[MariaV]

Originally Posted by Dextertje

That's like with music, that's always your teene loves that remain on top. I know that with Eva and the Spice Girls

You could do worse than Spice Girls.

Originally Posted by Castafiore

He gets away with that?
Says a lot about the quality of his news reports then.

It's funny how he still interviews the French-speaking people in English (that's actually what I meant, I was probably too harsh). He started to learn French only a few months before going there, so I guess he has the basic knowledge of the language but doesn't really dare to use that in his reporting. And all the EU people speak mostly English anyway. He' not bad actually, before him we had a woman there who was completely overwhelmed and was let off. Now that was bad.

[Dextertje]

You shouldn't be allowed in Brussels if you can't speak French! Someone call the police!

[acionescu]

I'd like to know Hilde's reaction if the guy was correspondent in a Flemish town and didn't know Dutch

[Castafiore]

Pfffft...depends on how long that correspondent has been/plans to be in that Flemish town. If he's been living and working for a number of years there and he still doesn't know the language, he's an idiot.
If you don't want to learn the language, don't go there.
If I don't feel like learning Portuguese, I'd be a fool to move to Portugal.


Reminds me of that article I read a number of weeks ago in the middle of the Gérard Depardieu hoopla. A number of French people living in Belgium were moaning that Gérard gives the French immigrants a bad reputation, saying that most Frenchies don't come here for tax reasons.
They interviewed one woman who lives near Brussels and she figured that knowing French and English was enough to find work until she discovered that you need to know Dutch to work there. She's now learning Dutch.

A Frenchie being forced to learn Dutch. Doesns't get much better than this, right?

[Dextertje]

You surely can live and work in Brussels without knowing Dutch

[Castafiore]

Nope. You made the mistake those Frenchies made.

There's legal obligation that every company should be able to communicate (with clients, representatives of other companies,...) in French and Dutch.

You could only escape it if you find work that doesn't require you to communicate with anybody. Good luck with that. Our cleaning lady at work doesn't know the slightest word of Dutch (she's from Brazil). That sort of job would fit you.

[MariaV]

I could be a cleaning lady in Brussels if those poshy Swiss don't want me! Do you need one?

[Dextertje]

Originally Posted by Castafiore

Nope. You made the mistake those Frenchies made.

There's legal obligation that every company should be able to communicate (with clients, representatives of other companies,...) in French and Dutch.

You could only escape it if you find work that doesn't require you to communicate with anybody. Good luck with that. Our cleaning lady at work doesn't know the slightest word of Dutch (she's from Brazil). That sort of job would fit you.

There's surely international companies in Brussels where you could get away with English only... Obviously the company should be able to communicate in French and Dutch, but where some (most) employees could communicate in English (jobs that require only internal communication). And then when it comes to everyday life, surely you can manage to get what you need/want with English (shopping, restaurants, etc...). It goes like that for most places in the world actually.

[Commander Data]

I heard rafa is unhappy with the 25 sec rule being enforced and attacks the refs for it..... Lol!

[Castafiore]

Originally Posted by Dextertje

There's surely international companies in Brussels where you could get away with English only.

Nope.

I worked for an international company when I had just finished my studies. The German person at the reception desk spoke German, French and English and still, it wasn't enough. Most international companies who settle here accept that by hiring enough Dutch-speaking people. It's not exactly an impossible demand to have staff that speaks French and Dutch. Brussels is bilingual by law.

[MariaV]

I heard heat wave is coming to IW, Tom.
Rafito plays after Wawa and Fed, hopefully Wawa will suck Fed's dick pretty quickly.

[-Evita-]

Originally Posted by Castafiore

Nope.

I worked for an international company when I had just finished my studies. The German person at the reception desk spoke German, French and English and still, it wasn't enough. Most international companies who settle here accept that by hiring enough Dutch-speaking people. It's not exactly an impossible demand to have staff that speaks French and Dutch. Brussels is bilingual by law.

I fully support the notion that all the staff who interact with customers should speak both official languages. Like a receptionist. But I don't think JM was talking about that kind of job. For example, I work for an international company and the only language I must know is English, I don't even have to know Latvian. I'm sure there must be jobs like that in Brussels as well.

[Dextertje]

Originally Posted by Castafiore

Nope.

I worked for an international company when I had just finished my studies. The German person at the reception desk spoke German, French and English and still, it wasn't enough. Most international companies who settle here accept that by hiring enough Dutch-speaking people. It's not exactly an impossible demand to have staff that speaks French and Dutch. Brussels is bilingual by law.

Obviously every company in Brussels will have to hire Dutch speaking people. That still doesn't mean than every employee (and not only the toilet cleaning lady) will have to master the language. That's all I meant.

[acionescu]

Originally Posted by Commander Data

I heard rafa is unhappy with the 25 sec rule being enforced and attacks the refs for it..... Lol!

Sorry if I misunderstand you but are you laughing at Rafa inhere?

[Castafiore]

Originally Posted by JM

That still doesn't mean than every employee (and not only the toilet cleaning lady) will have to master the language. That's all I meant.

You can try it but you'll end up with problems sooner or later.

If you work in Brussels and you deal with clients, suppliers,... and you don't understand Dutch, you have a problem. You can't just say that you'll get a Dutch-speaker on the phone. You can do that once in a while but if you have to do that regularly, you'll be in trouble with your boss sooner or later. The French lady I mentioned earlier experienced this: you need to learn Dutch. If you only speak French, you have to move to the French-speaking part of the country.

Sure, not everybody needs to be able master all the languages but you have to have a good understanding at least. I have colleagues who only speak French but they've had to
take courses and learn enough so that they can follow a meeting in Dutch for example.

Originally Posted by Evita

For example, I work for an international company and the only language I must know is English, I don't even have to know Latvian

Again, Brussels is bilingual BY LAW (Belgium has 3 official languages, our capital city 2), that includes international companies. It's not a matter of what's preferential, it's a matter of what's a legal obligation.
Sometimes, it works out if you can appoint one person to the Dutch-speaking region of the country and another to the French-speaking region with both able to speak English but it's cheaper to find somebody who speaks all three languages.