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> you’ll fail a job interview if you don’t speak both fluent French and Dutch. That seems entirely reasonable in a country that speaks French and Dutch. Try g
by knolax 7y ago
> you’ll fail a job interview if you don’t speak both fluent French and Dutch.
That seems entirely reasonable in a country that speaks French and Dutch. Try getting an Engineering job in the US without speaking English. Even in low skill retail you need to speak Spanish, English, or both preferably.
- holografix 7y agoYes it does. If, and only if, the Belgians themselves spoke both languages fluently. A large proportion doesn’t. Mostly the business language is English. No such obligation is required in the Netherlands, Denmark etc. Mostly because knowing only one European language well is not a big impediment.
- apexalpha 7y agoI work in IT in the Netherlands where you can get away with only English, but I'd say if you don't speak Dutch in English and are not in a highly sought after profession such as software engineering then you're out of luck for 99% of the jobs.
- barry-cotter 7y agoI know three different people who lived in the Netherlands for multiple years whose Dutch is basically good enough to order a beer. Loads of people work office jobs for companies whose EMEA HQ is in Amsterdam. Most of the population of Amsterdam wasn't born in the Netherlands. Given how easy it is to live in the Netherlands speaking English it's honestly amazing so many foreigners do end up learning Dutch.