Dutch Learning Resources

I have tried so many different resources. Generally speaking, I like to learn my second language with the same scattered randomness as I had when learning English as a 3 year old. I don’t judge myself for getting bored and wanting something new and shiny to capture my attention. This means that I’ve tried a lot of things!

Anki

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I have an entire page on this one! I use it literally every day and have an estimated total knowledge of 4,421 cards spread across 2,467 notes with an average retrievability of 96%. That’s my nerdy way of saying: Highly recommend.

Private Language Lessons

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Preply and iTalki

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If you only want to do one thing, getting a teacher from either iTalki or Preply is what I would recommend as the most bang for your time and buck.

It turns out that a lot of native Dutch speakers don’t have the time or patience to listen to me speak poorly to them for very long. And even if I can find incredibly patient people, I feel guilty about making them suffer through poor grammar, halting conversations, and dozens of obnoxious questions. The solution to that is to pay these amazing people for their time and patience. Both Preply and iTalki are platforms for students and teachers to find each other so they can set up 1 on 1 online sessions. It does sometimes take a bit of time to find a teacher that you “click” with, but it is totally worth the search. Being able to talk in your target language for an hour at a time does wonders for building confidence with speaking.

Here is a friend promo link for Preply: Preply.com - Friend Link

Here is a link for my Dutch teacher: Preply.com - Linda H.

Here is a friend promo link for iTalki: iTalki.com - Friend Link

Audiobooks

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Pimsleur

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I have only used their audiobooks, so this is not a review for their app or anything else they have. I really found them helpful for repeating words out loud enough that they feel comfortable in my mouth. Dutch doesn’t have as many levels as German and other languages, but the levels they have are good, and I would recommend them. The German audiobooks are also excellent. The only complaint I have is that they tend to use very formal and sometimes slightly old fashioned language.

Earworms

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I bought this as an audiobook and later learned that they have an app, too! In hind sight, I think the app might be better, but I don’t actually know because I had already finished listening to the books, so I didn’t need to buy the app as well. There are only 2 books for Dutch, but they are super fun! Great for moving an swaying to the background music while repeating helpful phrases. In a lot of ways, it’s a less formal and more entertaining version of Pimsleur. You will get the repetition of saying sentences out loud that helps the words feel comfortable in your mouth, but with very practical informal phrases and sentences instead of formal ones. The biggest downside is that there are only 2 of them, and I wanted more.

Videos

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Het Klokhuis: Doen ze Dat zo?

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Unlike most things on this list, Het Klokhuis is not made for Dutch as a Second Language Learners, but rather for Dutch as a First Language learners. This is a playlist of YouTube videos that shows the behind the scenes on how something is made or done. They have been amazing for my listening skills and building vocabulary. I can understand the general ideas in the first time through because of the video, and then I watch it a few more times trying to understand more of the words, and then eventually turn on subtitles to make flashcards for words and expressions I don’t know. I also just discovered that Het Klokhuis has an entire website of fun things that I want to check out.

Here is the YouTube Playlist: Het Klokhuis - Doen ze Dat zo?

Here is their website: HetKlokhuis.nl

Learn Dutch with Kim

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Kim has by far the best grammar explanations for learning Dutch that I’ve found anywhere. She has delightful and informative videos on YouTube, but the real gold is in the online courses she sells where she has PDFs that explain grammar concepts incredibly well.

Here is a friend promo link for her courses: LearnDutchWithKim.com - Friend Link

Books and eBooks

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Bibliotheek

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Here in the Netherlands, if you are an adult, you have to pay to use the library. I bought the full access subscription the first year I was here, and really enjoyed the 3 or 4 times that I went to the library and grabbed 5 or 10 children’s books and brought them home to read. Children’s books are delightful and have fun pictures and often teach you practical words. The downside is that I just didn’t do it as often as I wanted to. They also have an OnlineBibliotheek app where you can read e-books and listen to audobooks, but there is no way to look up the definitions of words you don’t know within the eReader which I found frustrating.

Bookbeat

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This year instead of paying for the library, I decided to try out Bookbeat and Storytel. After the free trials of both, I decided to go with Bookbeat. I like that I can select a word while I’m reading and select translate. They also have audiobooks in both Dutch and English.

Language Apps

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Babbel

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I bought a lifetime subscription for Babbel when I was learning German. If you are learning German, I highly recommend it. Babbel is extremely good at grammar explanations - second only to Learn Dutch with Kim.

Unfortunately, the difficulty on the Dutch course is a bit too high, but I like to come back to it occassionally for grammar explanations, or to feel good about the progress I’ve made when I re-take a lesson that was difficult the first time, and it’s not so hard now. I don’t know if I would have bought the lifetime subscription if I had started with Dutch instead of German, but I am happy that I have it.

Here is a friend promo link for Babbel: Babble.com - Friend Link

Memrise

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It has been a while since I’ve used this one, but I enjoyed it for a year or so. They have created vocabulary lists from videos from youtube and other places on the web. You watch the video, and then you do flashcards for the words from that video.

More recenlty, they’ve added lots of AI features. I have mixed feelings about them. The AI bots are fairly well constrained so they don’t say too many dumb things, and it can be nice to have the back and forth of the conversation.

Overall, I liked Memrise, but I also am not renewing my subscription because I have other things I’m spending time on.

Non Recommended Items

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Quizlet

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Quizlet was nice for a while, but then they got rid of FSRS, and there is absolutely no way to keep up with all of vocabulary if you need to do all of your flashcards everyday. Quizlet is not the worst by any means, but Anki is such an upgrade.

Duolingo

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I had a streak of over 1400 days. For a long time I considered if I wanted to give up my streak. Now that I stopped my streak, I don’t regret letting it die. The German course is pretty decent, but the Dutch course was not very helpful. Add to that that the company seems to be very much on the enshitification band wagon, and I say pass.

Busuu

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It’s a nice idea, but I just found that it had too many bugs and crashes. I didn’t last long before I gave up on it in frustration.

Summary

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I hope this list is helpful! I’ll add to it as I find new shiny toys to play with!