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Dutch language schools in Belgium

Learn the Dutch language from Belgium, also called Flemish

There are many Dutch language schools in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. The following schools offer Dutch classes in more than one city:

Berlitz offers individual and group lessons in Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent. Teachers can also come to your home or office and teach your kids. E-learn platform present, telephone and Skype lessons available. Normal face-to-face classes start at around 55 euro per hour.

People following a class
Ready for Dutch classes? ©

Eurospeak gives Dutch private and group lessons in Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent as well as at your home and via call. E-learning environment also present. Normal prices start at 50 euro per hour.

Lerian Nti is located in Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent and also uses an e-learning environment. Phone and Skype lessons are also available. Prices upon request.

CVO, the Centre for Adult Education, offers many classes in too many locations in Flanders. A list of locations is here. One important advantage: normal group classes don’t cost more than a euro an hour.

Let’s see the language schools in the different cities.

In Ghent

The University of Ghent offers classes at all levels in many different groups. Prices depend on your status, e.g. students pay less. Full price is around 4 euro per hour. Private classes also available.

CVO offers extremely cheap group classes at around half a euro per hour. Mind you’ll get into groups coming from everywhere so progress may be slow.

Following classes in Het Perspectief is cheap too: only 1.5 euro per hour.

In Brussels

CLL is a non-profit organisation offering mainly group classes in Woluwe, Brussels. Both for kids and adults. The group lessons cost around 10 to 20 euro per hour. Private classes also available.

Callinter offers Dutch classes in Brussels in many ways: via Skype, via phone, via private and group classes. Kids can also follow lessons. Count around 15 to 20 euro an hour.

The Free University of Brussels or VUB offers group classes. Students can enroll from about 5 euro an hour. Others may enroll too.

The Europa Language School‘s prices start at around 40 euro an hour, transport to your home or company included. Up to 5 students per class.

notebook laptop
Writing during classes can help you a lot! ©

The CPAB gives group classes from 8 to 16 persons. This governmental agency’s prices are maximum around 2 euro per hour.

OpenContext specialises in 1-to-1 classes, but also offers group classes. Price around 50 euro per hour.

In the Amira Language School, group classes and individual classes are offered as well as to your home or company. Prices start at around 50 euro per hour.

Languages in Brussels is a non-governmental organisation offering one-to-one classes and group classes. Prices on demand.

In Antwerp

Hello Languages offers individual and group classes. Contact them for prices.

The University of Antwerp gives group classes on its campus. Intensive and immersion courses. Price: less than 10 euro per hour. Or less if you have a special status, like a student.

Cosmolingua has both group and individual classes. Individual lessons start at around 50 euro per hour, group classes at 30 per person. Possibility to come to your company.

Some extra tips…

Make sure to ask your company if they can get you a language class. If you’re working for a small company, they may get special discounts at official language schools (in Dutch: via the KMO-portefeuille). 

The Flemish government can help you finance your studies (in Dutch) under certain conditions. One important condition is that you worked for one year in the past two years in Belgium.

Don’t forget you can always find a private teacher online. I give Dutch lessons on italki and here’s $10 extra.

Spotted another language school? Let me know.

Disclaimer: prices may change.

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Where to find Maltese language lessons, teachers and courses

Learn the Maltese language to express yourself in Malta's official language

Where can you follow Maltese classes?

Many teachers and universities offer Maltese classes, as well as the Maltese government. Some are online, others are in classrooms. Here is a list of organisations and people offering Maltese lessons. Disclaimer: prices and locations may change.

Group classes in Malta

  • Malta’s government offers very cheap, 3-hour weekly classes for all levels located all around the islands as well as online. A whole year only costs around €35. Search for the keyword ‘Maltese’ here. Courses last from October till May. Conversation classes also available.
  • The University of Malta gives a course of 30 hours for groups of beginners, plus two follow-up courses in Lija (or online). They cost €250 each and start in August and October.
  • A Maltese teacher runs 6-weeks Skype courses from beginners until intermediate level, prices are around €20 per hour. Contact the teacher here. Individual lessons also possible.
  • MCast offers courses for beginners and advanced students in Paola. Check out their offers here under ‘search courses.’ One course costs €400 for 40 hours.

Private teachers in Malta and online

  • Italki sometimes has online teachers available. Here‘s $5 extra to study via Italki – I’ll get extra money to study too if you go for it.
  • Other private teachers are sometimes on Justlanded or in the Yellow Pages, but ask if anyone is available in this group too. Alternatively, contact this page.
  • International language school Berlitz might offer individual Maltese classes if you ask them.

Classes and lessons outside Malta

  • Series of group lessons by a Maltese teacher in London via this Facebook page.
  • The University of Bremen has a Malta-Centrum sometimes offering courses. Contact them for more information.
  • Group lessons for all levels organised by the Maltese Community Council of Victoria in Australia cost around €70 for 16 lessons of 2 hours. The Maltese Language School of NSW in Australia also offers online and offline classes.

Online Maltese video course

  • My online Maltese course for beginners is in Maltese. Check the previews and read the reviews so you can see how my students rated my course. Also check out my free general course and a verbs’ course.
  • Teleskola offers many shorter online video lessons to pupils, but they’re interesting to adults too. Check the videos from year 7 on for ‘Maltese as a foreign language.’

Spotted another course? Let me know!

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Websites translated from English to Maltese and Maltese to English

Learn the Maltese language to express yourself in Malta's official language

Where can you find texts translated from Maltese to English? Yes, finding decently translated articles or websites is hard. Let’s make it simpler for you by listing these good sources:

TVM

My favorite Maltese news website! All the content is translated into English, just click the logo above the articles to switch languages.

The people of Malta

Wonderful Facebook page. You will regularly find new stories about people living in Malta. Posts are first in Maltese and the English translation is below.

Malta’s government

All the websites of the Maltese government are in both Maltese and English. Switch to Maltese in the bar above. The ‘about Malta’ pages are interesting, not only because they’re in both languages. You’ll find cultural information too.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the internet’s free encyclopedia and is translated in many languages, including Maltese. This link will lead you every time you click it to another random page in Maltese. Click on the left below for the translations to English. The translations aren’t done word for word but you’ll understand the meaning.

The Bible

Malta is a Catholic country. It is said there’s a church for every day of the year (365!). So if you enjoy reading the bible, you can read it online on the website of Jehovah’s witnesses (note: I do not support their beliefs or actions, except putting the entire Bible online). It is very useful as the pages and sentences are numbered, so you can check in the English version what it means.

The European Union

Maltese is one of the official languages of the European Union. So many texts are translated into Malta’s language. Even their surveys are translated into Maltese! The section ‘dwar l-UE’ (about the EU) is interesting to read. The Commission’s representation also has some Maltese videos with English subtitles.

Spotted any other resources? Contact me here!

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Learn any language – by watching sports

Love to watch sports? Nice. But did you know you can learn languages at the same time?

You can start by watching your game on television with comments in the language you’re learning. It has many advantages:

  • When your team scores and the commentator shouts: ‘Goal, goal, goal!’, you’ll directly learn a new word.

Football on a green soccer pitch

  • Sports language is a good mix of interesting background and repetitive comments: pass and corner kick will always sound the same. So you’ll start to remember quickly.
  • How the commentator pronounces the name of the players shows the pronunciation of the language.
  • Some news channels give live written comments. So you can watch and read at the same time.

Is the game over? Time to practice what you’ve learned during the game. Head over to a news website and read the resume. Find the words you’ve learned and try to understand the meaning of the sentences.

Reading the resume will not only repeat the new words you’ve seen. You can also learn new expressions and new words. These expressions will come back in the next games you’re going to watch. You might even see words you’ve heard during the game but couldn’t understand.

If necessary, use an online dictionary. Especially if you see expressions and words commentators often use.

When you’ve read the resume, it’s time to step up your game. Many TV channels offer a video resume on their website. Watch it after the game. The commentator will explain in a few sentences what happened during the game.

These few sentences are usually at a higher level. The commentator has to squeeze all that happened in just a few lines. However, here are the advantages of watching the video:

  • you already know what happened
  • you can watch it again and again
  • you can re-read the written resume

Of course, you don’t need to follow each step. Feel free to read resumes of games you haven’t seen. But it’s a fun way of learning a language!

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Present continuous in the Dutch language: aan het

How do you say ‘I’m eating’ in Dutch? Or: I’m walking now? Yes, English speakers often use the present continuous: to be + verb + ing attached. But how do you use it in Dutch?

Simple:

  • Ik eet. (I’m eating)
  • Ik wandel nu. (I’m walking now)

Isn’t that the simple present? Yes.

Present continuous or not?

In Dutch, the present continuous isn’t used as often as in English. That’s why Dutch language teachers sometimes even forget to mention it. It is used to explicitly stress the verb.

When you use the present continuous, use to be + aan het + infinitive.

So if someone is calling you and you want to tell that person you’re eating and you’d like to diplomatically say you can’t speak for the moment, you can answer:

  • Ik ben aan het eten (I’m eating).

    a woman is reading and learning Dutch
    Ze is aan het lezen (she’s reading)

Or if you’re informing your son is walking, and he shouldn’t be disturbed:

  • Hij is aan het wandelen nu (He’s walking now).

And if you’re studying Dutch together (bonus points if you do) with some pals :

  • We zijn Nederlands aan het studeren nu (We’re studying Dutch now).

To ask a question with aan het, you can ask:

  • Wat ben je aan het doen? (What are you doing?)
  • Ik ben aan het dansen. (I’m dancing)

Note that the past continuous simply uses the past tense of to be:

  • Ik was aan het dansen (I was dancing).

Exercises

Translate the following with the present continuous:

  1. They are eating in the restaurant.
  2. We’re dancing outside now.
  3. What were you doing?
  4. I’m studying.
  5. What are you studying? (plural)

Solutions

  1. Ze zijn aan het eten in het restaurant.
  2. We zijn nu buiten aan het dansen.
  3. Wat was je aan het doen?
  4. Ik ben aan het studeren.
  5. Wat zijn jullie aan het studeren?

 

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Tout, toute, toutes and tous: all in French

How do you say ‘all‘ in French? A simple question but a long answer. All can be used in two different contexts:

  • All the children.
  • I want all (of them).

The first one stands with a noun (the children) and the second one stands alone or adds ‘of them’. In English, it’s twice all. In French, no.

All in French with nouns

In French, every noun (like ‘children’) is male or female.Male nouns use ‘le’ for ‘the’ and female ones ‘la’. It depends on the gender which form of ‘tout’ you’ll have to use. For example:

  • Les hommes: tous les hommes (all men)
  • Les femmes: toutes les femmes (all women)

And what about one man or one woman? In English, we use ‘a whole man’ or ‘a whole woman’. In French, we use a form of tout:

  • Tout un homme (a whole man)

    The whole universe: tout l’univers
  • Toute une femme (a whole woman)

As you see, whether it’s a male or a female word is again important to know whether it’s tout or toute.

All standing alone

To use all standing alone, you use a form of tout as well. However, the ending changes, depending on what you’d like to say. If it’s ‘all of them’ or ‘every single one of them’, it’s tous. If it means ‘everything’, it’s tout:

  • Je veux tout. (I want everything)
  • Ils sont tous là. (All of them are there)

Note that with ‘tous’, you’ll need another word to say who’s concerned. In English, it’s translated as ‘of them’. Here, it’s ‘ils’. They are all there. Two more examples:

  • Ils les mangent tous (they eat all of them)
  • Nous sommes tous là (we are all there)

Exercises

Let’s do some exercises. Fill in the blanks:

  1. Ils font _.
  2. Je travaille _ la journée.
  3. Je les vois _.
  4. Il y a _ un groupe.
  5. _ les groupes sont là?
  6. J’aime _ les maisons.

Solutions:

tout – toute – tous – tout – tous – tous

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To like in Dutch: graag

Learn the Dutch language from Belgium, also called Flemish

How do you say ‘I like to dance’ in Dutch? If you ask this question as a beginner,  your teacher will probably say it’s too soon. Why? Because ‘to like’ isn’t as easy in Dutch as it is in English.

No verb, no like

There is no specific verb for ‘to like’ in Dutch. At best, you can use ‘houden van.’ So, the translation would be:

  • Ik hou van dansen. (I like/love to dance)

But the literal translation is: I love to dance. Yes, houden van is to love. So it can also mean to like a lot, just as well as to love. To a loved one, you’d say:

  • Ik hou van jou. (I love you)

Graag: no verb

Dutch persons usually use ‘graag’ as a way to express they like something. Graag is no verb but it always stands with a verb. And to be more precise, usually just after the verb.

  • Ik dans graag. (I like to dance)

So if you’d like to make the sentence longer, you’ll add the words after graag:

  • Ik dans graag salsa met mijn vrienden. (I like to dance salsa with my friends)

If there is no verb, you use ‘hebben’, to have, with graag.

  • Ik heb graag kinderen. (I like kids)

Other uses of graag

Water? Graag!

Graag is also used for other purposes, which can be confusing. But here’s the other uses:

  1. Yes in a polite way.
  2. Politeness. Used in combination with zouden (would) or willen (want), or both zouden and willen.
  • Water, meneer? (water, mister)
  • Graag (yes, with pleasure)
  • En wat wil u drinken? (and what do you want to drink)
  • Ik zou graag een glas cola willen, alstublieft (I’d like a glass of cola, please)

Exercises

Translate (with graag):

  1. He likes to eat.
  2. I like dancing in the dark.
  3. Do we like to go to the cinema?
  4. They like ice cream.

Put the words in the right order:

  1. graag – drinkt – water – ze .
  2. weer – in – van – houden -zij – België – het .
  3. zou – krijgen – koffie – graag – je – tas – een .

Solutions

  1. Hij eet graag.
  2. Ik dans graag in het donker.
  3. Gaan we graag naar de cinema?
  4. Zij hebben graag ijsjes.

 

  1. Ze drinkt graag water.
  2. Zij houden van het weer in België.
  3. Je zou graag een tas koffie krijgen.

Improve your Dutch by taking some private classes…

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Learn languages with Udemy – a good idea?

Learning languages online is a challenge, as there’s almost no social pressure to attend classes. That’s one of the reasons why many learners prefer to learn languages online. One of the platforms offering courses is Udemy. That’s where I also teach courses.

On Udemy, there are many other language courses though, ranging from Chinese to German via Arabic. Let’s put some pros and cons of learning with Udemy next to each other.

Pros and cons

Pro: There are many free courses available. It’s easy. You can learn anytime, anywhere. You can also review any of the lessons anytime, without having to pay. There are different levels, from beginners to experts. You can ask questions to your teacher. There are certificates.

Learn languages online with Udemy ©

Con: no face-to-face contact with your teacher. Some students pay but never start the course. Not all teachers reply to questions (I do!). There are not many options for ‘smaller’ languages. And, the quiz system is not adapted to language courses.

Despite these caveats, I still think it’s a valuable way to learn a language. Especially if you need to repeat more often than other students. You can always review the videos at a later time. Even after years. It’s also handy if you find a course that really suits your needs.

What to do on Udemy

Some best practices:

  • Always check if there are free previews available. Most teachers give some of their content away so students know what to expect.
  • See how many and which ratings the courses have. Udemy strictly checks if those are fraudulous, so you can trust these ratings are right. 52 reviews and a 4.7 rating on a course is better than 2 5-star ratings.
  • Finally, buying a course is more like a stepping stone: it’s the beginning. Many teachers include links to more materials, so use those links!

Also check out my Facebook page, where I share free links for paid language courses!

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All in Dutch: al, alle, alles, allen, allemaal

Learn the Dutch language from Belgium, also called Flemish

So when an English-speaking student is learning the Dutch translation for ‘all’, all hell breaks loose. How do you explain to a student there are five (!) ways to translate ‘all’?

Let’s see them all:

  1. Is that all?
  2. All are here. (as in people)
  3. All people are here.
  4. All the people are here.
  5. We are all here.

All as in everything

If you can replace the ‘all’ by everything, you use ‘alles’.

  • Is dat alles? (Is that all)

All as in everyone

If you can replace the ‘all’ by everyone, you use ‘allen.’ You can also use iedereen.

  • Allen zijn hier. (all are here)

All plus nouns

When you’re using all plus a noun, you use ‘alle.’ There’s nothing standing between de ‘all’ and the noun.

  • Alle mensen zijn hier. (all people are here)

All plus article plus nouns

If there’s an article or a pronoun (this, that) in between the all and the nouns, it’s ‘al.’

  • Al de mensen zijn hier. (all the people are here)

All or everything?

All separated from the noun

When all stands behind the noun, use ‘allemaal’. Allen can also be used in case of people.

  • We zijn allemaal hier.  (we are all here)

Exercises

(words: de studenten, de leraars, werken met, naar België, was, het)

  1. All students go to Belgium.
  2. The students all go to Belgium.
  3. All go to Belgium.
  4. All teachers work with all the students.
  5. Was it all, students?

Solutions

  1. Alle studenten gaan naar België.
  2. De studenten gaan allemaal naar België.
  3. Allen gaan naar België.
  4. Alle leraars werken met al de studenten.
  5. Was het alles, studenten?