Quick Win Dutch Phrases

Take a leap in Dutch! Anything that can help improve our Dutch is always welcome. Mostly in many daily situations. Firstly, on the phone for example, when the call filter system offers ‘For English Press 2′, there is always a sigh of relief. It avoids having to think too hard about which department you want to connect to. It’s all too easy to get by in English when you live in The Netherlands. In addition, I think it is part of the reason that international companies decide to move their operations here. It makes doing business so much easier. Read on more to hear some Quick Win Dutch Phrases….

If you moved to Paris, Rome or Madrid, you would probably immediately start learning French, Italian or Spanish! Of course you would, yet in The Netherlands, learning Dutch is seen as an option. “It’s their fault for being such great English speakers!’ is a common refrain. Yeah, it’s all their fault! The one big thing I have understood is that speaking Dutch vastly improves the experience of living in The Netherlands. It simply does. This article is all about making quick wins.

Whatever keeps you moving forward.

I have tried many different ways to learn Dutch. I have attended classes, used an app, done online learning and hit the books at home. A combination of all of them is the best way to progress. I have noticed one important thing: making progress fells good and the ultimate test of that is having conversations in Dutch. Actually deploying what you have learnt by talking in Dutch in daily life. Moreover, the more you talk, the more it feels like progress and the easier it becomes.

Firstly, one thing that really helps me is using set phrases that flatter my level of Dutch. So, when a Dutch person ask me how I am, I always reply: Ik mag niet klagen! That translates as: I mustn’t complain! A great answer that also makes people laugh. Double win. Secondly, I love set phrases that can be dropped into daily life. The more you have, the easier it gets! Yes, the Dutch have funny phrases about monkeys coming out of sleeves or broken clogs, but these have limited use.

So here are some more useful sentences and phrases in English with their Dutch version. The translations have been provided by Renske from NEDLES. This is the second in the series, so check out the there one too. The first one was really popular and can be found here.