Surviving your first month in Belgium as an expat
Learning French in a classroom is totally different from learning in a country.
Usually, it’s not until you arrive and experience a mini-crisis that you discover how little ‘real world’ language you know.
Don’t get me wrong—it’s important to spend time building your vocabulary and discussing different topics. But knowing how to say “Où est la piscine?” isn’t exactly helpful when you want to tell a plumber that your toilet is overflowing, and you need help now.
The fact is, there are some phrases you simply can’t wait for your teacher or textbook to cover when you’re living here.
… which is why I’ve put together this handy guide to help you survive those scary moments and live to see another day en Belgique.
“Can I survive in Belgium with English?”
Absolutely. But you never know when you’ll need a word or phrase to help get your message across. So, I recommend learning a few survival phrases to help you get by and settle in.
Administration
I hate to break it to you, but Belgium is extremely bureaucratic. Expats and locals alike regularly complain about how difficult it is to do, well, anything government-related.
And, to complicate things just a little more, our civil servants are required to only speak the language of the region they’re in (a good reason to learn some French ;)).
But don’t worry—here are some must-know processes and French phrases to help you through your first few encounters with Belgian bureaucracy.
One of the first things you’ll need to do when you arrive is register your residence at your local City Office and begin the process of applying for your residence permit.
Soon after, you’ll receive a letter with an appointment to collect your identity card. Now, are you paying attention?
This letter will likely specify the date of your appointment using the structure "à savoir + date".
Don’t mistake this to mean "starting from" like one of my students did before discovering she’d missed her slot!
Oh and one other thing. Shortly after registering your arrival, you can expect to find the police at your door. I know it sounds scary, but it’s nothing to worry about. This is a procedure called “le passage de l’agent de quartier” that they must follow to verify that you actually live at the address you entered.
Okay, now here are some words to note down for the residence permit application process.
La maison communale - The town hall
L’eID - Electronic identity card
Sur rendez-vous / sans rendez-vous - By appointment/without an appointment
l’État-civil / le bureau d’État-civil - Marital status/registry office
La carte-riverain - Resident parking permit
La composition de ménage - Household composition
Learn more about the residence permit application in this super useful article and check out my guide, 50 essential French words you need to survive Belgian Administration for more vocabulary to help you through.
Opening a bank account in Belgium
Priority number two after arriving in Belgium? Setting up a bank account.
Fortunately, this is a pretty easy process that doesn’t require nearly as much paperwork as the residence permit application. In fact, you may not even need to leave your house! Many banks accept online applications, and some even allow you to open an account before you arrive.
You can learn more about the process here—but let’s look at some terms you’ll likely need to know.
Un compte courant - A current account
Un compte épargne - A savings account
Le titulaire du compte - The account holder
Une carte de débit - A debit card
Un virement - A transfer
Une domiciliation - A direct debit
Renting an apartment
So, you’ve checked the logistical items off your to-do list. Now it’s time to find a place to live.
The Belgian housing market is well-regulated, but like anywhere, it has its fair share of scams and not-so-nice landlords.
Scams are often found on unofficial housing websites and social media pages. They usually use fake adverts with pictures of lovely-looking houses that either don’t exist or don’t belong to the advertiser.
My advice? Avoid transferring money to an agent or so-called landlord if you haven’t met them or seen the apartment, and only search on official platforms, such as Immoweb and Zimmo.
For more details on how to rent a place in Belgium, check out this article. Otherwise, let’s look at some important vocabulary you’ll need.
Le propriétaire (=le bailleur) - The owner (= the lessor)
Le locataire (= le preneur) - The tenant (= the lessee)
Le bail - The lease
La garantie locative* (anciennement la caution) - The rental guarantee (formerly the deposit)
L’état des lieux d’entrée / de sortie - Check-in/check-out inventory
*Can’t be more than 3 months of rent and never in cash!
House maintenance vocab
Hopefully, your new home will be comfortable and in perfect condition. But just in case you encounter any problems, it’s worth knowing how to handle them.
After all, you don’t want to be hunting for the right words to say your pipes have burst when you’re standing in a rapidly growing puddle.
Une fuite - A leak
Une panne - A breakdown
Le compteur électrique - The electric meter
Le robinet - The tap
La chasse d’eau - The toilet flush
Les radiateurs - The radiators
La chaudière - The boiler
Healthcare
Medical vocabulary isn’t the kind of stuff you come across often in French classes, but it’s also not the kind of information you want to leave until you really need it.
So, let’s make sure you’re super prepared with a few important words and phrases.
Insurance
As a resident of Belgium, you have to have health insurance, but you can choose between taking out a public or private plan.
Public insurance is partially funded by your social security contributions, which are automatically deducted from your salary each month. But before you can benefit from this, you’ll first need to register with the social security office. Then you can claim back up to 75% of your healthcare costs. (Yep, it’s pretty generous!)
Whichever health insurance route you take, I suggest noting down these words:
Les cotisations de sécurité sociale - Social security contributions
La mutuelle / la mutualité - Private health insurance
Un remboursement - Reimbursement
Une vignette de mutuelle - A sticker that must be affixed to medical documents in order to be eligible for reimbursement
Une incapacité de travail - Incapacity to work
Hospital
The Belgian healthcare system is known as one of the best in Europe, so should you need to visit a hospital, you can rest assured you’ll be well looked after.
In most places, you’ll find that staff have a good level of English, but it always helps to have a few phrases to hand in case you don’t fully understand what’s going on:
Une consultation - A consultation
Des symptômes - Symptoms
Examiner - To examine
Une prise de sang - A blood test
Prescrire un médicament - To prescribe medicine
Une ordonnance - A prescription
Emergencies
If you need urgent medical care, you can visit the accident and emergency department of the nearest hospital. If you need to go by ambulance, make sure to call 100 for assistance.
Again, call operators will likely speak English, but just in case they don’t, or you’re having trouble explaining your problem, here are some words and phrases to refer to.
Les urgences / Un urgentiste - Emergencies/An emergency doctor
Passer une radio - To have an X-ray
Faire une IRM / un scanner - To have an MRI/CT scan
Une fracture - A fracture
Être hospitalisé - To be hospitalised
On va vous garder - We will keep you (in)
Et voilà!
Are you feeling ready to survive your first month in Belgium?
I hope this guide has helped you feel more confident about using French in real-world everyday situations.
But if you’re still feeling a little nervous about speaking, know this: we Belgians are (generally) super forgiving of mistakes, and we’ll go out of our way to understand you. It’s why it’s worth making a few Belgian friends.
It also helps to have some key words and phrases to hand, which is why I created my survival vocabulary guides. Browse the full series here, and let me know if you’d like me to cover any other topics.
Bonne chance!
