Dutch is the national language of the Netherlands; it is spoken by about 22 million people around the world, mainly in the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname.
Afrikaans, an offshoot of Dutch, is widely spoken in the African nations of South Africa and Namibia.
Dutch is a natural choice of study as a second language for any German language speaker, due to the similarities between the languages.
Those that live in former Dutch colonies and speak Creole languages derived from Dutch, or the speakers of Afrikaans, will also find it very easy to learn the Dutch language.
People traveling to the Netherlands for work or to study over there will find it essential to learn Dutch.
Knowledge of basic conversational Dutch will also be a useful skill for people visiting the Netherlands on a vacation.
Whether you would like to get familiar with the Dutch language for work related purposes or simply because you are interested in the language, there are many interesting options that you can choose from.
The conventional choice is, of course, to join a language institute and get tutored by a Dutch teacher.
Unfortunately, not too many of us have the luxury of time to attend school classes on a regular basis.
If daily or weekly classes aren't your cup of tea, the best way for you to learn the Dutch language is to use various modes of self-learning that are now available.
There are plenty of books and CD-based learning material available for learning Dutch.
CD-based learning scores over books as it is capable of providing interesting multimedia learning content; audio and video guides and quizzes and games to test and improve one's learning.
Say it in Dutch is an online bookstore specializing in Dutch learning books that cater to varied needs, along with CDs and Dutch accessories.
One of the books on display on this site is 'A Bite of Dutch, our Mini Conversation Course', a good book for people looking to gain basic conversational skills in the Dutch language, without bothering about the grammar or the written part of the language.
Dutch at verbalplanet.
com is an excellent site for people looking for an innovative way to learn the Dutch language online.
It offers live lessons from native speakers of the Dutch language through the Internet.
This site has partnered with Skype to enable the learner to hold voice chats with a tutor of his/her choice.
The learner holds real conversations with a native tutor of the language to help grasp the nuances of the language.
They get useful tidbits on the Netherlands and Dutch culture from their tutor, giving them a well rounded learning experience.
The site also has links to sites selling Dutch learning books, software and various other related resources.
learndutch.
net is a free online Dutch language learning resource.
The course offered by this site contains lessons on the basics of the Dutch language, Dutch grammar, words, phrases and practice exercises for the learner to test his/her knowledge.
It also has links to various other external Dutch learning resources.