Polish & French
Native speaker
I was born in Poland and pursued my secondary education both in Polish and French after moving to Belgium.
As for French, I spent more than half of my life either studying or working in French in a mostly French-speaking Brussels. That's how I became a nearly native speaker of this language - thankfully with its quintessentially Belgian features.
As for French, I spent more than half of my life either studying or working in French in a mostly French-speaking Brussels. That's how I became a nearly native speaker of this language - thankfully with its quintessentially Belgian features.
Spanish
Fully proficient user
I learnt Spanish in language schools during my university years in Maastricht and Berlin. I also spent two years giving classes on Belgian society, culture and politics in Spanish to Latinos and Spaniards who had recently arrived in Brussels. I had a chance to further drill my castellano while travelling across Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina in the framework of the travel journalism project Metro Travel Stories.
German
Competent professional user
German has been with me since my Erasmus year in Berlin. I wrote papers and took exams in German at the Humboldt University’s faculty of sociology. However, it’s in the Norwegian Arctic that I really began to speak this language. The reason for this is that I spent two summers on Lofoten islands guiding cruise ship guests in six languages and German was by far the most solicited of them. I also guided German tourists in Rio de Janeiro. Now I use the language whenever I travel back to Berlin or stumble upon a good piece of German literature in my local library.
Dutch
Fully proficient user
I completed an MA in political communication at the Antwerp University where most of the lectures were given in Dutch. Dutch was also the lingua franca in my rowing club in Maastricht and when I worked as an integration teacher (Brussels), a tourist guide (Rio de Janeiro) and a mental health worker (Brussels). Today Dutch is the language I use most often on a par with French and English.
Russian
Proficient user
After stubbornly remaining dormant despite my learning efforts in language schools of Brussels and Antwerp, my Russian finally took off towards the end of a 5-month trip I did to Russia, South Caucasus, Ukraine and Moldova where I got hold of Gogol’s Taras Bulba. I read it over a week and had a euphoric “finally!” moment. After returning to Brussels I joined a Russian theatre company. They were bold enough to give me the lead role in their play. After that I worked for half a year giving full-time integration classes to Russian speakers.
Arabic
Beginner
I completed a one-year course of elementary modern standard Arabic in which I learnt to read and write Arabic letters, picked up basic vocabulary and got acquainted with fundamentals of declension. The relationship I developed with Moroccan Arabic (derija) dates back to the moment I turned up at my first Belgian school in 1998 where most of my class camarades were of Moroccan origin. Today I can boast with a few formal and a series of (very) informal derija expressions and songs which turns out handy in Brussels and whenever I travel to Morocco.
English
Fully proficient user
English was ubiquitous in the universities I attended and in most places where I worked. Together with French and Dutch, English is my principal language when it comes to reading, writing and taking part in cultural and social events in Brussels.
portuguese
Proficient user
A year in Rio and subsequent travels to Brazil turned me into a lusophone gringo. I can speak, read, sing and dance in Brazilian. Back in Belgium I’ve been keeping the fire going reading Amyr Klink’s adventures, singing - mostly out of tune - Gilberto’s and Caetano’s hits and attending local forro events.
Turkish
Beginner
Two hitchhiking trips from Brussels to Anatolia made me fall in love with Turkish. I completed a one-year basic Turkish course in Brussels and continue to learn Turkish on my own, slowly but surely deepening my understanding of what I consider the most elegant grammar of any language I had a chance to learn until now.