UG Language Centre launches the ‘Potje Nederlands’ podcast

'Potje Nederlands' is the new interactive podcast from the University of Groningen Language Centre, designed to help non-native speakers practise Dutch at A1 level. A new episode will be released each week from Monday 13 April. The introductory episode is already available for listeners to familiarize themselves with the format.

The idea behind the podcast

The podcast was developed by Ine Sandor and Karin Brummelman, speech therapists and teachers of Dutch as a second language at the Language Centre. The idea came about when Ine was taking a French B1 refresher course and listening to podcasts as part of it. ‘I realized that this is a really valuable and enjoyable way to learn a language,’ says Ine. She thought that podcasts should be used right from the start of the learning process and wanted to offer the same to her own NT2 (Dutch as a second language) students. ‘However, after searching, I couldn’t find anything suitable for beginners.’

Around the same time, Karin wanted to learn Norwegian for her holiday and discovered a podcast for beginners at levels 0–A2. ‘I too noticed how easy and fun it was to practise a language this way,’ says Karin. She also used the podcast to practise speaking by responding to it. ‘Without knowing it, we had both been looking for a podcast in Dutch at a general beginner’s level, but couldn’t find anything.’ That is why they decided to produce the podcast themselves.

Learning through listening and speaking

‘It was a fun and educational process to put the podcast together,’ says Ine, ‘We developed a total of six episodes, with the level becoming slightly more advanced each time.’ For example, the last two episodes are deliberately narrated in the past tense, and learners are also prompted to speak in the past tense themselves.

Each episode covers a familiar theme, ranging from introductions to shopping and talking about homes and living. In each episode, Ine discusses these topics, and listeners are regularly asked to pause the podcast and answer questions or share their own thoughts. ‘This is how we ensure that listeners actively participate,’ says Ine. Listening again or playing the podcast at a slower speed is also encouraged, so that listeners become increasingly familiar with Dutch.

Follow and share!

You can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other platforms. The introductory episode is already available, and the first episode will be released on Monday 13 April.

Follow the podcast and share it with anyone who wants to learn Dutch!