Hoi lieve 'expat' in Nederland.

You understand a lot of Nederlands, but the moment a Dutchie starts talking to you the words don’t come out. So you mumble ‘Engels alsjeblieft?’ and switch to English.

And that feels bluhhh, toch?

But you know what: you’re not alone. And it’s my expertise to help you to break this English-Dutch-English cycle!

I created a special podcast for you with my 10-stappenplan to finally start speaking Nederlands!

It’s aimed at speaking Dutch at your child’s school but also great for other situations – at work or with the buren.

Speak Dutch with confidence (zelfvertrouwen)Stap voor stap. Step by step. 🧡

Download the free podcast here. 👇🏼

‘After signing up I will send you awesome and exclusive Dutch inspiration to your inbox every week’

What’s happening at the Dutch Speaking Academy?

Dutch Confidence - Mama Dutch

Start vrijdag 24 januari

Start maandag 10 februari

Zaterdag 22 maart 2025

Live dag: Switch to Dutch - Mama Dutch

New event coming soon

Zet jezelf hier op de wachtlijst voor de volgende live dag!

woensdag 6 november

achtergrond boven

Speak Dutch with Confidence

‘Hallo, hoe gaat het?’

This might be one of the first sentences you studied when you were new to Dutch, toch? But why doesn’t anyone use it then? The only thing you hear Dutch people ask each other is: ‘Hoist?’ or ‘Hogattie?

Ja, je wilt graag Nederlands leren, maar dit is gekkenhuis (madness)!

And studying probably competes with many other priorities on your to-do list, too. Plus, a lot of people speak English here in Nederland.

Maar het voelt niet meer goed. Je bent hier nu een paar (a couple of) jaar, en je wilt graag beter integreren, en meer contact maken met de Nederlanders om je heen (around you).

Maar je wilt geen ‘gewone’ (regular) cursus meer doen. 

Enter: Dutch Speaking Academy 🙋

Ben jij dit?

Je begrijpt ongeveer 75% van wat de Nederlanders zeggen, maar als JIJ wil spreken dan... TBF - The Big Freeze. And then you speak in English.

Je wil je uitspraak (pronunciation) verbeteren en je vocabulaire vergroten, zodat je een gesprek (conversation) kan hebben zonder Engels te spreken.

Je wil met je Nederlandse collega's kunnen spreken, of met de juf op school. Of met jouw Nederlandse schoonfamilie tijdens (during) de kringverjaardag, of met je buren tijdens de buurtbarbecue.

Je bent bang (afraid) om foutjes (mistakes) te maken en dat anderen je niet zullen begrijpen als je spreekt.

Ik kan je helpen!

Mijn stijl - My style

As a teacher, I believe that learning a new language should be a stress-free and fun activity that easily integrates into your busy life. Over the years, I’ve seen so many students lose the joy of learning Dutch.

After taking a typical Dutch course, you might believe that you’re either too old or too busy to learn Dutch. Or that there’s no need to learn the language because everybody speaks English.

These thoughts are your mind playing tricks on you to keep you from diving into the new and unknown adventure that is language learning.

That’s why I want to introduce you to my own tutoring style: personal and easygoing with a good dash of humor. Making mistakes is the key to learning, so my job is to make you feel confident and relaxed.

In 10 stappen meer Nederlands spreken in je dagelijks leven. Download de gratis podcast hier.

By receiving the podcast you agree to the privacyverklaring (privacy statement). ‘After signing up I will send you awesome and exclusive Dutch inspiration to your inbox every week’

dutch boost | Dutch Confidence
mama dutch

Hallo! Welkom bij de Dutch Speaking Academy

Mijn naam is Mariska, moeder van Cato (7), Hugo (4) en Elli (2) en getrouwd met (married to) Pieter. Together we live in Diemen, right next to beautiful Amsterdam.

I’ve been a teacher since 2013 and helped hundreds of students to improve their Dutch. I still love it every day. My mission is to remove any stress and fear about learning a new language from the equation, so you can actually start speaking Dutch! We deal with enough stress as it is, let’s not make Dutch another stressor. Learning can be a fun and relaxing activity—if you have the right teacher.

Why do I do what I do? Because I believe that learning a language opens the gateway to the heart of a culture. And because I believe that it takes a bit of time to get to know the Dutch and their peculiarities, but the effort is 100 percent worth it.

What others say about me

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