A cool video has emerged of a policeman speaking in Arabic and Lingala to two young men on a street in Brussels, Belgium.

The footage, captured in January, shows the officer impressing the men with his knowledge of the Arabic and African dialects.

Jean-Marie Vanoirbeek, 52 – who likes to be called ‘Papa Jean-Marie’ - has been an officer in the police dog unit in the suburb of Laeken, Brussels, for 15 years.

He says he can speak Arabic, Lingala, Dutch, English, Spanish and has a good knowledge of Greek, Turkish, Polish and Hebrew.

Vanoirbeek told a local newspaper that he learnt the various languages from speaking to members of the public during his career and that he enjoys using them as an ice breaker and a mark of respect for people he deals with in his job.

The video was posted online in the wake of the terrorist attacks in France and has since been watched more than a million times on social media websites.

It subsequently triggered a lot of attention in Belgium and France and the ‘polyglot policeman’ has now become a local celebrity with his own Facebook fan page.

A cool video has emerged of a policeman speaking in Arabic and Lingala to two young men on a street in Brussels, Belgium.

The footage, captured in January, shows the officer impressing the men with his knowledge of the Arabic and African dialects.

Jean-Marie Vanoirbeek, 52 – who likes to be called ‘Papa Jean-Marie’ - has been an officer in the police dog unit in the suburb of Laeken, Brussels, for 15 years.

He says he can speak Arabic, Lingala, Dutch, English, Spanish and has a good knowledge of Greek, Turkish, Polish and Hebrew.

Vanoirbeek told a local newspaper that he learnt the various languages from speaking to members of the public during his career and that he enjoys using them as an ice breaker and a mark of respect for people he deals with in his job.

The video was posted online in the wake of the terrorist attacks in France and has since been watched more than a million times on social media websites.

It subsequently triggered a lot of attention in Belgium and France and the ‘polyglot policeman’ has now become a local celebrity with his own Facebook fan page.