You can live in Amsterdam on English alone, which is exactly why most people who intend to learn Dutch never get round to it.
The schools below are the ones that teach adults here, and the practical difference between them is less about method than about when they are open and what format they sell.
Schools to start with
Every one of these teaches adults, most teach internationals specifically, and all of them run courses in English as the language of instruction.
Read them for format and timetable rather than for reputation, because that is what determines whether you are still turning up in week seven.
Koentact Dutch Courses
On the Elandsgracht in the Jordaan, running intensive and semi-intensive group courses alongside private lessons and in-company training, and its 486 reviews are the largest count of any language school in the city.
The office answers ten to half past four on weekdays only, so enquiries need to happen in working hours even though courses do not.
NedLes
Built explicitly for internationals, at every level, in person on Derde Oosterparkstraat in Oost or online.
It is open until nine at night from Monday to Thursday, which makes it the obvious first call if your Dutch has to happen after work.
Dutch Courses Amsterdam
Twelve years of teaching behind it, from Admiraal de Ruijterweg in West, on 400 reviews at 4.9.
Nine to five on weekdays is the published window, which points at daytime study rather than evening classes.
TaalBoost
Chasséstraat in West, teaching both in the classroom and live online, with a stated emphasis on feedback and on the Dutch you actually use rather than the Dutch in a textbook.
The published desk hours are narrow, midday to five, so book by email rather than hoping to catch someone.
School for Dutch
A De Pijp school on Ceintuurbaan whose method is conversation first, aimed squarely at getting you speaking rather than filling in exercises, and the only school here holding a flat five stars, across 98 reviews.
Its ten in the morning to ten at night window is the widest weekday range of any school with a fixed address in the centre.
Dutch Ready
Private lessons only, in Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden or online, from a base on Kraijenhoffstraat in Oost.
It is the only provider here open eight in the morning until eleven at night on all seven days, which is what makes it the fallback for shift work and irregular travel.
Taal Lokaal West
Evenings only, from five to eleven on weekdays and six to midnight on Friday, on Oostzaanstraat in the Spaarndammerbuurt.
It runs a Language Café and offers a free intake meeting, so it costs nothing to find out where you would be placed.
Taalhuis Amsterdam
Gerard Doustraat in De Pijp, teaching Dutch, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi and Latin with native speakers.
It is the only school on this list that opens on a Saturday morning.
Pick the timetable before you pick the school
The single most useful sorting question is not which school teaches best, but which one is open when you are free.
Amsterdam’s schools divide fairly cleanly on this, and the split is visible in their published hours.
Daytime study points at Koentact, Dutch Courses Amsterdam and TaalBoost; evening classes point at NedLes and Taal Lokaal West; and weekends or unpredictable hours point at Dutch Ready or Taalhuis, which is the one with Saturday morning opening.
Group course, private hours, or intensive
A group course is the cheapest per hour and adds a room full of people in the same position as you, which for most newcomers is worth as much as the grammar.
The trade-off is that it moves at the group’s pace and on the group’s timetable.
Private lessons cost more per hour and buy you the schedule and the specific vocabulary of your own job or situation, which is what Dutch Ready and the in-company programmes at Koentact and Taleninstituut Nederland are built around.
An intensive course compresses months into weeks and works only if you can genuinely clear the diary for it.
If you need the language for paperwork
Dutch is not merely social for everyone.
Permanent residency and naturalisation both involve civic integration, the inburgering, and some employers set a language requirement of their own.
The level and the exact exam depend on your status and on the rules that applied when you arrived, so ask a school directly which exam it prepares candidates for before you book anything.
A school that regularly puts people through it will answer that question in one sentence.
Certificates and other languages
Not everyone here is learning Dutch.
The British Language Training Centre on the Prinsengracht is a Cambridge and IELTS examination centre as well as a school, which matters if you need a recognised English certificate for a job or a university place, and it runs CELTA teacher training too.
MixTree teaches English with native-speaker teachers near the Rijksmuseum or live online, Spanish Lessons Amsterdam works from Spuistraat, and Lexis on Borgerstraat builds tailor-made Dutch, English and Greek courses for individuals and small groups.
What none of them publish
Course fees are the one thing you cannot compare from the outside, because Amsterdam’s language schools quote per course rather than per hour and the courses are not the same length.
Expect to ask for the total, the number of contact hours, the group size and whether materials and the exam fee are included, then divide it out yourself.
Two other questions save money later: what happens if you miss a week, and whether a free intake or placement test is offered before you pay.
Taal Lokaal West states outright that its intake is free, which is the cheapest way to find out how much Dutch you already have.
The half of it that happens outside class
No course does the job on its own, and the people who get fluent are the ones who use the language badly in public for a few months first.
Order in Dutch, read the signs out loud on the tram, and let the supermarket be your practice room.
Amsterdammers will switch to English the moment they detect a struggle, which is kindly meant and completely counterproductive.
Saying mag ik het in het Nederlands proberen - may I try it in Dutch - usually stops the switch, and most people are pleased to be asked.
Parents fitting classes around small children usually build the timetable around daycare and childcare first and pick the school second, which is the right order to do it in.
To compare what is on offer, browse the full list of Amsterdam language schools.
Related guides
- International Schools in Amsterdam: A Guide for International and Expat Families
- Amsterdam School Holiday Dates For 2026-2027
- International Schools in Amsterdam: A Guide for Parents
Moving with school-age children?
See our guide to international schools in Amsterdam.
Parents navigating school choice as well as language classes can read how the Dutch education system works.
