Language & Entrepreneurship

After Daniela de Barros Mertens Machado arrived in the Netherlands five years ago, she quickly started looking for a Dutch course. Because she wanted to become an entrepreneur, she followed the Language and Entrepreneurship course at TopTaal after the Language for Beginners course. It brought her so much that she is currently selling her own Brazilian cheese bread.

Daniela speaks decent Dutch, but she would like to improve her knowledge even further. Preferably at TopTaal. 'Everyone here speaks good English. That makes it easy to feel at home, but it is still important to be able to speak Dutch. In the supermarket, it's nice if you can ask for something or say thank you. Letters sent to your home are also always written in Dutch. To understand them, you have to master the language,' says Daniela, who recently moved to Almere with her husband Alexandre, daughter Sofia, and their dog.

If I take another course, I will definitely come back to TopTaal

Daniela ended up at TopTaal through the municipality of Amsterdam. She first took the Language for Beginners course there, which she is very enthusiastic about. 'It was a nice course and we had a very fun group. The teacher Ingrid explained things very well; I benefited a lot from that. During the Language and Entrepreneurship course that I took afterwards, I learned to speak business language. To be able to start your own business, that is very useful.' During the 26 lessons, Daniela learned everything she needed to start a company in the Netherlands. She practiced vocabulary in class and was introduced to organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Tax Authorities.

'With practical assignments, we worked towards our own business plan. At the end, we gave a presentation of the company we wanted to establish. That was a lot of fun. I graduated in Marketing and want to open a café together with Alexandre in the future. At the moment, I bake Brazilian cheese bread myself. It is a well-known Brazilian specialty that you don't see much in the Netherlands. I expected that my customers would mainly be Dutch people, because you eat a lot of bread. But now my customers are primarily Brazilians.'

School
When her daughter is a bit older and the move is behind them, Daniela wants to pick up the lessons again. Preferably at TopTaal. 'I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but the teachers at TopTaal are so much better prepared. The students at TopTaal are also very nice. If I take another course, I will definitely come back to you, whether I get it from the municipality or have to pay for it myself.'

In the meantime, Daniela is enjoying her time in the Netherlands. 'I am very happy here. Here we can just walk outside with our dog and with Sofia. At a certain point, that was no longer possible in Sao Paolo because it became far too dangerous on the street.' At home, Daniela and Alexandre speak Portuguese, but as soon as their daughter is a bit older, they also want to be able to communicate with her in Dutch. 'When Sofia goes to school, I really want to speak the language. I have to be able to help her with her homework, don't I?' Daniela concludes.

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