SPEAK Brussels is happening

SPEAK Brussels is here! Belgium is a country of cultural and linguistic diversity.

SPEAK Brussels is here! Belgium has three official languages – Français, Nederlands, Deutch and add to that the many languages that are spoken in Brussels Capital Region where roughly 30 % of the 1.1 million people is foreign. Often termed the ‘heart of Europe’, Brussels is home to many people with roots elsewhere in the world.

EU institutions employees who are located here, universities with both free-mover and Erasmus students enrolling, guest workers of all sort, and also the many refugees that for different reasons had to leave their home countries, are creating a very diverse migrant community in this city.

To get to the point – Diversity is an advantage. Brussels is full of potential. Brussels is the ideal city to start building SPEAK.

As a culture and language exchange experience, SPEAK wants to connect newcomers with locals living in the same city. By bringing people together and fostering valuable relationships is what is at the core of the project. Language learning is seen as a tool, as a means rather than an end in itself, to shape a global community that is convinced of the opportunities that diversity in the city entails.

After take off in Portugal in 2014, SPEAK is now in 11 cities with a member community of 17.3k and representing 153 countries.

For a project like SPEAK cooperation is key. Support is necessary.

We are Chloé and Nicolas and we are taking SPEAK to Brussels. We are both living in the city, we are both convinced of the added value that SPEAK can bring with the informal approach to integration, the value of social interactions and believing in a global community that works together to strive for the biggest social impact regarding one of the biggest ‘topics’ these days – the topic of migration.

In this case, technology is used to maximize impact, support is available both on- and offline to ensure an inclusive community. A city like Brussels is surely aware of the need of initiatives likes these and yes, there are. Yet SPEAK can complement to what is out there.

So yes, here comes the call to action. 🙂

Because, we are launching a crowdfunding campaign and have set our goal to € 5000 (wow). This amount reflects the start-up costs of launching SPEAK in Brussels. We wish to organize the first language sessions in February and also kick off meetups with the community.

So, you can help us to reach this goal and build SPEAK in Brussels.

Join us on this mission and contribute here!

You can, as of today, also start signing up on the SPEAK website to join the community in the city of Brussels:

Learn at SPEAK – sign up to join a group, to start learning a language or practice what you already know.

Teach SPEAK – sign up to be a Buddy to teach others your mother tongue or any other language you may know. (check here the blog post about being a Buddy at SPEAK)

Make SPEAK community thrive – sign up to be an Ambassador and organise events for the community.

Do you have any questions!? Remarks!? Suggestions!? Collaborations!? Please do get in touch – Cooperation is key. Support is necessary.

Thank you. Danke. Merci. Bedankt.

Also we do very much believe that sharing is caring. Let’s get the word out!

Author: Chloé Van Soest

Chloé is the SPEAK Brussels co-founder.

Author: Nicolas Homans

Nicolas is the SPEAK Brussels co-founder