Introduction to Dutch

University of Groningen via FutureLearn

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Details

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Provider

FutureLearn
Pricing

Free Online Course (Audit)
Languages

Dutch
Certificate

$69.00 Certificate Available
Duration & workload

3 weeks long, 3 hours a week
Sessions
Level

Beginner

A Best Course of All Time

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Overview

Are you planning to visit, or work or study in the Netherlands soon? This free online course is perfect if you have little or no prior knowledge of Dutch, but would like to master the fundamentals in order to survive life in the Low Countries.

Learn basic Dutch

The course will run over three weeks, helping you to:

introduce yourself and get to know other learners
talk about your family, friends, work and study
and experience life in the Netherlands.

Speak, write and understand useful Dutch

During the course, you will learn Dutch phrases, greetings, vocabulary, numbers, spelling and grammar. Being able to understand the language will make everyday activities, such as shopping or going out to a restaurant, much more enjoyable.

By the end of the course, you will be able to recognise familiar words and phrases about yourself and your family. You will be taught to use simple sentences to describe where you live and the people you know.

Finally, you will be able to write short texts such as an email or fill in forms with personal details. The main focus will be on receptive skills such as reading and listening.

Learn with the University of Groningen Language Centre

The course will be taught in English by lecturers of Dutch and English from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

So, if you would like to get a taste of Dutch - and join the 23 million people who speak the language in the Netherlands, Flanders, Suriname and many other countries - join the course now.

This course has been ranked as one of the best online courses of all time by online course aggregator class central.

This course is aimed at people with no prior knowledge of the Dutch language, who have a strong interest in learning languages. It will give you a taste of language skills that will help you to survive in Dutch-speaking countries. The main focus will be on receptive skills like reading and listening. It will be taught in English.

Syllabus

Introducing yourself

Getting started
Introduction to Week 1
Introduce yourself
Language focus: grammar explanation
Counting
The alphabet
Summary of Week 1
Introducing the Dutch

Talking about family, work and study

Introducing the topic: talking about family, work and study
Say more about yourself
Language focus: grammar explanation
The time
Greeting someone
Summary of Week 2
Introducing the Dutch

Living in the Netherlands

Introducing the topic: living in The Netherlands
Living in the Netherlands
Language focus: grammar explanation
Making a suggestion
Paying
Summary of Week 3
Introducing the Dutch

Charts

#2 in Subjects / Humanities
#1 in Subjects / Humanities / Language Learning
#1 in Subjects / Language Learning / Dutch

Reviews

4.9 rating, based on 286 Class Central reviews

4.8 rating at FutureLearn based on 392 ratings

Start your review of Introduction to Dutch

Inma De La Torre @Inma

I started this course after being for a few months learning Dutch using Duolingo. One of the main issues I had trouble with was getting explanations for grammar and how things should work when constructing sentences. The majority of those explanations...

I started this course after being for a few months learning Dutch using Duolingo. One of the main issues I had trouble with was getting explanations for grammar and how things should work when constructing sentences. The majority of those explanations have been included in the course and adding Quizlet to practice makes it a very good course if you are trying to get a good introduction to Dutch.

I do believe that combining this course with Duolingo makes it even better and I will continue working with both Quizlet and Duolingo to improve my language skills.

My only concern is that you are going to need more than the 3 hours per week to study if you want to learn the material. But that is only a small issue.

Overall, I think the course is great and would recommend to anyone aiming to get a good introduction to Dutch.
Alathea

Alathea completed this course, spending 5 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be easy.

I enjoyed the course and I certainly gained a lot from it. Each week of the course starts with a couple of dialogues which bring in the vocabulary and grammar which will be studied during the week. At the end of the week you listen to the same dialogues...

I enjoyed the course and I certainly gained a lot from it. Each week of the course starts with a couple of dialogues which bring in the vocabulary and grammar which will be studied during the week. At the end of the week you listen to the same dialogues again, and realise how much you have learnt, which is encouraging.

Input from the course team was good.

A couple of things stopped me giving this course five stars:

1. Three weeks makes for a very short introduction. In particular I felt that the course could have benefited from some units explicitly dealing with pronunciation, as in FutureLearn's Introduction to Norwegian (which is spread over four weeks). Simply repeating four short phrases in the "Listen and repeat" units did not seem adequate.

2. There are short, and very easy, tests in the course itself, but the course team have also created a series of exercises on Quizlet. Unfortunately Quizlet only recognises one correct answer for any question, which is too restricted for effective language learning. In the first two weeks I didn't find this to be a problem, but in the third week, as the questions became more complicated, I found it very frustrating to be marked wrong because I had typed "je/jij - u mag" instead of "jij/je - u mag", or "hij - ze/zij - het" instead of "hij - zij/ze - het". In the end I was spending more time trying to remember exactly what answers Quizlet wanted than focussing on vocabulary and grammar. If Duolingo can accept multiple correct answers, why can't Quizlet?
Anonymous

This was a great course. It is very well put together and has something for every style of learning. I went into it never having studied Dutch previously and found it was quite easy to understand and make progress. Plus side: So many options to expand...

This was a great course. It is very well put together and has something for every style of learning. I went into it never having studied Dutch previously and found it was quite easy to understand and make progress.

Plus side: So many options to expand your knowledge and build on what you have learnt. Listening exercises, reading exercises, quizzes, listen and repeat are all built in. There are links to extracurricular material on quizlet to help practice and to Dutch grammar sites. Plus there were opportunities to use padlet and soundcloud. Something for everyone.
The Educators are very upfront about why they are providing the course and what they are discussing and what they wish students to do. They also take the time to reply to student questions and comments, which is fantastic.

Drawbacks: The course goes for three weeks (with five to complete it in.) Three hours a week is the bare minimum and will pretty much only cover reading the page and marking it complete. For someone trying to do this on Saturday morning it was a bit of a struggle to finish it all in time. You will need more time to get the most out of this course. Also, the educators are only around for the first three weeks to reply to questions. Some of the sample dialogue could benefit from updating and refilming to reflect 2021 values. Some of the links to videos on YouTube, especially the one introducing the university, were not well received by students.

However, these are minor issues and I'm still going to give this course 5 stars. I really enjoyed it.
Anonymous

Anonymous completed this course.

I just finished this course, and having already studied Dutch for a few months I found the course very interesting, although as to be expected a little bit easy. There are a few things I like about the course, there's plenty of audio and listening materials...

I just finished this course, and having already studied Dutch for a few months I found the course very interesting, although as to be expected a little bit easy. There are a few things I like about the course, there's plenty of audio and listening materials / exercises, and more importantly - with transcripts. First they introduce the language, then the transcript and then finally teach you the meaning. In my opinion it's a really good way to learn pronunciation and get used to how the language sounds. It's only a 3 week course, and I'd prefer it to be a bit longer, but for beginners to language study or to Dutch it's perfect to dip into and get started. They touch on a number of topics during the course (including the dreaded grammar - which is explained very clearly), and there's some repetition of material, so you can get a good ground knowledge of the basics. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in Dutch, or even just wants to try an online language learning course.
Reham Basheer @RehamBasheer

it has been a great introductory course, where you learn the key basics of daily life conversations in dutch, as well as a well amount of much needed vocabulary. there are very useful grammar lessons there , explaining how to order your sentences in different situations , how to ask questions , and how to make new suggestions. by the end of the course you become able to introduce yourself, talk about yourself, your family, and your life too very simply.
Anonymous

This is a wonderful course. I did this course once before years ago and this version is much improved. Some of the original conversations are there but refreshed and the later conversations are really interesting and true to life.
The grammar sections are succint and useful and the exercises challenging but carefully graded. I liked the opportunity to post comments and observations and I liked that the teachers responded so promptly to our questions, making suggestions and useful teaching points.
It is so useful to be given advice on further sites to hear Dutch spoken, and I've already tested these out. I really recommend this free course. It is useful, really interesting and enjoyable.
Thank you University of Groningen.
Anonymous

Anonymous completed this course.

The course is really well designed, and enable you to have a look at the basics of the Dutch language. There are a lot of audio samples, as well as videos, in order to help you get accustomed with the oral language. On top of that, you can find a few rules of grammar and syntax, and you are always invited to write and speak in between the different notions studied. It's a really good way to get started in the language!
Anonymous

As for introduction course it's really well balanced. The course provides lots of ways to practice the language (videos, audio dialogues, short quizzes etc.) with additional help from Quizlet. I really enjoyed it and I'm very happy it was part of my adventure with double-Dutch :)
Anonymous

A wonderful opportunity for learning.
Step by step instructions with audio and transcript downloads available.
I have some idea on the language for future learning. Surprisingly for me when I hear Dutch audio I can understand some of it.
Many thanks.
Anonymous

Very interesting and relevant course! I learnt the basic of Dutch language and feel confident holding basic communication in the language. Dank je wel!
Anonymous

Very interesting and relevant course! I learnt the basic of Dutch language and feel confident holding basic communication in the language. Dank je wel!
Anonymous

Informative, fun, and covers practical themes. Makes learning a language seem not as scary. Highly recommend :))
Francis Kasibante

I am going to rate the course from 1-5. Five is the highest score. 5 is My rating why?
First of all, I wish to profoundly thank the program designers of this beginners' course. Frankly speaking, the course is good and it prepares well a person to learn the targeted language which is Dutch. As simple as it may seem to be, there is no doubt about the fact the course is comprised of the four elements of communicative competence and these are; grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence.

In a nutshell, I highly recommend learners who are interested in learning Dutch not miss the opportunity of taking this course.
Francis.
Anonymous

Anonymous completed this course.

I have been very impressed with this course particularly as it was the first that I have studied through a MOOC. I thought the course content was well structured and pitched at the appropriate level for an adult learner. The lecturers were caring and...

I have been very impressed with this course particularly as it was the first that I have studied through a MOOC. I thought the course content was well structured and pitched at the appropriate level for an adult learner. The lecturers were caring and keen to help us all to learn. The overriding impression that I have come away with is that the course was full of integrity - this does not seem so evident when I look at other advertised online language courses. There is now an incentive for many of us to go on and continue our university studies perhaps in Groningen.

I am pleased to have completed the course and feel confident enough to have a basic conversation in Dutch. I had a slight advantage having studied beginner's German (nearly 30 years ago!) and honestly believe that learning Dutch has also helped me improve my understanding of the German language especially in relation to word order and vocabulary.

Many thanks to the lecturers and support staff involved in creating this wonderful course. I feel somewhat sad that I cannot go on to do week 4, week 5 etc - perhaps there is enough value for the University of Groningen to consider a follow-on course.
Anonymous

This course is a good introduction to the Dutch language. It covers the basics for transactional purposes - such as question words, numbers, times. A lot of the contributors are not native speakers, but I suppose most of the learners will spend a lot of time listening to other foreigners. The Dutch culture parts were interesting and added variety. I think those whose native language is English and who have not mastered another tongue will find it more challenging as it assumes knowledge of grammar terms (like indefinite article!).

For me that does not pose a problem - I think German speakers will find it quite easy to grasp what is going on.
Anonymous

This course is a great introduction to the Dutch language. It consists of video, audio and text lessons which introduce you to the guide you through the basics. You learn to introduce yourself, talk about family, work and study and a bit about Dutch culture. At the end of the course you can understand and speak, as well as read and write Dutch related to the focus area of the course. The lecturers have created study sets in Quizlet which enable practical learning and make comprehension that much better. This introductory course was the deciding factor in continuing my Dutch learning through the other courses at University of Groningen.
Anonymous

Anonymous completed this course.

I enjoyed learning some basic Dutch with the help of this course. I am now able to understand some basic vocabulary, grammar, sentence construction, numbers, time, salutation and pronunciation. The course material is up to the mark. I congratulate the designers to include a variety of materials for helping the learners in familiarising Dutch and keeping the interest of the learners.
Michael Hammer

Michael Hammer completed this course.

I really liked this course. I lived in the Netherlands for the summer several years ago, but never tried to learn Dutch. That's been bugging me ever since, especially because I still watch football with a Dutch broadcast all the time, even though I can't...

I really liked this course. I lived in the Netherlands for the summer several years ago, but never tried to learn Dutch. That's been bugging me ever since, especially because I still watch football with a Dutch broadcast all the time, even though I can't understand it. I started learning Dutch with Duolingo in late December and enrolled in this course in late February. It's been a great help! My favorite part of the course are the Quizlet quizzes, which are the closest thing you are going to get to having a person read you flash cards and ask you the meanings of words and phrases. The Quizlet Gravity game is also fun. Besides that, the videos going over the rules of the language are a great complement to Duolingo, which doesn't provide anything like that. The mock conversations with other Dutch learners are also extremely helpful because they are much easier to comprehend than listening to regular native speakers who speak quicker with thicker accents. Would recommend, and I hope there is a level two somewhere!
Anonymous

Thank you very much. I enjoyed the course, I have lived in the Netherlands for three years but because of work shifts getting up at 4 in the morning or coming back at midnight i could not have the energy or the time to do a course. As a foreign worker it is almost impossible to learn the language as you can only access English speaking jobs, most times the worse jobs, and no chance to meet Dutch people. It was nice to learn about Groningen and the your university courses, and the MOCC Dutch course was easy to follow and encouraged me to continue with my learning. ♡♡♡♡♡♡
Anonymous

Thank you very much. I enjoyed the course, I have lived in the Netherlands for three years but because of work shifts getting up at 4 in the morning or coming back at midnight i could not have the energy or the time to do a course. As a foreign worker it is almost impossible to learn the language as you can only access English speaking jobs, most times the worse jobs, and no chance to meet Dutch people. It was nice to learn about Groningen and the your university courses, and the MOCC Dutch course was easy to follow and encouraged me to continue with my learning. ♡♡♡♡♡♡