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Do I have to speak Dutch to work in the Netherlands?

11 October 2010, by Larisa Camfferman

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The simple answer is: "Not necessarily."

I have many international friends who have been working in the Netherlands successfully for years without speaking Dutch, other than being able to say goedemorgen. However, speaking only English (and your native language) will limit your mobility in the Dutch labour market. If you do not speak Dutch, you are most likely to find a job at an international company, at least if you have an MSc or equivalent.

Smaller companies generally require a good knowledge of Dutch, meaning:
› able to participate in a meeting
› able to present in Dutch

Being able to speak and write fluent Dutch is usually required for anyone working at an organisation that has strong ties to the government, such as: Rijkswaterstaat, TNO (research), CBS (statistics), DNB (central bank), Belastingdienst and various universities.

If you do not have an academic education and you are aiming for a job at a more operational level, you will find it difficult to find one in the Netherlands without speaking fluent Dutch.

dutch working keywords

If you do happen to find a job in the Netherlands without speaking Dutch, take a look around your workplace. Do you see any managers who do not speak Dutch? My guess is that you will not, unless it is at a much higher level (e.g. board of management). That should give you an idea regarding your chances of moving up the career ladder in the Netherlands without speaking Dutch.

My husband is Spanish and although we initially saw no need for him to speak Dutch perfectly (he was working in England while we lived in the Netherlands), we eventually changed our minds.

Working in the Netherlands became more important to him, so he decided to invest time in learning Dutch. Starting at ROC (free course with poorly motivated participants and even less motivated teachers), he moved on to a private teacher and subsequently to a full course. We paid for this, thinking the company would not have much interest in paying for it (although they graciously decided to pay for it in the end).

If you consider paying for your own Dutch language course, check your local tax office; the cost of work-related education is often tax deductible. Then again (and pardon my chuckle), you will find out that you can get information from the tax office only in Dutch.

Belastingdienst is not allowed to give out information in any other language - for fear they might say something wrong.

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