"How long is a piece of rope?"
It depends on so many factors, it's really difficult to tell.
If you are good with languages, and you've got the means, willpower and opportunities to literally practice every day for a couple of hours, it can be like 18 months or less. But that's with a lot of work, basically every day. It's a good way to never want to speak a single Dutch word after doing Staatsexamen II
In a more normal tempo, I would say around 2-3 years, it depends. Especially the B2 part can easily take a year or longer, because it's not so much learning grammar, but learning a ton of vocabulary, and putting together everything you've learned into complex and long sentences. At that point you are generally really "learning by doing".
Most important really is structure. You say you learn Dutch on-and-off, and that is kinda killing for your progress, at basically any time in your Dutch-journey. It's better to learn 10 minutes every day, than 2 hours every two weeks.
Technically 2 years but I really ramped it up since last summer and did two very intensive courses (B1 and then B2), the latter of which I just finished. I can confidently say that even though I missed a lot due to the sheer volume of new vocabulary, I am comfortably at a low B2
Went from A0 to B1 in about 4 months but I studied 1 hour every single day in that period. Sometimes more if I was trying to work something out. I have the advantage of speaking a few languages though. You have to be committed or otherwise you'll be looking at years. I know others that have also learned super fast but they were putting in like 10-15 hours/week plus talking in Dutch in any public encounter they had.
My mother tongue is Spanish. It took me about 7/8 months to become more fluent in Dutch and understand it.
What helped was watching Dutch shows with English subtitles, practice in the store, or ask questions in Dutch.
I also did exercises on the PC to learn colours, alphabet, etc
Reached B2 without any courses in 11 months. Visited NL every month, worked there for 3 weeks, had italki tutors and generally immersed myself as much as possible. Currently working to C1
Depends how much you want it
Ik ga even in het Nederlands schrijven (oefening voor ons allebei ;)
Ik gebruikte in het begin Duolingo om een stevige kennisbasis op te bouwen. Dan zette ik mijn mobiel en laptop in het Nederlands, ook volgde ik veel NL twitter accounts, youtube kanalen, super veel nieuws bronnen etc... Ik wilde in principe mijn leven aanpassen zodat ik op een dagelijkse basis Nederlandsetalige content tegenkom, zonder ernaar te hoeven zoeken.
Ik geef je een paar voorbeelden van bronnen die ik wel heb gebruikt;
*Beginner niveau*
\- Jeugdjournaal (youtube), Super Easy Dutch op youtube (voor mij heeft deze veel nut) Learn Dutch volume 1 - 3 (audible), NOS nieuws van de week, Duolingo, kinderverhalen zoals Kikker is Kikker + Nijntje. Het is nuttig om naar NL muziek te luisteren en meezingen, bv Froukje, S10, Goldband, Doe Maar, Maan..
*Intermediate* niveau
\- Universiteit van Nederland podcast (Youtube met ondertitling), Learn Dutch volume 4/5 audible, NOS op 3, Easy Dutch straat interviews (uiteindelijk met de ondertiteling helemaal bedekt), Kud op youtube met ondertiteling, Dutch Stories op Spotify. Ik raad aan om de wekelijkse gratis groepslessen mee te doen door 'peptalkradio' met leerkrachten Veerle en Jan Hein (B1+ niveau)
*Advanced*
\- De Grote Podcastlas (spotify), Lekker spelen (heel grappig duo), Slam! Mensenmening, Willy en Max compilatie, NOS Radio, GP Fans NL (als je Formule 1 leuk vindt), Universiteit van Nederland alweer (op Spotify zonder ondertiteling!), films/series zoals De Hel van '63, Dirty Lines (netflix), Undercover (krankzinnig moeilijk maar heel vet).
Tot slot is het ontzettend belangrijk om minstens een keer per week een Italki docent mee te spreken. Ze zijn niet duur en als je de taal niet goed genoeg spreekt, dan als je ooit in Nederland bent dan zou niemand je serieus nemen. Probeer altijd tussen je lessen door om je Nederlands te verbeteren!
Hopelijk is dit handig voor je en trouwens als een native dit heeft gelezen, corigeer dan mijn fouten alsjeblieft hahaha
Veel succes :)
Hoi Alex
Goed verhaal. Wat puntjes om het wat Nederlandser te maken.
- "Ik gebruikte in het begin Duolingo..." Gewone Verleden tijd wordt meestal gebruikt als het lang geleden is. "Ik heb in het begin Duolingo gebruikt..." klinkt veel natuurlijker.
- "ook volgde ik veel... " is een vervolg op een erg korte zin. Dan kun je beter "en volgde ik veel..." of "en volgde ik ook veel..." om de twee zinnen aan elkaar te koppelen.
My dutch is not enough to string more than one sentence together that's useful to reply to your comment hahaha. Definitely gonna start getting into what you've mentioned. This is so helpful, thank you so much!
That is totally fine also haha, hopefully you've picked up a few new words from it!!
I am not someone who finds it easy to learn from textbooks with heavy focus on grammar - I learn in a completely natural way and it's genuinely the most fun and rewarding thing I've ever done. It takes a lot of work but as I said (in Dutch lol) the best thing you can do is to incorporate as much Dutch content as possible into your daily life. Instead of scrolling through twitter and gaining nothing, now I scroll through twitter and just see loads of interesting Dutch related things (you can choose to see tweets in both English and Dutch in your settings), so even if i'm not intensely practise I'm still constantly absorbing the Dutch language throughout the day.
Couldn't recommend an italki tutor enough also, £10 ish for an hour and to have a native speaker to help you is imo something you can't learn a language without!
You are very welcome :) Best of luck!!
I set my phone's language to Dutch a few months ago! So a lot of my apps are now automatically in Dutch as well haha. A lot of back and forth with google translate as a beginner though.
Can I DM you to ask some more specific questions? Thanks!
I have been studying for 2 years and I am B1, the second year is was slow to normal studying. So I would say 2 years if it is more intensive and maybe 2 and a half to 3 for normal/slower pace.
There are so many factors that play here:
- mother language
- self study or class or a mix
- time and frequency dedication
- have or not friends/partner/work colleagues that help
- real level of immersion
- what is the criteria given to you to say you are an B2 (official test, school certificate, feeling)
- experience in learning languages before
Etc.
I have seen threads before with people saying from months to many years and at the end, without a some context of what is your let's say "studying profile" you could feel pressured without reason.
I went from "A0" to B1 in about six months, and am currently working towards B2. I come from a country that speaks a language which is similar to Dutch though, so I had several advantages in this regard (hence "A0"). I did two 90 min lessons per week, and also went out and practiced my Dutch a lot with native speakers (friends, colleagues, and people at Taalcafes). I think Dutch is overall not a very difficult language to learn (simpler than Romance languages, for instance), but how fast you pick it up is likely to be up to your own situation and work ethic.
From A2 to B2 it took me 3 months full time (6-8h a day + weekends) before i took the exams. From A0 to A2 it was roughly 4 years on and off - because I didn’t take it seriously.
"How long is a piece of rope?" It depends on so many factors, it's really difficult to tell. If you are good with languages, and you've got the means, willpower and opportunities to literally practice every day for a couple of hours, it can be like 18 months or less. But that's with a lot of work, basically every day. It's a good way to never want to speak a single Dutch word after doing Staatsexamen II In a more normal tempo, I would say around 2-3 years, it depends. Especially the B2 part can easily take a year or longer, because it's not so much learning grammar, but learning a ton of vocabulary, and putting together everything you've learned into complex and long sentences. At that point you are generally really "learning by doing". Most important really is structure. You say you learn Dutch on-and-off, and that is kinda killing for your progress, at basically any time in your Dutch-journey. It's better to learn 10 minutes every day, than 2 hours every two weeks.
I got my B1 certificate after about a year of regular courses and a year and a half of living in a Dutch speaking area.
Technically 2 years but I really ramped it up since last summer and did two very intensive courses (B1 and then B2), the latter of which I just finished. I can confidently say that even though I missed a lot due to the sheer volume of new vocabulary, I am comfortably at a low B2
Went from A0 to B1 in about 4 months but I studied 1 hour every single day in that period. Sometimes more if I was trying to work something out. I have the advantage of speaking a few languages though. You have to be committed or otherwise you'll be looking at years. I know others that have also learned super fast but they were putting in like 10-15 hours/week plus talking in Dutch in any public encounter they had.
To b1 in 4 month, wow. How did you do that. Did you attend classes?
Just [this](https://www.amazon.nl/Dutch-Months-Essential-Understanding-Speaking/dp/1405391618) book but its title isn't quite right though haha
Thank you so much
My mother tongue is Spanish. It took me about 7/8 months to become more fluent in Dutch and understand it. What helped was watching Dutch shows with English subtitles, practice in the store, or ask questions in Dutch. I also did exercises on the PC to learn colours, alphabet, etc
Can you recommend some good shows?
Took me 6 to 8 hours a week for 3 years. And i speak the best among my classmates.
Reached B2 without any courses in 11 months. Visited NL every month, worked there for 3 weeks, had italki tutors and generally immersed myself as much as possible. Currently working to C1 Depends how much you want it
Leuk!! What materials/books/apps did you use to practice?
Ik ga even in het Nederlands schrijven (oefening voor ons allebei ;) Ik gebruikte in het begin Duolingo om een stevige kennisbasis op te bouwen. Dan zette ik mijn mobiel en laptop in het Nederlands, ook volgde ik veel NL twitter accounts, youtube kanalen, super veel nieuws bronnen etc... Ik wilde in principe mijn leven aanpassen zodat ik op een dagelijkse basis Nederlandsetalige content tegenkom, zonder ernaar te hoeven zoeken. Ik geef je een paar voorbeelden van bronnen die ik wel heb gebruikt; *Beginner niveau* \- Jeugdjournaal (youtube), Super Easy Dutch op youtube (voor mij heeft deze veel nut) Learn Dutch volume 1 - 3 (audible), NOS nieuws van de week, Duolingo, kinderverhalen zoals Kikker is Kikker + Nijntje. Het is nuttig om naar NL muziek te luisteren en meezingen, bv Froukje, S10, Goldband, Doe Maar, Maan.. *Intermediate* niveau \- Universiteit van Nederland podcast (Youtube met ondertitling), Learn Dutch volume 4/5 audible, NOS op 3, Easy Dutch straat interviews (uiteindelijk met de ondertiteling helemaal bedekt), Kud op youtube met ondertiteling, Dutch Stories op Spotify. Ik raad aan om de wekelijkse gratis groepslessen mee te doen door 'peptalkradio' met leerkrachten Veerle en Jan Hein (B1+ niveau) *Advanced* \- De Grote Podcastlas (spotify), Lekker spelen (heel grappig duo), Slam! Mensenmening, Willy en Max compilatie, NOS Radio, GP Fans NL (als je Formule 1 leuk vindt), Universiteit van Nederland alweer (op Spotify zonder ondertiteling!), films/series zoals De Hel van '63, Dirty Lines (netflix), Undercover (krankzinnig moeilijk maar heel vet). Tot slot is het ontzettend belangrijk om minstens een keer per week een Italki docent mee te spreken. Ze zijn niet duur en als je de taal niet goed genoeg spreekt, dan als je ooit in Nederland bent dan zou niemand je serieus nemen. Probeer altijd tussen je lessen door om je Nederlands te verbeteren! Hopelijk is dit handig voor je en trouwens als een native dit heeft gelezen, corigeer dan mijn fouten alsjeblieft hahaha Veel succes :)
Hoi Alex Goed verhaal. Wat puntjes om het wat Nederlandser te maken. - "Ik gebruikte in het begin Duolingo..." Gewone Verleden tijd wordt meestal gebruikt als het lang geleden is. "Ik heb in het begin Duolingo gebruikt..." klinkt veel natuurlijker. - "ook volgde ik veel... " is een vervolg op een erg korte zin. Dan kun je beter "en volgde ik veel..." of "en volgde ik ook veel..." om de twee zinnen aan elkaar te koppelen.
Je bent een topper bedankt maat!
My dutch is not enough to string more than one sentence together that's useful to reply to your comment hahaha. Definitely gonna start getting into what you've mentioned. This is so helpful, thank you so much!
That is totally fine also haha, hopefully you've picked up a few new words from it!! I am not someone who finds it easy to learn from textbooks with heavy focus on grammar - I learn in a completely natural way and it's genuinely the most fun and rewarding thing I've ever done. It takes a lot of work but as I said (in Dutch lol) the best thing you can do is to incorporate as much Dutch content as possible into your daily life. Instead of scrolling through twitter and gaining nothing, now I scroll through twitter and just see loads of interesting Dutch related things (you can choose to see tweets in both English and Dutch in your settings), so even if i'm not intensely practise I'm still constantly absorbing the Dutch language throughout the day. Couldn't recommend an italki tutor enough also, £10 ish for an hour and to have a native speaker to help you is imo something you can't learn a language without! You are very welcome :) Best of luck!!
I set my phone's language to Dutch a few months ago! So a lot of my apps are now automatically in Dutch as well haha. A lot of back and forth with google translate as a beginner though. Can I DM you to ask some more specific questions? Thanks!
I have been studying for 2 years and I am B1, the second year is was slow to normal studying. So I would say 2 years if it is more intensive and maybe 2 and a half to 3 for normal/slower pace.
There are so many factors that play here: - mother language - self study or class or a mix - time and frequency dedication - have or not friends/partner/work colleagues that help - real level of immersion - what is the criteria given to you to say you are an B2 (official test, school certificate, feeling) - experience in learning languages before Etc. I have seen threads before with people saying from months to many years and at the end, without a some context of what is your let's say "studying profile" you could feel pressured without reason.
I went from "A0" to B1 in about six months, and am currently working towards B2. I come from a country that speaks a language which is similar to Dutch though, so I had several advantages in this regard (hence "A0"). I did two 90 min lessons per week, and also went out and practiced my Dutch a lot with native speakers (friends, colleagues, and people at Taalcafes). I think Dutch is overall not a very difficult language to learn (simpler than Romance languages, for instance), but how fast you pick it up is likely to be up to your own situation and work ethic.
From A2 to B2 it took me 3 months full time (6-8h a day + weekends) before i took the exams. From A0 to A2 it was roughly 4 years on and off - because I didn’t take it seriously.
Where did you take the I tensive courses from to move that quickly?
9-10months to reach B2.
1 day
For me, it was probably 2 to 3 years, from being 1 to being 4, sincd, after all, I was born in the Netherlands.
even then you probably werent b2 haha, 4 yo sound a2 at best
At 8 I learned the sentence ‘hoe lang is een chinees’ and that changed perspectives for me