Our Dutch Studies Undergraduate Program offers a wide selection of courses covering Dutch language courses for absolute beginners and advanced speakers of Dutch as well as courses taught in English on Dutch culture, linguistics, literature and history.
In keeping with the department’s overall mission of providing a solid liberal arts education, Dutch language courses at Berkeley go beyond the teaching of grammar and vocabulary. Learning a foreign language involves learning new forms of expression that are also new ways of thinking. Central goals for the study of the Dutch language at Berkeley include the acquisition of communicative competencies, tools for interpretation, and critical awareness of both students’ own native culture(s) and “things foreign.”
Our Dutch Studies students have ample opportunities to immerse themselves in the language by attending departmental events such as the weekly Koffieuurtje for Dutch-speakers and lectures at the European Studies’ BENELUX Program, the EAP Study Abroad Program and the annual Travel Study Course to the Low Countries.
Our program, faculty, instructors, and staff encourage students to achieve their individual goals, whether those include pursuing a Minor, Major or Double Major, or Honors. The Dutch Studies Undergraduate Program provides students with the language fluency, cultural knowledge, academic experience, and analytical skills necessary to attend graduate school, to enter the job market, and to be global citizens who are culturally aware and critical thinkers.
Dutch Studies minors and majors can apply for the annual Orde van den Prince Travel Grant. Every year, the Flemish-Dutch cultural organization Orde van den Prince offers a grants of $ 500 to support travel costs by Dutch Studies students who wish to participate in the Travel Study Course Dutch 177 to the Low Countries, the EAP Study Abroad program in the Netherlands, an officially recognized Dutch language course at a Dutch or Flemish university or a research project supervised by a UC Berkeley faculty member. Students who wish to apply for the Orde van den Prince Travel Grant need to submit a 500-words application about the purpose of their journey to the program director, Prof. Jeroen Dewulf, by February 15. Students will need to write this application in Dutch.
Contact us:
Program Director Jeroen Dewulf (jdewulf at berkeley dot edu)
Language Program Coordinator Esmée van der Hoeven (ievanderhoeven at berkeley dot edu)
Dutch Linguistics Coordinator Thomas Shannon (tshannon at berkeley dot edu)
Undergraduate Student Adviser Nadia Samadi (germanic at berkeley dot edu), Phone: (510) 643-9479, 5311 Dwinelle