The Dutch are really good with English language and you can use English language as a way of communication across offices, schools, playgrounds, markets, and for regular life; with neighbors etc. You do not need to be fluent in Dutch to be able to live in the Netherlands.

You do need to learn Dutch if you would like to extend and convert your current temporary residence permit to a permanent residence permit or become a Dutch citizen through naturalization. At the time of writing this article, the current level requirements for the language experience is A2 for a permanent residence or naturalization as per the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND).

Learning Dutch

If you have been learning German, then Dutch could seem quite similar to you at first. One of the major difference is the pronunciation of several words, and then, the several words, and the articles (Dutch language has two articles only 1/ de and 2/ het).

Dutch, while they are welcoming to speaking English with you, are even more welcoming to teach you basics of Dutch.

Tip: Even a Dutch person knows that it is difficult to speak Dutch.

Challenges

The biggest challenge learning Dutch is the availability and reliability of the English speakers. The Dutch quickly switch to English as soon as they realize that you do not speak Dutch. I have an experience where the Dutch person quickly switched to English to make sure that we are having the right conversation and the conversation is leading to the right direction.

I was taking a Dutch language course and after a few weeks the assignment was to place an order in Dutch at a restaurant. I went to a local restaurant that I really love and I tried to place order.

Me: “Voor mij, een portie friet”. The shopkeeper quickly switched to English and asked me, “What size?” I responded, “Klein”, he said, “Is this take away or for here?” I replied “meenemen”.

This felt very unnatural because I was making an effort to speak Dutch but the person was making sure that they are getting the order right, it would not be fun for them if they got the order incorrect.

Next, while this is not a major problem, but the Dutch “G” is a challenge to speak for many. Personally, as a native Urdu speaker, I do not find it difficult as we have a “خ” (pronounced: “Khay”) and that made it a very easy experience.

The Dutch alphabet is also easy, just a different pronunciation.

Opportunities

Learning Dutch is also very easy, and there are various opportunities for you to learn Dutch. In my experience, I used the following opportunities:

• Speaking with neighbors, friends, and colleagues
• Listening to radio, TV, paying attention to stations, announcements, etc.
• Reading weekly newspaper, advertisement, and other Dutch material.

I always pay close attention to the conversations in the grocery stores (not like peaking into personal conversations) but to understand how the shoppers ask questions, what is the response, how do directions work, and more.

At the moment, the Dutch language experience requirement is A2, which is not hard. If you just read weekly material, have a conversation with neighbors, you are way ahead of your peers.

“Inburgeren” Experience

I took the A2-level Inburgeren exam here in the Netherlands — I took it in Amsterdam. The DUO exam center is in Overamstel, and you can book an exam online at inburgeren.nl.

The exam can be taken in other locations as well, but, prefer to find a location that is closer. A few pointers:

• Always bring your valid ID card (passport, driver’s license, residence document) to prove that you are the person taking the exam.
• Arrive at least 30 minutes before your exam time, this is to give you enough time to check-in, put your stuff in the locker, check your exam data, and be allowed to sit in the exam before the door closes. Yes, the door does close before time.
• Ramp up your Dutch “cells” before the time, and practice before the exam day, not just before the exam.

Planning

Truth be told, I had been planning for the language exam since 2023 (3 years in the Netherlands) and at this point I could at least read and understand some words, at least listen to what they are saying.

I planned to integrate into the Dutch society for several reasons, including applying for permanent residence, but also to understand the society a little more, to be able to participate in the Dutch conversations.

Preparing

I am the kind of person who prefers to prepare way ahead of the exam, not just one day before the exam. Infact, if I do not know anything or if I feel that I am not prepared, I’d rather not prepare anymore. Opening a book, or reading the guides, right before the exam raises my stress levels, and I believe it would not contribute anything.

Think like this, what if right before the exam you learned a new formula or a sentence structure, when you get a question what would you do? Even if you know the answer, you may reconsider your answer because a new “fresh formula” is running in your mind.

Dutch inburgeren is not tough. The tough part is thinking like a Dutch. A lot of people try to cram the material or practice all 50 online practice exams, but that does not cut it. You really need to spend time in the culture, meet your neighbors, order food in local, read the paper, and pay attention to how people interact in the market, in the train, in work environment, and on the street.

The preparation for the Dutch inburgeren takes months, not weeks. But, the inburgeren exams, that is a different story and everyone has their own pace. For me, it took about 1 year.

Participation

I started my inburgeren exams back in 2023, and the objective was not to complete all the exams in one month, but to get an idea of how it would be like. I decided to take an exam, and reading made the most sense. I booked all the exams directly via the website and it costs 50 EUR per exam (when I did the exam, it was 50 EUR, the price may change).

I will add more details for each exam type and any tips as I collect more details and resources. Thanks!

One thing to note in the Inburgeren exam is, you are graded based on your understanding of the question. If your answer is perfect in grammar, but does not make sense as the right answer, then you do not get a grade. If you understand the question, you get half the points, and if you provide a perfect answer then you get the remaining half points as well. The “perfect answer” means correct use of grammar, right pronunciation, etc.

Listening and Reading

Like I mentioned, I took the reading exam first. I did the reading exam because I knew I can read Dutch, even if I cannot listen to it. The reading exam does not challenge you to produce the answer, rather it offers you a few choices that you have to use to decide which is the right answer. So, given all the information your task is to find what is the most obvious answer. I did IELTS a few years back and I had a small muscle to skim the text content and find the answer out of the options.

The reading exam was rather easy and simple, and I passed the exam. Since the exam takes place on a computer, and the options are selected on the screen, it is comparatively easy to evaluate the results and provide a grade. I was aiming for 8.

Passing the reading exam gave me the motivation to continue pushing and get done with all the exams. On the Listening exam, I repeated the same method. The exam is on computer, and you receive the results in 8 weeks (in practice, it is usually much faster, I got my results in a week).

I passed this exam as well. In one go. This motivated me a lot. And now I was ready to move on to the next. As a next step, I wanted to do writing, because it was medium difficulty but did not require me to learn about different insurances, benefits, and responsibilities.

Writing

Writing exam is a fun, but different exam. As the name suggests, you must write the answers to the questions.

Everyone is given a piece of paper that has questions on them and then you must provide a response within the bounds provided. You can cutout a mistake, but you must stay within the bounds of the answer field.

I only have one recommendation: stick to the question, and do not over answer the question. If they ask for your favorite dish, do not write down the recipe.

Writing exam also takes 8 weeks to provide a grade, I received my grades in about 5 weeks. I passed this exam as well, and I was now ready to proceed with the next exam. I decided to do KNM, as I was still scared of “speaking Dutch”.

Speaking

I did speaking exam at the last. The only reason why I was scared of speaking Dutch, and I was not comfortable “creating” sentences ad-hoc. I was able to understand, read, and even write a response back, but speaking was still challenging.

I practiced speaking a lot with my colleagues, and in the neighborhood before scheduling an exam. I took about 1 month to prepare for the exam and when I was ready, I just made an attempt.

Note: I made an attempt on an older version of the speaking exam. Now, the speaking exam has been updated.

The exam takes place on computer, and you listen to questions that you must respond to in Dutch. Some questions are singular questions (“what is your name”) and some questions are multiple, such as (“what do you like to eat, how do you make it?”) The multiple questions were very difficult because you have to think of two sentences and then merge them together using either “omdat” or “want”. I always used “want”. Do you know why? 🙂

The exam results take about 8 weeks, and I got my grades in about 6 weeks. I passed the exam. I was relieved that I now finally have the grades and a diploma for inburgeren.

Note: I did not do the labor market orientation, because I was working in the Netherlands and I could apply for an exception.

KNM

For me, this was the most challenging exam. The reason being, it demands a lot of knowledge and understanding of Dutch society, Dutch history, Dutch social security, work culture, and your rights, as well as the rights of others.

The exam is also multiple choice questions, where you select the right answer for the question. The focus is on how you would react in given situations as a Dutch person. This is why I recommend spending at least 4-6 months interacting with Dutch natives and understanding how they do things.

Learn about the social security, work culture, healthcare, childcare, family, housing, and other aspects of the Dutch society. History, education, and sports also play a crucial role in the exam and you should take a shot at learning more about that.

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Free Resources

If you’re also learning Dutch, I’d like to share some resources that really helped me gain knowledge, insights, and experience in the language. Of course, these are only complimentary services and solutions. Use these along with real-world practice with your neighbors, classes, coworkers to learn how the native Dutch pronounce certain words.

Duolingo

The first and foremost choice for many is Duolingo.

I have been doing Duolingo lessons for several years now, and I can vouch that Duolingo works in the long-term and not in the short-term. If you are attempting to clear the Dutch exam in a month or so, then Duolingo is not a good option for you.

Do:

• Find a time when you will do a lesson each day. It is the best way to build up a habit of doing Duolingo.
• Do one lesson, or a max of two, each day, and build up a muscle memory to pick up new vocabulary.
• Do work with friends and coworkers, because one of the objectives of Duolingo is to offer gamified way of learning.

Don’t:

• Overdo the lessons.
• Don’t do tens of lessons each day, as you will be setting Duolingo on hard mode for yourself.
• Just rely on Duolingo.

Dutch Grammar

This website gives you an idea about the Dutch grammar, sentence structure, and other parts of a Dutch sentence. The website is available free of cost, and focuses on beginner-friendly content.

You can access the website here: https://www.dutchgrammar.com/en/index.php?n=Main.HomePage.

Oefenen

The Oefenen website provides a practice ground to the readers to learn Dutch language and structures, including application of the langauge.

You can visit the website here: https://oefenen.nl.

Groningen University

I really, really, really love the material provided by the Groningen University Language Center. Check out their YouTube channel here. On their YouTube channel, they provide a lot of courses (playlists) for you to learn A2-level Dutch.

The content on the channel is free, and you can use language cafes and communities to practice the learnings.

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Did I miss something? Were you looking for something else? Please let me know in the comments below, and I’d be happy to add more details to the blog above. I am still collecting all the details and experience that I had from my exams. I will update the post and add relevant information and tips.

Until then, thanks for reading.

Good luck!