English. From what I read up on Nederlands has been doing a lot of courses in English to tempted those in England when the university fees shot up