I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this… I've lived in Amsterdam for 10 years and still don’t speak Dutch. I have a Dutch wife, and Dutch is similar to Danish, and I want to stay here forever, so the motivation is there. So by the end of 2025 I want to be fluent in Dutch! I want to evolve further than just yelling "pannekoek" in traffic 🤓 But I don't have a great game plan yet. What setup works? Who can help me? Do I really have to go to the nuns for 3 weeks to crack this? Please help me, dank je 🙏
Great game plans start small. How about spending 20 minutes each day speaking Dutch with your wife for the next year? No excuses. 365 days x 20 minutes. Your dutch isn't probably the only thing that evolves :)
My partner started listening to Dutch radio during work, and it’s been a game-changer for learning the language! 📻 It’s such a simple way to make progress quickly, especially when paired with apps and conversations at home. The best part? It doesn’t take him any extra time or attention—just let it play in the background!
Listen Mate, if you didnt pick it up after 10 years, in country, married locally! You're not going to pick it up now. And so what:-) They all speak english in NL, in some cases even better than in UK.
I’m also keen! Let’s study buddy?!
What worked best for me was to do intensive courses (but not the nuns' one 🤣). I don't do well with courses with 1-2 lessons per week so I did it with this school https://dutchcoursesamsterdam.nl/ The app Drops is good to build useful, every day vocabulary (not like Duolingo that had a turtle in a lot of sentences...) Once you reach a A2 or B1 level, there are some novels that have been adapted for that Dutch level. So instead of reading kids books, you get to enjoy a novel. https://www.eenvoudigcommuniceren.nl/boeken/boeken-voor-volwassenen/leeslicht And I like the tv program Zondag with Lubach Hope this helps!
With a background in Afrikaans and speaking fluent Danish, it felt like my brain broke in half whenever tried to speak Dutch in the beginning 😅 I never got to speak it fluently, but hey, I gave it a shot 🫶🥲
I must admit that I have been living here for 8 years and have not mastered the language fully yet. But my best advice is to get over your fears and stumble through the process of learning a language and embrace the mistakes. 😉
Stop met Engels praten en praat alleen nog Nederlands met je vrouw. Luister podcasts in het Nederlands, televisie; in het Nederlands etcetc.
Founder & Recruitment Partner @Beyondo | Connecting top talent with a personal approach | Specialist in cross-cultural recruitment
5dStart by speaking Dutch with your partner! No more English, just because the convenience and ’hard to break the pattern’. Just do it! The day I started learning Dutch my partner said he wanted to learn my language, so we were both learning from each other. What worked for me was to write in Dutch and having someone correcting it, then I could learn from my mistakes. And just speak it… not be ashamed for mistakes. And remember, a foreign accent is a sign of bravery! Success!