Hoi allemaal!
My name is Hannah Bilsby, I am currently in my second year of Dutch. Below I would like to share just a few resources that I found both entertaining and educational! Immersing myself into informal Dutch reading and Low Countries culture has really helped me improve my fluency, vocabulary and accuracy. If you want to boost your confidence, read on and get going.
Some things to watch / iets om naar te kijken
A Belgian teen drama following the lives of teenagers in Antwerp! I began watching it knowing almost no Dutch, and I switched on the Dutch subtitles to try and grasp the gist of what was being said. It was a very immersive experience and a glimpse into Flemish teenage life.
Anne+
This is a widely acclaimed series about a same-sex couple living in Amsterdam. The series is on Channel 4, and there is also a film with the same title on Netflix.
I also found that watching people talk through their daily lives in vlog style videos was very helpful, so here are some Dutch YouTubers you might want to check out. Warning: some of these may be a bit cheesy… but vocab is vocab and all exposure is a win, so enjoy!
If you want to watch the news in Dutch, then I recommend NOS Jeugdjournaal and Nieuwsuur. Watching the news is good because you expand your vocab and you stay up to date with current affairs at the same time. I also like reading the news and for that I regularly check het nieuwsblad.be just a classic online newspaper, and De Telegraaf online, slightly more complex language, but if you fancy a challenge!
Some things to listen to / iets om naar te luisteren
Podcasts
No judgement, but my favourite podcast last year was Moordcast, which covers true crime cases in Dutch. (And it has helped me to pick up some niche vocab! Haha!)
Zo! Hopefully, you will give a few of these a go. Don’t hesitate to let me and the Nederlandse Vereniging know if you have any great tips for Dutch learning! You can reach us via Instagram (nvsheffield). Keep in mind the quote that the “limits of my languages are the limits of my world”, so keep reading, watching and listening and you will be on that path to Dutch fluency!
