Learning Dutch made easy: the 100 things you can do to master Dutch in no time!

Learning Dutch can be very hard..Or very easy! In this post LearnDutchOnline.nl is giving you 100 essential things you can do right away to make learning the basics of Dutch inevitably easy for you – from the Dutch alphabet to writing an official Dutch letter. Learning Dutch made easy!

In summary, these are 100 practical steps you can immediately take if you are truly serious about mastering at least the basics of the Dutch language. As always, LDO is all about fun. And Dutch learning. If you know us, you know what to do with this list, which we compiled for anyone interested in learning Dutch, while immersing oneself in Dutch culture, which is one of the best ways of mastering any language. So, without further ado, here are one hundred things you can do, learning Dutch made easy – for you!

• Start some good Dutch lessons, with a native speaking, passionate teacher
• Practice Dutch everyday
• No, seriously, do it EVERY SINGLE DAY
• Learn some basic phrases, questions, verbs and words, for example from this free e-book here, and apply them in speech every day
• Write at least 3-5 NEW sentences in Dutch every day
• Buy a good Dutch dictionary
• If you don’t have time to learn Dutch, make time
• Start reading Dutch news and blogs
• Start reading Dutch literature
• Start watching Dutch series and programs
• Start listening to Dutch radio, especially BNR and Radio 1
• Make an effort to have some Dutch friends
• Learn about Dutch culture
• Learn about Dutch history
• Visit popular Dutch cities, and challenge yourself to use only Dutch when asking for directions etc.
• Learn about good Dutch habits and implement one or two you like
• Learn to love Dutch food
• Learn how the Dutch government is structured and operates
• Learn the same about the Dutch educational system
• And the Dutch health system
• Visit your local library at least once a week and browse through the books, get to the texts and people
• Watch at least one of these clips every day
• Learn at least one Dutch word daily
• Follow LDO’s legendary Instagram page
• Learn about the issue of ‘zwarte piet’
• Visit at least one Dutch museum every 3 months
• Visit all the big Dutch theme parks
• Visit the ‘kermis’
• Understand the Dutch importance of having an opinion
• Learn how to shop like a Dutchie
• Eat at least two Dutch meals a week
• Learn how to cook like a Dutchie
• Learn to think like a Dutchie
• Make sure to have at least 2 different Dutch cookies in your house at all time
• Go to a typical Dutch market at least once a week
• But don’t buy anthing; just enjoy the ambiance, smell the stroopwafels and cheese
• Eat out at least once a month, at the same place
• Go to the gym once a month and pretend to be Arnie just because of that
• Buy all your stuff at Bol.com
• And Marktplaats
• Make small talk with your neighbours, but don’t get involved too much

• Follow LDO on Instagram (twice because it’s serious. for real, you won’t regret it)
• Watch at least 1 Dutch series, from beginning to the end
• Watch at least 2 Dutch films, and try to memorize at least 1 conversation from one of these
• Be ‘nuchter’ and ‘direct’
• Start a diary in Dutch
• Join a yoga class, that’s supposed to be for everyone, but actually is just for white folks
• Pretend to be tolerant, progressive and definitely not racist, but go mad when someone mentions the fact that ‘zwarte piet’ is blackface and therefore racist
• Or, just be tolerant, progressive and definitely not racist for real
• Learn to love the rain
• Buy ‘pepernoten’ as soon as they hit the stores
• Eat them while enjoying your favorite series of movie
• Read Donald Duck
• Read Suske en Wiske
• Read Jan, Jans en de kinderen
• Get to know typical Dutch cartoons
• Watch Sesamstraat, even if it’s not on the television anymore
• Listen to Marco Borsato, Andre Hazes and Jan Smit
• Look up the song ‘Ademloos’ and learn the lyrics
• Learn about Dutch electronic music
• Specifically: ‘rainbow high in the sky’ by Paul Elstak
• Youtube ‘Opgezwolle’, ‘Zwart Licht’ and ‘Brainpower’
• Learn the lyrics of at least 1 Dutch rap song (preferably one of the above)
• Have some coffee in Amsterdam, preferably with friends
• Then, meet Dutch people, who are trustworthy, and hang out with them
• Eat, drink, play soccer out on the streets, and obviously, try to speak Dutch with them
• Hang out in het Vondelpark, Amsterdam at least one whole summer
• Buy a Dutch bike (Gazelle, Batavus etc.) and do as much as you can by bike
• Make out in public
• Go to the movies at least once every two months
• Save, save, save (your money)
• Don’t dance, just, maybe make stoïc movements with your limbs and smile awkwardly
• Or, pretend you can dance, but mainly, just stand at the sides with a drink and make useless conversation
• Kidding, just do whatever you like
• Eat almost everything, especially Surinamese, Indonesian, Turkish and Thai food
• Have a dog, or at least be nice to dogs
• Train your dog well
• Otherwise have a cat, or several
• And give them weird names
• Don’t just, only say ‘doei’ or ‘goedemorgen!’, throw a ‘mogguh!’ or ‘SUPERDOEI’ in there every other day, with a big fat smile
• Wake up with coffee or tea
• Eat ‘beschuit met muisjes’ (= ‘biscuit with little mice’) when a child is born
• Eat your bread with ‘hagelslag’, peanut butter and cheese
• Visit a real Dutch farm at least once, preferably for a full day
• AirBnB a Dutch farm or a nice place in a Dutch (farmers) village, and experience the calm
• Go for a ‘wandeling’ at least twice a week, for at least 30 minutes

• Pretend that the Netherlands’ soccer team is the reigning world champion when they play, while, in fact, they never actually were
• But do enjoy this unique, unifying feeling when we play, as everyone watches then, together
• And that is a win in itself, right?
• Completely in orange, with friends, family, neigbours and even enemies
• So it’s good to learn just a little bit about soccer
• You can and you should try to master the game, at least a bit
• And get to know about the big teams from the ‘Eredivisie’
• And their players
• Go for a holiday on one of the Dutch islands at least once
• Visit one of the big events at the Rai, Amsterdam
• Enjoy at least one show at the Royal Carré Theatre in Amsterdam (you will love it)
• Learn about Dutch politics, and try to talk about it with people (politely)
• Get to know Dutch childrens books, stories and songs
• Take care of yourself.