Living in Brussels

Finding work depends very much on your language abilities in this multi-lingual country.In Belgium, around 60 per cent of jobs advertised in newspapers are aimed at Flemish speakers. The major daily newspapers are Le Soir, De Standaard, He laatste Nieuws and De Gazet van Antwerpen. There are also a range of recruitment agencies offering jobs at various levels.  Headhunting agencies are also common in Belgium, but tend to specialise in executive positions.

The first thing i would advice, is learn the local languages. The rest gets easier.

on the general side, places to go out, eat, have fun, culture...

ilovebelgium.be

Didn't see topic about this, even though it is not most appropriate for here, I will ask my question: Can anyone recommend an iphone application that works off-line for the STIB? Would highly appreciate it!!!

@WorldExpat: I will suggest you to start a new discussion concerning the iphone application. You are off-topic here i think!

Regards

10-4 Yud, I agree and that is why I noted it before hand

Hy everyone!

I live in Brussels since January as an Erasmus student but I love the city so much that I want to stay longer, for the summer.

Do you have any ideas where and how can I find a job here (anything like diswasher, cleaner...etc) without speaking Dutch and French?
I'm hungarian but I speak english and german in an advanced level and I'm learning French now.

Please if you have any tips, share with me!

I dont want to leave this city now

Thanks a lot,

Anna

Hi and welcome on the forum Anna

I would suggest you to start a new thread on the Brussels forum for any new questions.

Regards
Armand

hey guys,

I just wanted to tell you that I found a job, so I can stay in Brussels for more Thank you for all the help I got from you!

bests,

Anna

Congrats Anna ! You're lucky, I'm a student too but I have to go back to france at the end of the month

To me, it's not necessary to speak the local language. I work in a Dutch company, I don't even know a word of dutch but I'm almost fluent in english, and I can have a discussion in Spanish.
So if you have a good level of english it's enough.

Moreover, more than 93% of people in Brussels speak french, so it's better if you speak french, but won't be insurmountable as Brussels is a international city.

Life in Brussels is really appreciable, and not really expensive (for the parisian I am). There's a lot of bars.
I met people and get friends through my practice of sports and music, but participate to the expat meeting of expat-blog is also a good way to encounter people.

Why do you have to go back to France? If you're from the EU you can live anywhere in it without a problem...

I have to go back in France because I'm student in Business school and i'm here for an international internship of 6 months.

Hi there

I moved in to brussels about a month ago! Although I knew one day I was gonna do it but didnt know it will happen so sooon.

I do not know the city well and trying to cope with the public transport system and communicating with the local people while I am trying to learn french(by myself)-eventually I will start a course soon. next thing I and my hubby trying to get a half furnished flat which is not so easy i found.

But yes I hope we will sort it out soon. But Just wanted to know which areas are better for living as a couple. We both are job seeker here at the moment and staying with in laws famile.

thanks for any advice!

:-)

I think that one quite and good area is Uccle I am going to live there in a few month as I am a job seeker too.
Wish you Good lack!

La D wrote:

The first thing i would advice, is learn the local languages. The rest gets easier.

I am going to live in Brussels do you really believe that I should firstly learn French?I need to have a language for more chances to find a job..
  Thank you..

Hi,

French: deffinitely, especially in Brussels, as there you actually should be bi-lingual (FR&NL) in your job. On higher position even tri-lingual. Check the job descriptions!

If you want to make it easier for yourself, choose a community near Brussels (it's still close), either FR-speaking or NL-speaking. That's only one language to learn to start with (for job requiries).

Good luck!

Hi,
By my experience it depends on your skills... I know a lot of people working here without knowing a single word in French since some year. I just have a little knowledge of French (and I hate my English) and I found a job without any problem as engineer...
What are your skills? What kind of job are you looking for?

Your probs best moving to a fr or Dutch community and just learn one lang. Brussels is funny when it comes to what lang to learn. As said you should know both if not 3 lang. However a lot of people seem to think French is the most spoken when research shows that Dutch is still mostly used in Brussels. Needles to say its all confusing. Needless to say learning any lang is hard without tring to learn 2. Especially with all the dialects good luck

Mu husband will go to brussel to look for a job,he is EU citizen so no problem with work permit.He speeks well frenach and fluent english and he will look for truck driver job (delivery driver C class license),he do not know the streets and l think in this jobs you have to know them  l hope someone will give him chance.Also he will have his recommandations from greece where he was working as UPS driver and his high school diplima (private french school) translated to french so l hope this will help him.Anywaye he is open for any other type of job.I was just wondering about age discrimination,does it existe there?he is 45 and in greece in the age right now it is not possible to get job,about your experience they do not care at all!!!

La D wrote:

The first thing i would advice, is learn the local languages. The rest gets easier.

HOW EASY IS TO KNOW FLEMISH?

I would say if you know English Flemish is far easyer than french. However some of the sounds like the g and the rollinng r i have huge problems with as well as getting used to whats a de word and whats a het word. However basically a lot of the words are the same as English and it is mostly constructed the same as in English to. I must say im glad i picked flemish over french. However really to say how easy it is depends on the person.

@s2w- Please, lower caps lock when writing. Thank you.

Aurélie