The Department of modern languages (ELV) is an inter-faculty department whose mission is to provide foreign language training to members of the university community. Most Faculties and Departments require that their future university graduates study one or more foreign languages (Dutch, English, German or Spanish).
Beyond the indispensable nature of languages, especially in the workplace, learning a foreign language is also a door to integration into other cultures through rich communication. Languages are also used in the scientific field of study and research, in particular as a privileged means of access to information shared by the many researchers.
Based on the common and individual experiences of its teaching staff in various fields related to education, ELV offers all students a qualitative and innovative language learning project.
One language puts you in a corridor for life. Two languages open all the doors along the way.
Frank Smith, Canadian psycholinguist
The importance of Dutch in the Belgian job market
On 28 February 2022, the ELV organised a meeting between students of the Faculty of economic,social and management sciences and four professionals with a wide range of experience. The usual language of the meeting was Dutch.
This meeting is directly in line with the objectives of the course aimed at preparing students to enter the professional world by accompanying them towards a job interview simulation. It was intended for students in block 3 of the Faculty, but was also open to the public. This was a great opportunity for the hundred or so participants to meet people active in fields ranging from management to communication, international relations, diplomacy and cooperation, while emphasizing the importance of languages, and in particular Dutch, on the Belgian job market.
The aim of this evening was to give meaning to language learning, to build bridges between the theoretical knowledge acquired in the academic world and to anchor it in the reality of the field.
The invited speakers
- Freek Bracke, Associate director Corporate Affairs at Whyte Corporate Affairs
- Anne-Sophie Massa, Senior Policy Officer Ukraine at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague
- Thierry Martiny, Head of Media Relations for the Belfius Bank & Insurance Group
- Loïc Hardy, an alumnus until recently category manager at Makro and recently hired by Coeck, a renowned Flemish company as Covarte sales manager
After an hour of presentations, the students were invited to join the speaker of their choice in order to ask him/her more specific questions about his/her career in Dutch.
A great opportunity to practice the Vondel language in a very useful context!