Unemployed people in Brussels that are unable to speak Dutch can learn the language with the help of Vincent Kompany. Like his siblings the Manchester City and Belgian international footballer was brought up bilingually and went to Dutch-medium schools in Brussels.
This is the second time that Vincent Kompany has given his support to a campaign by the Brussels Employment service Actiris to promote the learning of Dutch as a means of improving a job-seeker’s prospects of finding work.
As part of the new campaign Actiris has launched a competition. The employment service want to make job seekers aware of the options they have if they want to learn Dutch. These include courses tailor made for particular professions that are provided by the Flemish vocational training agency VDAB. There are also “language cheques” that job-seekers can use to pay for language courses and the online language learning tool Brulingua.
By answering six question you can find out which option is best suited to your needs are entered into a competition with a very special prize. Nine winners will be given a Dutch lesson by Vincent Kompany. He will be helped by the Brussels comedian Abdel en Vrai.
A knowledge of Dutch (in addition to French) is very important for those seeking work in the capital.
Actiris’ spokesman Jan Gatz told VRT News that “One in two job vacancies in Brussels require a knowledge of Dutch, but many job-seekers don’t have this. By learning Dutch you double your chances of finding work in Brussels and outside the city”.
