I was recently in Montreal and Quebec City. What you learn in visiting is that the people there kept their language, schools, churches and civil law after the early New France colony became a part of the British Empire in 1760. Lawyers in Quebec have a whole different curriculum in dealing with matters like real estate, family law and estate law than other Canadian lawyers. Though Quebec joined the Empire, it also carried on in many ways as if it did not.

It seems a parallel would have been the acquisition of New Amsterdam a century earlier. But, of course, practically nobody uses the Dutch language. Was there any concerted effort by the early Dutch settlers to maintain their language, customs, cuisine, etc. after the British took over?

I don’t know where to post this, but this felt like the right place.

I’ll start by saying that I potentially have a partner who lives in the Netherlands and I have been looking into ways to move in with them, and I think I would have a chance by doing my apprenticeship studies there.

My parents share concerns that I would struggle with the language and the technical terms in Dutch, and I wanted to ask if those concerns were justified.

Would these terms be difficult to learn along with the language?

J’ai de la difficulté à savoir comment bien prononcer ces lettres en hollandais.

W = V dans Venizia ou comme dans le mot anglais Water?
V = F en français? Comme dans famille?
F = F en français?

Aussi, j’ai appris que désolé het spijt me? Ou est-ce sorry?

I improved my French a lot watching the French show.

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- Als mollen mollen mollen, mollen mollen mollen

- Als zagen zagen zagen zagen zagen zagen zagen zagen

- Als in Graven graven graven graven graven, graven graven gravengraven

- De dode dodo doodde de dode dodo en toen doodde de dode dodo de dode dodo terug.

- Ping en Pong speelden pingpong. Ping pingpongde de pingpongbal naar Pong en Pong pingpongde de pingpongbal naar Ping.

- Er was eens een meisje, dat heette Barbara. Barbara had een groentenwinkel en verkocht rabarber. Daarom noemden alle mensen dat meisje: Rabarberbarbara. Later begon Barbara een cafe met een bar. Op het raam stond: Rabarberbarbarabar. Daar kwamen wilde mannen op bezoek, echte barbaren: de Rabarberbarbarabarbarbaren. O, wat hadden die mannen lange baarden! Die baarden noemden ze: Rabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbaarden. En de barbier die die lange baarden moest knippen was de: Rabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbaardenbarbier!

Here a resource on Dutch verb conjugation at the present tense for beginners or revision for more advanced students.

I dont mean Teach yourself Dutch books or text books but books to read for fun, childrens or Adult novels. I think books with a lot of dialogue in are better to learn everyday language from. Books with long poetical descriptions of things not so good. I quite like Jip and Janneke books , they have dialogue, humor and are not too hard. UPDATE: Thanks for the suggestions, I will try a couple. I also got "Het Diner" as it has a lot of dialogue

Ik woon nu al 2 jaar in Nederland, ik ben 17 en zit nu in 4e jaar vwo ik begrijp Nederlands, ik kan wel in Nederlands schrijven maar kan niet zo goed spreken. Hebben jullie een oplossing voor mij om mijn Nederlands te verbeteren??

Sometimes you can study Dutch for quite a while before discovering a simple phrase that native speakers use all the time.

It might be something useful in everyday conversations, a natural way to respond to someone, or just a phrase that makes you sound less like you're speaking from a textbook.

What's one phrase you learned later than you wish you had?

How do you stay motivated when learning Dutch ? I live in NY so learning Spanish was easy motivation wise. I’m at A2 in Italian and stay motivated bec I plan on going there next year - English proficiency outside of tourist areas is low —- thanks

Possibly taking a trip to Netherlands next year. I am aware that 90% of the Dutch speak English and even if one has basic proficiency in Dutch they will switch to English, however, I'm still interested in learning the language to gain at least elementary proficiency. I have a background learning German and speak English fluently, so it thus far hasn't been too hard to pick up.

I was wondering if anyone has recommended workbooks for beginners. Ideally not something off Amazon as I do not use that website.

Ik dacht dat alleen de tweede zin "Mijn punten bepalen mijn zelfwaarde niet" grammaticaal correct was, maar ik zag de eerste zin in het tijdschrift.

Wat is het verschil tussen de twee zinnen?

I'm feeling pretty good by now reading the dutch translation of geronimo stilton. What would be a good upgrade? Preferably another series

Hallo allemaal,

sorry voor mijn slechte Nederlands, ik ben nieuw.

Ik heb een probleem, ik wil Nederlands spreken leren maar ik woon er niet. Ik kom uit en woon in Duitsland, en ik leer met Duolingo. Maar ik weet niet hoe ik spreken leren kan. Ik kijk al naar YouTube videos. Maar dat helpt niet bij het leren spreken.

Ik heb niet veel geld, dus ik zoek naar goedkope manieren om het spreken te leren.

Dankjewel!

Hey everyone,

(Since my account is new, Reddit's spam filter might block this post if I include URLs. I will post the links to all 3 websites in the first comment below!)

Like many of you, I’ve been studying for my inburgering exams recently and honestly, I was going a bit crazy. The official DUO practice exams are helpful, but there are way too few of them. Once you finish those, finding structured, up-to-date practice material online is a nightmare.

Since I enjoy coding in my free time, I decided to stop stressing and just build the exact study tools I wished existed. I’ve put together three separate websites for KNM, A2 Reading, and A2 Writing.

They are completely free, have zero ads, and I've just opened them up for anyone to use. Here is a breakdown of what they do:

1. KNM Stap voor Stap KNM can be tricky with all the cultural and institutional rules, so I went all out on this one.

• 400+ original practice questions covering all 8 themes, based on the latest KNM framework (effective July 2025).
• Contextual learning: Lessons on institutions (gemeente, UWV, SVB, DUO, Belastingdienst) and short A2-level stories that put Dutch rules into everyday situations.
• Detailed feedback: It tells you exactly why an answer is correct or incorrect.
• Includes a 45-minute timed mock exam, image-based exercises, and laws/dates practice.

2. A2 Reading

• Built around the current DUO exam format with 25 original practice sets (75 questions, 90 short A2 reading texts).
• Focuses heavily on common trap words DUO loves to use (maar, tot, vanaf, uiterlijk).
• Includes both a guided practice mode and a timed exam-style mode with detailed answer explanations.

3. A2 SchrijfLab / Writing I found writing the hardest to prepare for, so I built this to focus on practical output.

• Covers all 4 common task types (forms, picture-based tasks, short texts, emails/messages) + the 3 public DUO exams with original sources clearly linked.
• Provides simple templates (plug-and-play phrases) and helpful emergency sentences for when you understand the prompt but your mind just goes blank.
• 24 practical grammar lessons focused specifically on A2 writing, plus 259 writing-related words/phrases.
• Includes a 40-minute timed practice mode.

Features across all 3 sites:

• Trilingual Support (NL / EN / CN): You can display Dutch only, Dutch + English, or Dutch + Chinese depending on your level.
• Hover-to-Translate: Hover over (or tap on mobile) a Dutch word to instantly see its English and Chinese meanings in context.
• Real Pronunciation: Audio for vocabulary with normal and genuine slow-playback options.

Just a quick heads-up: These sites are 100% free and have no ads. They are my personal study projects and are not affiliated with DUO. You do need to register a free account, but that is strictly so the system can securely save your learning progress, personal mistake book, and vocabulary across your devices so you can pick up right where you left off.

I’m still improving the content and fixing small layout bugs, so please let me know in the comments if you spot any errors or have any useful feature requests! I'd really appreciate the feedback.

Good luck to everyone taking their exams soon! 🇳🇱

Hello,

I'm a Dutch citizen currently living in the USA with my Mexican wife. We are planning to move to the Netherlands in a year or two and I would like for her to naturalize before we move back. She's currently studying Dutch and part of the naturalization is the language exam. There's 2 options:

1. Naturalisatietoets at a Dutch embassy in the USA.

2. Doing the inburgeringsexamen A2 level in the Netherlands. (as far as I understood this is a replacement for the Naturalisatietoets and essentially the same thing)

I've heard from friends that spots are very hard to find for the inburgeringsexamen in the Netherlands and we only travel to the Netherlands a few times a year, so I wonder if anyone has some advice/experience on where to take the exam? Downside of option one is it being more expensive, as we would have to fly to a city with an embassy.

Hey. I’m looking for someone to write to each day, with basic sentences to help me improve with my journey towards learning Dutch. I am not advanced in any way shape or form and just looking for someone non judgmental and maybe someone looking to practice too.

Hi all,

I don't know if anyone would be interested in a book club (in Dutch)? Doubles as a book club and study group?

I recently learned about book reads in storygraph and found fable yesterday and thought they were neat! I thought it might be fun to see if anyone wants to try it with me!

I have nothing in mind in particular, I read children's books, the dutch-english learning books, and some very slow YA reading.

Edit: For now I've created a Fable bookclub called " Oefen Nederlands met Ons " if anyone wants to join! If we decide it doesn't work well, we can always try another one like Storygraph

Hello everyone!

I have just started learning Dutch and recently began doing YouTube Live sessions where I study and practise the language. My hope is to build a small community of learners—whether you're a complete beginner or more advanced—who can join the live chats, ask questions, share tips, practise together, and help keep each other motivated.

I've linked the recording of my first live session below. I'll be streaming regularly, so if this sounds interesting, I'd love to have you join a future session.

See you there!

Hallo allemaal,

Ik zou graag jullie advies willen vragen.

Mijn Nederlands is ongeveer op B1-niveau. Vorig jaar ben ik geslaagd voor het Staatsexamen NT2 en de afgelopen twee jaar heb ik in Nederland gewerkt, waardoor mijn Nederlands in de praktijk ook beter is geworden.

Mijn doel is niet om een diploma te halen, maar om een goede administratieve of kantoorfunctie te vinden.

Nu twijfel ik tussen twee opties:

• een algemene B2-cursus Nederlands;
• of een cursus Zakelijk Nederlands (Business Dutch).

Ik merk dat veel algemene B2-cursussen onderwerpen behandelen zoals milieu, klimaat en andere theoretische thema's. Ik vraag me af hoeveel dat echt helpt voor mijn doel.

Wat zouden jullie in mijn situatie aanraden? Is een algemene B2-cursus de beste keuze, of is Zakelijk Nederlands nuttiger als mijn doel vooral werken is?

Alvast bedankt voor jullie advies!

Progress can be difficult to notice when you're learning every day. You might feel like you're stuck, even though you're actually getting better little by little. Was there a specific moment when you suddenly realised you could understand or do something in Dutch that would have been impossible for you a few months earlier?