“Is Dutch hard to learn?” Let’s see how that question looks in Dutch. Here it is: “Is Nederlands moeilijk om te leren?”
As you can see in this example, some Dutch words are similar to their English counterparts: the Dutch verb “leren” (to learn), for instance.
Other Dutch words are completely different from their English translations: the Dutch adjective “moeilijk” (hard), for example.
Linguistically speaking, Dutch and English are rather closely related languages. They are both in the family of Germanic languages.
Not only that, but in addition, Dutch and English are on the same branch within that family of languages.
Dutch, English, German, and Afrikaans are West Germanic languages, while Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish are on the branch of North Germanic languages.
What this means is that Dutch and English evolved from the same ancestor language. That is why many Dutch words are somewhat similar to the corresponding English words.
Take, for example, the Dutch word “huis” and its English equivalent, “house.” Both come from this common ancient ancestor language, which is now extinct —but which has been reconstructed by linguists and named the Proto-Germanic language.
In linguistics, pairs of words like these are called “cognates.” This term refers to pairs of words that have been inherited from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
If you browse through the list of the 1000 most common Dutch words, you’ll see quite a few cognates. For example: “goed” (good), “jaar” (year), and “twee” (two).
These Dutch-English cognates make it easier for English speakers to learn Dutch.
One of the main difficulties of learning Dutch is finding someone to practice with.
If you try to practice your Dutch while visiting Amsterdam —or any other touristy location in the Netherlands— locals will likely switch to English when they hear your accent.
Native Dutch speakers often know English pretty well, which results in fewer opportunities for travelers to practice the Dutch language.
Also, there are fewer English speakers who study Dutch, compared to other foreign languages like Spanish, French, German, and even Japanese.
As a result, learning materials tailored to English speakers who are learning Dutch are less in demand —and, therefore, less produced and less widely available.
The Foreign Service Institute teaches foreign languages to diplomats. Based on their teaching experience, they have created a language difficulty rating consisting of four categories.
Dutch is in category I, the easiest of the four categories. In the same difficulty level as Dutch are languages such as Spanish, French, and Norwegian.
German is in category II, which would imply that for an English speaker, Dutch is easier to learn than German.
Dutch —the language of Rembrandt, Vermeer, van Gogh— where is it spoken?
Dutch is the language of the Netherlands. Dutch is also spoken in the northern part of Belgium (a region called Flanders), while the southern part of Belgium speaks French.
Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is located in Flanders. But it is a bilingual city where Dutch and French are both official languages. Brussels is also a city with many European institutions.
Just as the Netherlands has some charm with its quaint villages, windmills, and tulips, the Dutch language also has some charm with all its double vowels.
In English, we are used to seeing double ‘o’ vowels in words like “cool” and “moon,” but we rarely see words with double ‘a’ vowels. The only one I can think of is “bazaar,” and it comes from Persian. But in Dutch, there are plenty. For example: “taal” (language), “maan” (moon), and “paard” (horse).
In addition to that charm, Dutch is a relatively easy language to learn when you already know English.