Free apps and websites for learning Dutch
So, you're learning Dutch. You've bought a few books to help you learn, you're practicing your pronunciation (that darn g sound...) and listening to some Dutch music. These are all useful steps, but the key to learning a new language is dedication: even if it's only 15 minutes, set time aside every day to learning.
The easiest way to achieve this is by building good habits, and apps are a fantastic opportunity to do this. Everybody has a few minutes to spare each day, whether you're commuting to work on the train, eating lunch at the office, or just relaxing in the evening: bust out your phone and begin a session on one of the apps below. Make it a daily habit, and you'll find it considerably easier to pick up Dutch vocabulary and get to grips with its grammar!
Here are a few fantastic free apps to learn Dutch. Apps provide an accessible, enjoyable experience that gamifies learning Dutch, taking the hassle out of the learning experience and making it, dare we say, fun!
Duolingo
Duolingo's free Dutch course is perhaps the most popular way of learning Dutch online. Providing simple lessons with quizzes and tests throughout, as well as simple but detailed explanations of basic features of Dutch grammar, Duolingo is a great start to your learning adventure. By the end of finishing the Duolingo Dutch course, you'll have a firm grasp of basic Dutch, and will be able to hold simple conversations in Dutch!
Clozemaster
Clozemaster is a gamified way to learn Dutch. By showing you sentences with missing words that must be filled in, Clozemaster is a useful way to learn vocabulary and familiarise yourself with sentence structure and word order. Learning vocabulary in this contextualised way is a powerful method of improving your Dutch.
Clozemaster is free, but offers a Clozemaster Pro subscription offering additional features.
Drops
Drops is an award-winning app, now offering Dutch. You learn vocabulary through fun, fast-paced games offered as 5-minute sessions. Drops is designed to be immersive, providing beautiful illustrations of each item as you learn, minimising the number of times you see the English translation (although they're always available). Drops is available for free, but offers a paid version, and is available for both iPhone and Android.
Memrise
Memrise is a flashcard platform for learning, and has many great courses, including The 1,001 Most Common Words and Dutch 1, amongst others.
Babbel*
Babbel is home to award winning language courses, and includes a solid Dutch course, aimed at beginners and covering 2,000 words and 200 useful sentences.
* While being a very good course, Babbel is only free for the first lesson in each course — full access has a fee. Babbel is supported by the European Regional Development Fund and offers courses in German, French, Spanish, and other languages too.