From our blog
News, developments and articles from Regina Coeli
Learning Dutch for Work: What Professionals Really Need
For many internationals in the Netherlands, Dutch starts as something useful for daily life. You learn enough to order food, speak to a neighbour or understand a message from school or the doctor. In many workplaces, English is enough too, at least in the beginning. But at some point, many professionals notice that everyday Dutch is no longer enough.
How to get Dutch people to speak Dutch with you
You start a conversation in Dutch. The other person hears your accent, smiles kindly and replies in English. For many expats in the Netherlands, this is a familiar situation. Dutch people often switch to English because they want to be helpful. In many situations, that is convenient. But if you are trying to improve your Dutch, it can also be frustrating. So how do you encourage Dutch people to keep speaking Dutch with you?
Writing good emails in German
Do you ever write emails in German? Then you know you have to take a bit of time to do that well, not only because writing in German may not be as easy as it is in your native language, but also because firing off a quick email without a proper salutation and ending isn’t an option.
What Dutch can bring you as an expat
Many expats who live and work in the Netherlands think it’s not really necessary to learn Dutch. English is the lingua franca at many large companies and when it isn’t, Dutch colleagues will quickly switch to English to accommodate those who don’t speak their language. The Dutch really enjoy speaking English. You can even get by using only English in your free time. So why should you bother learning Dutch? We’d like to give you three solid reasons for doing so.
Learn Dutch as a Professional in the Netherlands
Learning Dutch as an international is not only about language. It is also about confidence, independence and feeling more at home in the Netherlands. But real progress rarely comes from a generic approach. In this article, we explore what makes a Dutch learning method truly effective, and why a personal, focused route often makes all the difference.
From understandable Dutch to powerful Dutch
Many people who learn foreign languages would like to sound like native speakers. But even when you exclusively speak the new language for years, you can still end up with a noticeable accent. How can you work on proper pronunciation from the start? We spoke about this with Yvonne Tupker, a speech therapist and Dutch language trainer at Regina Coeli.