I'm from Wallonia and speak french at home, but my parents sent me to flemish schools since I'm 5 years old (I live near the linguistic border), and in Flanders we had french lessons since 'het 3de leerjaar'. This resulted in the fact that all my flemish friends had a sufficient notion in French, and could easily have basic conversation with a native French-speaking person.

However, I can't say the same thing about my Walloon friends in dutch. The majority of them didn't even learn dutch at school, as it is not a compulsary object in the French-speaking community (specifically Wallonia, I know Brussels has exceptions). And even the minority who did take dutch classes, I can confidently say that they do not have the basic knowledge to handle even simple interactions with a dutch-native.

This bears the question why the education system in Wallonia doesn't want to make dutch a valid object in their curriculum. If Flanders imposes their students to learn french, why not the same for Wallonia with dutch? It's only fair regarding Flanders, and it would also strengthen the unity in our country.

The only arguments I can find from the Walloon side, is that 'students in the province of Luxemburg will probably never use dutch, and English is a far more important language to learn, internationally speaking'

But I don't think those arguments are valid. Luxemburg already is a small populated province and I agree that they won't ever use dutch, but that doesn't apply to all the other people living in Wallonia. So why penalise them?

Many job applications in Belgium ask on their profile to have a decent knowledge of dutch. Speaking for myself as a bilingual, knowing both languages had an enormous advantage in many things, under which finding a job.

What are your thoughts?

What is this, the 1670s? And don’t tell me it is for the lessons! What lesson is there in putting penguins and lions on a boat? Or talking about afterlife?? It is brainwashing. Are their any schools that don’t teach religion?

I'm a francophone. I've been to school in Brussels, so I had to learn Dutch during all my primary and secondary school years. I like to think that I have a decent basic level in Dutch.

Yet, when I hear colleagues or people in the street talking in Dutch, I barely understand anything. I've been told this is because no one actually speaks the language taught in school, but rather some kind of dialect which varies from village to village.

But WHY ? I've never heard of anything like this in another European country. Dutch is already a language with such a small population of native speakers, why complicate things even further ? Is this only in Belgium or also in the Netherlands ?

For someone trying to learn the language, this feels really discouraging

Compared to Wallonia and Flanders ?

It always struck me to see how Walloons seems to know more about whats going on in France rather than what’s going on in the north of the country. On TV, the first channels seems to be often the french ones, then the Belgian ones. Also, Wallonia’s symbol is also very close to the french one.

I feel like Wallonia is a victim of France’s cultural imperalism. Is the same happening with Flanders and the NL ?

I get a few jokes here and there, but it's almost exclusively that whenever Brussels is mentioned. Whenever there's a post about Antwerp, Brugge or Oostende it's generally on the topic without spamming some ad nauseum rehashed joke (like #6548{Brussels is so dirty} or joke#75285{stabbydestab}) I mean, if I see a post on Antwerp, I'm not going in there to mention that its only contribution is a horrible dialect, a stupid joke about parking and grenades.

Does Brussels have issues? Absolutely. Are some really bad that shoundnt be explained away by "big city issues" like the crime rate and the messyness? Again agreed. But if Brussels scores high on a health index because off its parks, air quality, biking lanes, access to healthcare and so on, thats nice.

I know a lot of people outside Brussels sees this city in a bad light (while never actually having been here), but it's our capital and sometimes it does things well.

Hello everyone! I'm Portuguese, and I'm living for the past few years in the United States. My english is fluid, my french used to be "ok", and I'm learning Duch (On Duolingo 🫠🤣). I'm moving to the flanders region in June. My question is...do you think I will be able to live normally in Belgium with english until my dutch improves?

I'll take a train from Charleroi to Brussels and I'm unsure whether I should buy in advance or on the spot. One of the main reasons for buying in advance is that it's usually cheaper, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I noticed that the price for a trip tomorrow and one a month from now is the same (13 euros). Could someone confirm if buying in person on the spot is still the same price? Another question is about availability. Assuming I arrive at 11:40, do you think I could buy a ticket for the 12:20 train or it won't be available?

Living I Belgium. In noticed the stock of gold kiwis in supermarkets are either very low or not existing. When I find them in a specialized store. They were super pricy .

What's it all about ?

Hey everyone! We are moving with my boyfriend and we need to buy a washing machine. Do you know any shops that sells it and we can pay in monthly installments with not so much interest? We saw Media Markt but it is required a Media Markt Credit card which we don’t have. Is it not common here?

Thanks in advance!

Hey all, I will hopefully be moving to Belgium (Brussels) in the coming months for work. I am coming from the UK, and will be working thanks to my Dutch citizenship.

I'd like to get all ready for the move in terms of finances, but am struggling to find clear guides on how systems in Belgium work. For example, in the UK we have r/UKPersonalFinance which has lots of clear guides and recommendations for how to make the most of my money. I see that there is r/BEFire, but I'm not at that point, I just want to sensibly manage my money, and make sure I'm all ready for the move.

Is there a checklist of things that expats should do upon moving to Belgium, particularly from the UK? How do pensions work in Belgium (I have a workplace contribution pension here - are there similar tax relief opportunities in Belgium?) Resources to answer questions of this sort would be great.

I'm considering this school for the Digital Experience Design program. Is it a good school? Do I have any opportunities after graduation?

Hello, I want to watch Canelo vs. Munguia on Saturday. Where online is it possible to see?

Hi everyone. I have just returned to Australia after a short trip in Belgium at the end of a UK holiday visiting family. I had a wonderful time. Your country is beautiful and your people are friendly and hospitable. I am going to adopt some of your beer drinking culture now that I’m home ( smaller high quality , high ABV beer )

I only saw Brussels and Bruges because it was a short trip but I plan to return with my wife and spend a few weeks taking it all in outside of the tourist hotspots.

Anyway thanks for your hospitality ! 🇦🇺🇧🇪

Anybody got experiences to share?

Hi

Any chance you know how to change the filling status of tax declaration for a couple from joint to separate ?

Thanks ahead

Anyone know i worked 3 years vast contract as painter with sidehustle bijberoep painting , now i quitted my dayjob can i still keep the sidebusiness and be unemplyed(werkloos)

I have a question about comic con Brussels (11 and 12 may?) Is it worth going if you are only interested in collecting trade paperbacks and collectes editions of comics.

A few weeks ago I went to FACTS, and I was a bit disappointed with the amount of comics. It was mostly other pop culture stuff.

So for my regular job, I often take photos of real estate. I don't have a real education in it, just a couple of years experience. I really love this part of my job, and have been thinking of maybe starting it in bijberoep and becoming a freelance immo-photographer for Immo kantoren. I would first get a good education in it, to really become skilled. This all would take money, and this scares me because I have no clue if there even is a market for this, and if that market is already heavily saturated or not.

Does anyone have experience as an immo-photographer or as an immo-makelaar that could provide insight?

Received a post letter from Police asking to visit the police station as they consider me to be a suspect in some case. No specific details but the letter jas a lot of disclaimers.

I can't think of anything that I might have done and can be construed as implicating but I need to be there tomorrow.

Has any one of you experienced something like this?

Hi all

Been scouting a few websites, but maybe some experienced mobilhome renters could help me recommend a good dealer that rents out mobilhomes. Tips to stay away from bad dealers is also very much appreciated!

Region: West/East Flanders.

It would be during high season: July-August. And for 6 people.

Thanks in advance!

On a scale from 0 to 5, how celebrated is this week? And what do Belgians do?

I suppose the answer may vary per regions (or per generation)

We are currently working on a business plan and a financial plan of a accounting firm and it's gonna be started by 2 people ( BV) for our school projects.

Currently for the programs we have : Exact Wolters Kluwer ( we don't have the prices ) Microsoft 365

What more software's would we need ? And how do Wer get the prices of Wolters Kluwer's accounting services? And how do we create a server that's safe ( any recommendations). And what else can we add/ do we need to add to make it complete.

Thank you for taking your time.

So i have been looking for a job recently, applying for multiple jobs, also registering with some interims. In the meantime i got accepted by a company to come in to talk about an interesting job offer.

Today, interim called me and asked if i was still looking for a job. I said i had a sollicitation lined up so now might not be the perfect moment to look for 5 jobs at once. In return, she asked me at which company i had a sollicitation. I was a bit hesitant but eventually i told her.. Why did she ask me this? Was it stupid of me to tell her the truth? She seemed very friendly and kind-hearted, but could she have had actual underlying malicious intent by asking that question?

I keep feeling like her asking which company it was, was so irrelevant to the conversation and seemed suspicious.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

I'm an esports athlete who plays Dota 2 competitively and I make a decent living, and i'm looking for an accountant with ideally some experience with sports to help me set up a bv/srl.

Anyone have any recommendations?

(Ignore me doxxing myself)