2018 -2019
Université libre de
Bruxelles
DEPARTEMENT DE TRADUCTION ET INTERPRETATION – MINOR ABROAD IN TRANSLATION AND LINGUISTICS DENISE ROUKEMA – D.ROUKEMA@STUDENT.RUG.NL
In advance
Before deciding that an Erasmus exchange would help me with my future career (by opening up more options for possible Master degrees than a University minor, my original choice, would have), I was hesitant to move abroad. I suffer from homesickness, and did not have enough self-confidence to think I would possibly survive abroad. This, in return, made me choose to go to Brussels: being a bilingual city, there was a possibility for me to fall back on my native Dutch language, at least at official instances. Moreover, the city being officially French-Dutch bilingual, it offered the perfect place to do a minor in translation French-Dutch / Dutch-French, which is what I did at the Université libre de Bruxelles (hereafter ULB). In this brief report, I will summarize my experience abroad: what was the university like, what courses did I take and did I like them? And what was living in Brussels like? These questions will be answered in the upcoming text. I hope this helps making up minds on the ULB.
The beginnings: reception and accommodation at the ULB
I could only be positive about my reception at the host institution. The ULB organized an introduction day for new students in general, and then the “Département de traduction et interprétation” (faculty of translation and interpreting) organized an informative gathering at their faculty, offering more specific information on our stay with them. Most of the
departmental Erasmus coordinators were present as well to meet them in person, however our coordinator could not attend due to other responsibilities. It was here that they explained how to select classes, which courses are offered, how their online platform (MonULB and the Université virtuelle) works, etc. The day after this gathering, the mobility office proposed an excursion (free of charges) to Gent and Oostende, to get to know the country and your fellow Erasmus students. In the meantime, our coordinator sent a personal email explaining his absence, wishing us a warm welcome to ‘his’ faculty and city, and answering possible
question that arose during the meeting earlier. In general, having this informative meeting and the excursion not only helped me get familiar with the university and Belgium, but it made me feel at ease as well.
As far as accommodation goes, the ULB does have a campus and does propose housing on-campus. Unfortunately, you can only rent these accommodations on a year-long lease,
meaning that even if applying is possible, chances are slim that you will get a room/studio on campus for one semester only. Luckily, the university disposes of a housing office, and they offer plenty of sites where you can possibly find accommodation. Behind this page, there is a team available who will answer your questions, as well as proposing trusted landlords to rent from. Due to this helpdesk, I ended up renting a room which was a 15-minute walk away from my faculty. Keep in mind however that rent in Brussels is expensive!
Courses, level of education, teacher/university support
Unlike the UG, the courses at the faculty of translation and interpreting are not necessarily worth 5 or 10 ECTS, but more often they are worth only 3 ECTS. Due to this, often you have to take 8 or even 9 courses at a time to reach the 25 ECTS minimum and possibly have a protective buffer (in case you fail a course). It is also important to point out that you are allowed to follow any regular course, except for interpreting courses, because you would have to have a C2 level in French to be eligible (essentially, you would have to be a native speaker
of the French language). Apart from the regular courses, a special Erasmus programme was offered, which focused on translation, French as a foreign language and possibilities for future French teachers.
In my case, 7 out of the 8 courses I took were part of the Erasmus programme offered by the university. I took the following classes:
Atelier d’initiation à la traduction vers le français pour les étudiants Erasmus
(néerlandais) – 3 ECTS: this course offered an introduction to translation into French for native speakers of Dutch, keeping in mind and pointing out often made mistakes by Dutch speaking people. Because there were only four students, the teacher was able to really offer a course at our specific language level and to discuss our personal errors in great detail, making this one of the most informative and fun courses I took.
Atelier d’initiation à la traduction vers le français pour les étudiants Erasmus (espagnol) – 3 ECTS: this course was essentially the same as the one for Dutch students, except it was meant for Spanish students. I chose it as Spanish was my language minor at the UG. Due to the class being fairly big (about 25 students), the teacher couldn’t discuss translations in great detail and it was not as instructive as the Dutch-French class.
Initiation à la traduction A-C (néerlandais) – 5 ECTS: this course offered an introduction to translation into Dutch, and is originally meant for French-speaking students. Due to the teacher keeping in mind that this course is for the
French-speaking students, it was fairly easy for me and the required language level was fairly low. However, I did get taught some common pitfalls when translating into Dutch, as well as techniques to translate different types of texts into my mother tongue, making this also a fun and instructive course.
Techniques d’expression orale – 3 ECTS: expecting to improve my French
pronunciation, this course was quite a let-down. Most of the time, I would sit here, passively listening as other students gave presentations and I did not learn anything new here.
Techniques d’expression écrite – 3 ECTS: this course was a major help in learning new lexicon, and avoiding common mistakes due to false friends in the French language.
Linguistique française – 5 ECTS: considering the name and course description, I thought this was going to be a course into general French linguistics. However, it ended up being a course on French grammar, explained in more or less linguistic terms. I did learn a lot and refreshed a lot of knowledge, but considering my expectations, this course was different than expected.
Phonétique française – 3 ECTS: as the name says, this is a course on basic French phonetics. Due to students that have seen anything linguistic before, the teacher was not able to teach into great detail on the French phonetical system. She could,
however, teach us specific details from this system and ended up teaching me certain rules and exceptions of French phonetic traits that I already knew a little, but was not quite consciously aware of.
Culture et civilisation francophones de Belgique – 5 ECTS: this course was a general introduction to Belgian culture and politics, making it a fun course as you were
learning a lot of new things about your host country. Moreover, the teacher was very passionate, making the course even more fun.
These courses add up to 30 ECTS, out of which I have earned 24 ECTS, and I am still awaiting the results of 2 courses as of the time of writing this report. Considering I also took the course at distance “French Advanced Proficiency”, worth 5 ECTS, this semester I had a workload of 35 ECTS. However, the level of education at the ULB is far lower than the level at the UG, making the workload relatively doable. This is partly due to courses only worth 3 ECTS: the teacher simply did not have the time or space to go into more detail or to teach you something new. Moreover, the requirements to pass your exam were set lower than I am used to, making exams relatively easy and my grades relatively high (at time of writing, my lowest mark was 15/20, this is roughly an 8 at the UG). By contrast, the quality of education was relatively high: teachers were able to explain the material extremely clearly, the supportive tools were of good quality and the exams did correspond with the level of difficulty expected in class! In conclusion, although the level of education being relatively easy compared to the UG, what was taught was of good quality.
Moreover, the teachers and university were extremely supportive: where possible, they offered you help. If you did not understand a specific detail, teachers would keep on
explaining in different ways until you did, even if this meant working overtime. If a problem occurred with the digital university platform, there was an online helpdesk you could reach out to as well as a forum online where both other students as well as ICT helpdesk workers could help you out. In other words, the host institution offered great help with your studies!
Support from home
Even though I was away from Groningen, it was not at all difficult to remain in touch with my fellow students and with teachers. Via email I was able to reach out to teachers and staff where needed, and due to having to keep an online blog, I was able to reach out to my fellow students in Belgium and France in case I wanted or needed to do so. Most of the time, I got a quick response from the UG as well. In general, the help and support from and the contact with home was good. I did however not have to reach out to the UG often, so this is based on roughly 5 times I contacted teachers and fellow students.
Cost of life in Brussels
Brussels is an expensive city. It is popular and rental prices are not really regulated, enabling landlords to ask ridiculous amounts of rent for fairly small rooms. Moreover, with the
exception of fruit and vegetables, groceries are also more expensive in Brussels. By contrast, teachers at the ULB are obliged to post their material, syllabi, readers and articles online (with the exception of books by third parties), reducing the cost of books to 0 euros. In the
following scheme, I will give you a rough overview of the expenses I had per month.
Entry Price per month (in euros)
- Rent (including charges) - 520
- Wifi - 10
- Health insurance - 117
- Phone subscription - 37
- Groceries - ± 150
- Social activities - ± 75
- Other costs - ± 25
- Total - 949
In addition, I had to pay a tax of 90 euros towards the municipality, and although I did not have a public transport subscription because I could do the distance to the faculty and
supermarket by foot, I did buy a Mobib card (the Belgian equivalent of the OV-chipcard) and bought four packages of 10 single rides, adding up to 56 euros over the course of the
semester. In general, you will need at least 950-1000 euros to live comfortably in Brussels, making it fairly expensive…
The problems encountered
I did not encounter any big issue while in Brussels, at least not when it came to my education or additional information. I did, however, got sick one time, and I had to search medical assistance after getting a cotton wad stuck in my ear (not the smartest move, but it happened). Due to this, I had so search for a general practitioner taking in one-time patients. Luckily, the official site of the Brussels Region offers a lot of information on this, and I ended up being able to go to the so called “médecins de garde”, a practice open 24/7 and meant for those who do not have a fixed GP (such as expats, exchange students and homeless people). I had to pay for this appointment out of pocket, but after handing in the receipt, my health insurance reimbursed me. Another option would have been to go to the practice on campus, but I was told that the university GP was awful, moreover the médecins de garde facilitated a Dutch speaking doctor for me to go to, which was extremely helpful in explaining my issues. Falling ill, on the contrary, was not a motive to seek medical help, but it did make me realise that Belgians can only get medicine after seeing a GP and getting a subscription. I had great difficulty finding a nose spray that was sold over the counter, but it was not impossible. I would however recommend taking basic medication (paracetamol, nose spray, anything you think you would need) with you from home, to save yourself from searching for it when needed and not being able to get it.
Observations and recommendations
On a more personal note, I noticed that the university was relatively well organised, although their schedules can be confusing and courses can overlap and it will be up to you to pick the course you prefer/that is more important. Moreover, the exam period can be stressful because you will have to take all your exams of the semester in one three-week period. My advice would be to prepare for this well in advance, otherwise you will undoubtedly fail. Also, the building where the faculty of translation and interpreting is located is at a distance from the main campus, which you should keep in mind when looking for accommodation.
My final advice is, however, to just enjoy yourself. You will be in the capital of Europe, go around and discover it as there are a lot of hidden gems in the city. Considering Belgium is a small country, you can also get to other cities in a relatively short amount of time, so go about and explore those as well. Your education is important, but do not forget to enjoy yourself as well!
