Take Beginner Dutch lessons online or at home

Why you should consider learning Dutch 

At any point have you or someone that you know, ever wanted to learn a new language? There are too many to learn in a lifetime but depending on where you live and what your future goals are, some are potentially more useful than others. For linguistic enthusiasts in Ireland there are some languages that make sense to learn due to our proximity to the countries that speak them: French, Spanish and German being the most common. However, Dutch is often overlooked as a second language to learn but that is starting to change as the language becomes more popular to learn.  

Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands and is spoken by about 60% of the population in Belgium. Both countries are close to Ireland and are based in central Europe making them ideal holiday destinations and it is always handy to know the local language when you travel somewhere new.  

Both countries also attract a lot of international students with their affordable third level education and attractive courses. Knowing the language will improve your time spent there and it will even mean that finding work will be much more feasible and you’ll have a greater selection of jobs that you could be suitable for.  

Dutch classes for beginners in Ireland

If you have discovered a new passion or interest in learning Dutch, then you might be wondering where and how you can start learning.  There are lots of resources online to help you get started, you can listen to French songs, read Dutch comics and books but those resources are only helpful when you have a foundation and basic understanding of the language.  

By getting lessons early on with either a native speaker or someone who has a strong command of the language, you will be able to receive guidance on grammar, sentence structure and pronunciation. By having guidance early on, you will be able to learn from your mistakes instead of developing bad habits and having an incorrect understanding of things.  

Learning anything new, especially a language can be extremely daunting and it is not uncommon for passion to be replaced by laziness. It is difficult to continue your momentum with something new. Discipline and turning your study into a habit is something that everyone knows they need to do but actually reflecting that in your actions is the part that most people find difficult.  

 The advantage of learning with a tutor 

As mentioned before, there are plenty of free resources out there to help you improve and learn your Dutch skills in your own time but by having a tutor you can use those resources to maximum effect. For example, when reading aloud a newspaper to your tutor they will be able to correct your pronunciation, translate any words that you don’t know and can provide explanations for more complicated phrases and terms that can’t be directly translated to English.  

Having scheduled lessons every week will help you to become disciplined in keeping up with your learning. By knowing that you will have lessons at a certain time you will be more motivated to prepare for them and so you will maintain that progress. 

By interacting with someone who has a great love for the language you may become more impassioned about it yourself, making the learning more fun and positive for yourself. The nicer the experience the more likely you would want to continue with it and not learning all by yourself all of the time, will help greatly with this.  

You can read, talk and discuss about things that interest you and you can do all of this with your tutor and when you realise that are able to express yourself properly and understand what is being said to you it’ll be a very satisfying moment.  

Learning Dutch will add a new worthwhile skill that you could use for life and may take you to places and allow you to meet people that you never would have met otherwise.