About

DUTCH APPROACH provides Dutch language courses online and in our classrooms in Taiwan and the Netherlands. Students not living in Taiwan or the Netherlands are of course welcome in our online groups. In addition to our language courses, we offer preparation courses for the Civic Integration Exam Abroad and the CNaVT exams. DUTCH APPROACH is the official partner in Taiwan for CNaVT, which certifies language proficiency of Dutch as a foreign language worldwide. You can contact us through info@dutch-approach.nl.

How it all started

To accommodate Dutch language classes for the children of the Dutch community in Taiwan, the Nederlandse School Taipei was established in 1989. Although the school’s core purpose is to teach the Dutch language to children, the board of the school launched a pilot language course for non-Dutch speaking parents. This pilot was very successful, and more advanced courses were organised. These Dutch language courses for adults became increasingly popular.

In order to keep the quality of the courses high, the board of the school decided to have the courses for adults organised independently from the Nederlandse School Taipei. In May 2020 the new entity to promote the Dutch Language in Taiwan was founded: DUTCH APPROACH!

Dutch Representative Mr. Guy Wittich cutting the ribbon at the opening ceremony of DUTCH APPROACH (June 6, 2020)

During the first year DUTCH APPROACH expanded within Taiwan; first to Kaohsiung, followed by Taichung, Tainan and Hsinchu. The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to change our format in the summer of 2021: our classroom courses all became online courses for 3 months! Despite the pandemic the demand was still increasing. As the online courses were very popular, we decided to keep this format after returning to the classroom.

More and more Taiwanese living in the Netherlands and Belgium also joined our online courses, which due to the time difference were in the afternoon in Europe. To make it more convenient for the Taiwanese community in the Netherlands and Belgium, we also started online courses in the European evening. And in May 2022 the first classroom course opened in Amsterdam.

The Nederlandse School Taipei still provides Dutch language education for children in Taiwan. The school is recognised by the Dutch Ministry of Education, for more information go to www.nederlandseschooltaipei.com.

Going back in time: Dutch Formosa

After the Dutch arrived at the Penghu Islands (then called the Pescadores Islands) in 1622, they established themselves two years later in the area of Tainan at Fort Zeelandia. In 1662 they were ousted by Koxinga (Zheng ChengGong).

Dutch in Taiwan now

But the Dutch came back… Dutch multinationals came to Taiwan when the Taiwanese industrialisation was taking off in the second half of the 20th century. Especially Philips was a major player, and led to have a huge Dutch community in Hsinchu. Currently there are still many Dutch companies present in Taiwan, such as ASML, NXP, DSM and ING. In recent years, the increasing Taiwanese investment in the development of its renewable energy industry has been reason for Van Oord, Boskalis and many other Dutch companies to also open offices in Taiwan. At the moment there are more than 500 Dutch nationals living in Taiwan, the majority in Taipei.

Taiwanese in the Netherlands

Philips’ participation in the development of the local semi-conductor industry resulted in multiple Taiwanese high-tech companies establishing offices in The Netherlands at the end of the millennium. But also the bicycle manufacturer Giant is present with a huge manufacturing facility in Lelystad. Currently there are more than 3,000 Taiwanese nationals living in the Netherlands. Due to intensifying cooperation between universities in recent years, there is also a growing number of Taiwanese exchange students at Dutch universities.