Product
Basic Dutch 1 (standard & fast track)
Would you like to be able to speak Dutch with your colleagues, supervisor, friends or neighbours? Or be able to read the labels in the supermarket, ask where you can find something, or hold a conversation with your neighbours? Would you also like to learn more about Dutch customs and traditions? If so, our Basic Dutch 1 course is perfect for you.
Target group
This course is geared towards international employees, PhD candidates and expats with little to no knowledge of the Dutch language and who are interested in learning the language for social purposes.
Course level
Entry level: A0 (CEFR)
Level on completion: halfway to A1 (CEFR)
Course content
The main goal of this course is to learn to communicate in Dutch in simple, everyday situations.
What will this course teach you?
Once you have completed the course, you will know:
- introduce yourself/someone else;
- tell someone where you are from;
- ask someone where they are from;
- spell your name, address and city;
- explain how you are doing and ask someone how they are doing;
- explain what you study and ask what someone else studies;
- talk about your hobbies;
- invite someone to do something;
- talk about what you like/don’t like;
- ask someone what they enjoy doing;
- talk about your family;
- describe someone’s personality and appearance;
- talk about your daily activities;
- ask for the time and tell someone the time;
- ask and explain what’s happening;
- make an appointment;
- hold a conversation in a shop;
- ask where something is and explain where people/things are;
- ask the price of a product.
Once you have completed the course, you will know:
- numbers up to 100;
- the days of the week;
- the months of the year.
Learning grammar is secondary to developing good communication skills and a good vocabulary. Only the basics of grammar will be covered, such as sentence structure, present tense verb conjugation, negation, question structure and pronouns.
This course will also cover Dutch pronunciation and interesting aspects of Dutch culture.
The lecturer will speak Dutch as much as possible during the course.
Admission requirements
No prior knowledge of the Dutch language is required for Basic Dutch 1. If you want to check whether this course is suitable for your level and your study goals, contact us at into@wur.nl.
If your native language is German, you can immediately start with Basic Dutch 2 on the condition that you study chapters 1 through 5 of the course manual before the course begins.
Dates and times
Standard track
| Group | Days | Start date | End date | Time | Status |
| Basic Dutch 1A (face-to-face) | Tuesday | 4 March 2025 | 17 June 2025 | 10:00-11:30 hrs. | |
| Basic Dutch 1B (online) | Monday | 3 March 2025 | 30 June 2025 | 14:30-16:00 hrs. |
Fast track
| Group | Days | Start date | End date | Time | Status |
| Basic Dutch 1 (online) | Tuesday + Thursday | 19 November 2024 | 23 January 2025 | 9:30-11:00 hrs. | |
| Basic Dutch 1 (face-to-face) | Tuesday + Thursday | 11 February 2025 | 3 April 2025 | 17:15-18:45 hrs. |
View the full schedule 2025 here.
View the full schedule 2024 here.
This course is offered several times a year in two variants: the standard track and the fast track.
If you would like to take the Basic Dutch 1 course but it is either full or does not list a starting date that suits you, please click here and you will be notified once you can sign up for new dates. If all groups are fully booked and you want to be put on the waiting list for a particular period, please also fill in the interest form and then indicate this in the comments.
Location
You follow the course entirely online using the Virtual Classroom in Brightspace or at our location: Campus Wageningen University & Research.
Number of classes
Standard track: 14 classes of 1.5 hours, 1 class per week.
Fast track: 14 classes of 1.5 hours, 2 classes per week.
Self-study
Standard track: 1 to 1.5 hours each week.
Fast track: 2 to 3 hours each week.
Course materials
Start.nl deel 1 (2e druk 2017), ISBN: 9789046905661.
After having registered for this course, you will receive additional information about the course materials in due time.
Certification
You will receive a certificate from Wageningen in’to Languages if you attended at least 80% of the lessons. After completing Basic Dutch 1 you can register for Basic Dutch 2.
Fee
| WUR employees and partners | Free of charge - The costs can be borne by the department/Sciences Group where you work. Read more about this. |
| WUR employees and PhD candidates | €520 |
| Regular fee | €547 |
The course price does not include course materials.