Dutch Language House Brussels at 20: ‘200,000 non-native speakers helped to learn Dutch'

"Over the past 20 years, 200,000 people have come to us to enrol in adult education so that they can learn Dutch," explains Patrick Manghelinckx, the director of the Dutch Language House . "Being able to speak Dutch is important to find a job, but it also ensures that non-native parents can monitor their children at school more easily."

120 different nationalities

All kinds of nationalities come knocking at the Dutch Language House. "In 2022, there were 120 different nationalities, mainly people who have lived in Brussels for a while, and 10 per cent are real newcomers. We also make sure that people can practice Dutch. That's why we organise conversation tables, and we go out and about with them, for example visiting a museum."

Vincent Kompany as poster boy

In 2018, the Dutch Language House experienced a spike in interest. "That was due to an appeal from Vincent Kompany, the footballer fronted a campaign to learn Dutch. That was very successful. A lot of people called us. During the pandemic it was less busy. Since the beginning of this year numbers have again been rising. We still get about 18,000 visitors a year. So interest in Dutch remains high.

On the 20th anniversary, the team is also looking to the future. "We are going to think about how we can improve our role, because multilingualism is increasing in Brussels and in the Flemish Rand, the part of Flanders surrounding Brussels. It means we are facing new challenges," Manghelinckx notes.