Taking an Indefinite Break From Dutch Classes

It’s time to take an indefinite break from my Dutch language classes. I have been following Dutch courses since the end of October last year. That is almost eight months. Non stop. Well, I did stop for one to two week breaks between courses, but that was only because of the dates at which the courses started.

Back in October I decided to actually focus on my Dutch learning journey. I had already tried a school at the beginning of 2023, but it wasn’t for me. I needed something more formal, with more rules an explanations, as well as something more intensive. So I enrolled for an intensive course with two two hour lessons per week.

At the beginning I had to do an intake exam, at which it was decided that the best course for me was A2+. I joined and I did it. Then I followed to B1- and later B1. Since the book we used for B1 was not yet finished, I enrolled for B1+ to finish it. And here we are. This is the last week of this chapter. I will certainly keep working on my Dutch journey, but not taking classes anymore.

Classes time consuming, yet very good. In these few months I started speaking Dutch with all Dutch speakers, from my partner to my colleagues at work, even for work things. I think it’s quite crazy to look at me 7 months ago and now. The difference regarding my Dutch is immense, and I’m grateful it worked out the way it did.

I think I’m in a position where the improvements will now come from other things, such as exposure, especially to written and spoken material. That’s where I’m going to focus next. From now on I’ll have a few more hours per week available: no more exams, no more homework, no more biking to the lesson, no more lesson.

I’m not sure whether or not I will continue writing posts in Dutch. I think that is something I should do from the perspective of learning, but so far they’ve been focused on my learning experience and progress. I will have to see whether or not I can somehow repurpose them. What do you think?