ok, so my wife and i are looking to move to belgium in 2 or 3 yrs. we currently reside in the US (az). We've been reading up on as much as we can to get ready for our move. its a bit overwhelming haha
anyway, so we want to start getting ready by learning the language! problem is, we're not sure what language would be best to learn? French? Dutch? i have no idea... she has taken 2 yrs of spanish, and i've taken 2 yrs of japanese... nothing that seems like it would really help us over there. so if anyone could help out with some suggestions, that would be awesome!!

thanks, chase

Depends on where in Belgium you plan on living. Dutch is needed in the Flemish (northern) half and French is an asset in Brussels & the southern half.

And if you are planning to work in Belgium and live in Brussels then its a good idea to check which languages employers prefer.

I've noticed (I'm in IT) that ads always ask for French and Dutch, but as IT is dominated by Dutch companies they only really care if you speak Dutch. They only add French to the job description because of some law.

Yes I agree with HAL2000, I'm an IT consultant and it's surprising how many opportunities you miss out on if you're not a Dutch-speaker (particularly with the banks).

However, there are English jobs around, the trick is getting your CV past the screening as quite often it never makes it any further without 3 languages on it...

I agree with the guys above! There are 2 big factors you have to consider!

1) Location
2) Working Language

I live in the Brussels area and just about everyone speaks French but I can't speak a word of Frence! However, I work in an Int. Company where the working language is English. Everyone I know is a Dutch speaker, so I've been learning dutch in order to speak with them in their native language.

So, if you know what kind of job you are aiming for and where it is located (Brussles middle/ Flanderin North/ Waloonia South)..this can really help solve your problem with choosing!

BTW I stuedied Japanese too..learning a different language is going to be REALLY easy for you now!

Hi

I'm having the same problem. I want a media job but at the moment with the economy problems these type of companies are not really hiring. So I have been looking at office work with some creativity. However I'm having the problem of do I learn dutch or do i learn french?

My boyfriend says to learn the language according to the area you live in if it is an english speaking job and if you want to work in Brussels by default you must learn french. I'm soo confused because I want to live in Leuven, they speak dutch there but are they alot of dutch speaking jobs out there?