Movie: de Volkskrant

You learn a language by singing it. So switch on your sound and enjoy these musical initiatives on language learning in The Netherlands. 

It’s a modest hit on Dutch social media at the moment: the video of ‘Zing Nederlands Met Me’ (“Sing along in Dutch with me’) of music temple Paradiso in Amsterdam.  The Daily ‘ de Volkskrant’ posted it at the beginning of December.  

Music venue Paradiso is currently organizing monthly (free) sessions for anyone who wants to learn Dutch (better). Sessions are an hour packed with Dutch songs by national musical heroes like Benny Neyman or Kenny b. A pianist, a professional singer and lyrics on paper accompany the sessions. The idea is that singing makes you learn a language faster, and off course it’s more fun than sitting in the classroom.

The idea was originally developed in Belgium where ‘The Happy Sessions’ (‘De Gelukkig Zijn Sessies’) are still monthly occurring in the AB theatre in Brussels.

There are similar activities on other locations: The library Zuid-Kennemerland, in the North of the Netherlands, has also started a (smaller) version. Last fall the library organised two separate activities that were mainly visited by refugees from Syria. A spokeswoman for the library: “They all liked it very much. It’s fun and a good way to learn Dutch gradually. We’ll definitely continue.”