Dutch has been compared to a disease of the throat rather than a language. A sloppy pronunciation of seaside town Scheveningen was (so the legend goes) a way to catch out spies in the war.

Whatever your attitude to language learning, learning Dutch is a crucial step to integration in the Netherlands and part of the immigration and integration (inburgering) procedure.  (See www.dutchgrammar.com for experiences of doing the test.)

Despite what you might hear from fellow-pupils in your evening classes, people will reply in Dutch, not English, if you start a conversation. Persist! In no time at all, you’ll be appreciating the heady mishmash that is Dunglish (www.dunglish.nl) or checking out the latest thoughts from Dutch language pedants (http://taalpuristen.web-log.nl/taalpuristen/).

Joining a class is a friendly and supportive way to learn a new language, and because the makeup of classes is often international, you may well pick up linguistic niceties in several other languages as well.

There’s a wide choice of commercial language courses on offer to suit individual needs and budgets with courses ranging from ‘Dutch for Au Pairs’ to more intensive NT-2 (Nederlands als Tweede Taal) classes.  It is always worth asking about average class sizes. The smaller the class size (generally) the higher the fee. The language school can’t always predict class size in advance so you may be lucky, particularly if you’re learning in Amsterdam or Den Haag where competition between schools is high. Universities often provide beginner Dutch classes for non-students, although, as you would expect, a certain level of academic ability is required to keep up. These classes can progress quite fast.
Homework is an essential part of the learning process. But watching TV or DVDs with Dutch subtitles is also extremely helpful.

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