8 free resources for Dutch self-study

Learning Dutch, for free? A small selection of my favorite free resources:

  1. Dutchgrammar.com here the Dutch grammar is complete and comprehensive – even better than a book in my opinion.
  2. Learndutch.org analogous to a basic language course: each lesson presents a video, a list of 25 words to memorize and some exercises. Perfect for beginners. It promises you’ll learn the most common 1000 words in the 40 lessons.
  3. Loecsen: vocabulary and Dutch expressions divided per theme (with audio).
  4. Youtube…and its video for every taste
    For example video-lessons
    https://www.youtube.com/user/NederlandsPraten
    https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=taalklas
    And Dutch vlogs – my favorite resource at the moment. Just look for the blogger with your style.
  5. Wordquiz (as posted previously). Efficient method if used constantly. I like it because it is free, it allows you to train the language in two directions – also combined. Completely customizable.
  6. Duolingo makes you keep up the pace with the system of experience points. Personally, I’ve never exploited it fully (I’ve never completed the tree) maybe because I prefer following courses, or because I prefer learning terms connected to real-life situations. Said so, I believe it is a very good method to keep studying and broadening the vocabulary…sooner or later I’ll try to complete the tree too.
    PS. on the phone it’s extremely handy to exercise wherever, but from pc you can get a better idea of the grammar behind the exercises!
  7. Nt2taalmenu.nl (as suggested by a reader). They offer lessons divided per level: Beginners, Inburgeringsexam, Staatsexamen I, Staatsexamen II). I’ve no experience with it, but it seems a great resource!
  8. Library – since my first visit, it is my favorite place for self-study. In Eindhoven it has a complete section on languages, Dutch included (that’s not huge, but ok), with textbooks varying from beginner to advanced level. You can read them for free in the library.
    https://www.bibliotheekeindhoven.nl/over-ons/de-bibliotheek.html

Additional resources for few euros

Library: Paying 18, 45 o 66 euro per year, you can become a member and get a certain amount of books per year (the number depends on the price) at home.  I definitely suggest it!
https://www.bibliotheekeindhoven.nl/lidworden.html

Action has periodically language textbooks and dictionaries for very low prices (I got the Dutch dictionary in the picture here for about 3€).

But hey, the internet is huge – it often happens to find very good references online when looking for specific topics…who knows maybe this list will grow in time!

Disclaimer. My opinion is still divided between the courses and self-study: on the one hand there are a lot of free resources that allow you to reach a good level without spending much money. On the other hand, both for motivation and for some corrections, I still value language courses a lot, and I suggest them without hesitation.
I was lucky enough to join language courses for free (as a student), so for me the two things combined easily. Now that I am done with all courses, I try to keep the level up alone, for free.
I also have friends who were able to reach a very good level without the help of lessons. In the end, perseverance is what makes the difference!

Do you have other suggestions for free resources? Leave a comment! I’ll be happy to update the list.

Doei! 
Marta

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