Universiteit Gent (RUG)

Since Dutch is not one of the "big"languages, people are used to talk English or Dutch with foreigners. So there is never a problem if you have questions. But people like it when you try to talk Dutch even if English would be easier. If you kmow German, Dutch is not too hard, and after all, Dutch is an important language in the international scene of architecture. There is no Flemish language, it is just an accent (like British and American English) and it sound nicer than the Dutch spoken in the Netherlands. There is a university language center. You get one course for free, if you want to do more, it is really expensive. There is only evening courses for the first two levels. If you want to go on, you ight run into difficulties with the schedule of your lessons

I had no idea the language of instruction was going to be Dutch, so be careful to have this point clarified beforehand. However, since I inteded to stay for 3 years, I would have learned it anyway (only at a slower pace). In the end it proved to be a success story: it made everything easier and more enjoyable (except studying, especially in the beginning)

this is not the place to go if you really want to learn Dutch. most people speak only dialect among themselves so you end up speaking English and almost never Dutch. I could have learned more if I had gone to the Netherlands. Flemish Dutch is a lot more difficult to understand.

The most of courses were in Dutch language, but for exchange students were a possibility to selfstudy in English. I had a bit problem with Dutch,because I didn't know anything from it.Therefore I decided to learn new language (Dutch), it was interessting.

Here i could communicate at ease with my fellow student colleagues and teachers. It is an environment where every body communicates very freely with friends but become very closed when they meet unfamiliar persons.

In Gent allmost all people speak english, and since I have been abroad for four semesters I felt like I would not have time to attend another language course here when I had to finish my studies. Unfortunately.