Blog

Dutch as a second language

You’ve booked. Now what? How a Summer Crash Course works in practice

3 June 2026 by Nicci Severens
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes Booking is one phone call. But what does your employee actually get after that? A behind-the-scenes look at the Summer Crash Course: five weeks of intensive language training. In our previous blog, why you book now and not in six weeks, we wrote about timing....
Dutch as a second language

Summer crash course: why you should book now, not in six weeks

21 May 2026 by Nicci Severens
Summer is the best time of year to learn a language. Not because it sounds appealing, but because it actually works. Fewer meetings. Less deadline pressure. More headspace. Exactly the conditions under which people genuinely absorb and retain new skills. Not a rushed training day squeezed between two projects, but...
Business language training

How do you know if language training actually works?

4 May 2026 by Nicci Severens
You have invested in language training. Your employees have started. So now what? At some point, someone asks the question: is this actually paying off? A director reviewing costs. A CFO asking about return on investment. Or you yourself, as an HR or L&D manager, needing to show that the...
Dutch as a second language

Onboarding expats: why language is the biggest challenge for HR

14 April 2026 by Nicci Severens
Language training during the onboarding of expats is one of the most effective investments an HR professional can make, and one of the most underestimated. You found the best candidate. International talent, strong CV, enthusiastic during the interview. The first day goes well. And yet, a few months later, something...
Dutch as a second language

Setting up an NT2 course for expats as an employer: here’s how it works

13 April 2026 by Nicci Severens
Your organisation is growing internationally. New colleagues from abroad start full of motivation, but quickly run into an unexpected barrier: the language. Not just at work, but also in informal conversations at the coffee machine, in the hallways and during meetings that drift into Dutch. Language is the silent factor...
Case Study

Energy Skills Programme – language skills as the key to safety

22 September 2025 by Milou de Vreeze
(practice example) The energy transition is one of the greatest social challenges of our time. To make it happen, tens of thousands of new professionals are needed. Network operators such as Alliander, Enexis and TenneT are looking for engineers and technicians who can help the Netherlands move  forward in a...
Language

Language isn’t a soft skill – it’s your strategic superpower

8 September 2025 by Milou de Vreeze
In many organisations, one attitude still prevails: Language skills? We’ll deal with that later. Even more discouraging is when someone finally finds the courage to admit they’re struggling with a second language — only to be met with a response like: “That’s not something to worry about right now.” But...
Language

Language skills are not a ‘nice-to-have’ – they’re a strategic asset

2 July 2025 by Nicci Severens
Discover how language impacts every aspect of your organisation Language is everywhere: in every meeting, every performance review, every customer interaction. And yet, in many organisations, language skills are still seen as something ‘extra’. Something for the communications team. For customer service. Or for managers with a natural way with...
Intercultural Communication

British vs American English

17 September 2024 by Nicci Severens
Discover the Biggest Differences! If you are interested in language and culture, the differences between British English and American English are particularly fascinating. These two varieties of English differ in several ways, from spelling and word choice to pronunciation and grammar. In this blog British vs American English differences, we...
Uncategorized

The Evolution of Dutch

by Nicci Severens
From Old Dutch to modern Dutch The Dutch language has evolved impressively over the centuries. From Old Dutch to modern Dutch, the language reflects cultural and social changes. In this article, we look at the main stages of the evolution of Dutch. 1. Old Dutch (500 – 1150 AD) Old...

Follow Language Partners


My LPOnline