Your Dutch gets an answer now, not just a score.
Glootie is the speaking partner inside the Dutch Fluency dashboard. You talk, it hears you, and it answers back in Dutch. That changes practice in a small but real way: you stop rehearsing lines into a void and start having something closer to a conversation. The voice comes from ElevenLabs v4, and the model ids are read from ELEVENLABS_MODEL and ELEVENLABS_TURBO_MODEL, so the fast turbo voice is used where speed matters and the higher quality voice where clarity matters. If you have used the speaking tool before and found it a bit flat, try again. The back and forth is the point.
This update also touches the rest of the learning stack. The Dutch Town RPG now has a live day and night clock, so the town fades into evening or morning while you walk through it. The NT2 Exam Trainer has a daily character cap for listening audio, which keeps exam generation sane. Exams are visible to everyone, with one free exam a week, twenty a month on a plan, and packs on top. Verb Conjugation Game images now come from a newer image model. RushWords and Photo Description moved to current model ids and cleaned up their default chains. The website got a handoff from Rick at Microsoft, and the Leela page has cleaner duo art. Below is what actually changed and how to use it.
Glootie hears you and talks back
Speaking practice used to be a one way street. You said something, the tool judged it, you moved on. Glootie closes the loop. You speak Dutch, it transcribes and understands, then it replies in Dutch with a voice that sounds like a person. The reply is not a script. It reacts to what you said, which means you have to listen, not just wait for your turn.
This matters for the inburgering speaking exam and for daily life. In the exam you get a prompt and you respond. At the gemeente desk, at Albert Heijn, at a borrel, someone says something and you answer. The muscle you build with Glootie is the same muscle: hear Dutch, form a reply, say it out loud before your brain talks you out of it.
Two practical notes. First, use headphones. The microphone picks up the playback otherwise and you get a loop. Second, keep sessions short. Ten minutes of real back and forth beats forty minutes of half attention. If you want structured speaking tasks that mirror the exam, the A2 speaking page has prompts you can run through Glootie.
"I froze the first time Glootie asked me a question back. I had practiced answers, not reactions. After a week of ten minute chats I stopped translating in my head before I spoke."
A live clock in Dutch Town
Dutch Town RPG is the walk around town and talk to people game. Until now the town looked the same no matter when you played. Now there is a live day and night clock. Walk in the morning and the light is soft and the streets are quiet. Walk in the evening and the town fades toward dusk. The M11 live clock drives it, and the handoff trimmed the whole thing to 99 lines, which is a developer way of saying it is lighter and faster to load.
Why care about a clock in a language game? Because time is vocabulary. Goedemorgen, goedemiddag, goedenavond, tot morgen, vanavond, gisteren. When the town matches the actual time where you are, those words stop being flashcards and start being context. You greet the baker in the morning because it is morning. You say tot ziens at dusk because the light tells you to.
If you have not opened Dutch Town yet, treat it as a warm up. Five minutes of walking and greeting before a grammar session loosens your mouth. The point is not to win. The point is to speak Dutch without the pressure of a grade.
Exam Trainer: voices, caps, and access
The NT2 Exam Trainer got three changes worth knowing. First, listening audio now uses ElevenLabs v4 with model ids read from ELEVENLABS_MODEL and ELEVENLABS_TURBO_MODEL. The turbo model handles the bulk of generation, the standard model handles the parts where pronunciation clarity matters most. Second, there is a daily character cap for listening generation, set by EXAM_TTS_DAILY_CHAR_CAP. That cap exists so the generator does not run away and so everyone gets a fair share of audio each day. Third, exams are now visible to everyone. You can see what is available before you commit.
On access: one free exam a week, twenty a month on a plan, and packs on top if you want more. That structure is deliberate. One exam a week is enough to track progress if you actually review your mistakes. Twenty a month is for people in the final stretch before their exam date.
Do not treat the trainer as a score machine. Treat it as a mirror. If you bomb the listening section, the problem is usually not the audio quality. It is that you are still translating word by word instead of catching the gist. The A2 overview explains what each section actually tests, and the KNM page covers the knowledge of Dutch society part, which trips up more people than they expect.
For exact exam duration, question counts, prices, and pass scores, always check DUO, Mijn Inburgering, and CvTE. Those are the official sources and they change. Any number you read elsewhere, including here, is a snapshot at best.
Verb images, RushWords, and Photo Description
Smaller updates, but they add up. The Verb Conjugation Game now generates images with gpt-image-2.5-flare instead of the older gpt-image-2. Model ids across the stack moved to the current generation. Lesson images route through the host image bridge instead of the paid xAI API, which keeps costs down and generation faster. RushWords Speed Game and the Photo Description Tool both moved to current model ids, and the Photo Description Tool dropped Qwen from its default chain in the ai-gateway. Both tools now handle default thinking on 5-series Claude models, which is a quiet fix that makes responses more consistent.
What does this mean for you as a learner? Mostly that things break less and load faster. The Verb Conjugation Game images are sharper and more relevant, which helps because a picture of someone actually doing the action sticks better than a generic icon. RushWords stays snappy, which matters because it is a speed game and lag kills the point. Photo Description gives you more useful feedback on what you missed in a picture, which is exactly the skill the speaking exam tests.
If you have not tried the Photo Description Tool, use it before your speaking exam. Look at a picture, describe it out loud in Dutch, then compare your description to the model's. The gaps you find are your study list for the week.
Radio row, Leela, and the dashboard
The dashboard now has a radio row in the home sidebar. It is labeled Play me! and it makes the radio reachable on desktop, which it was not before. If you study at a desk, this is a small quality of life win: Dutch audio in the background while you review vocabulary or read. Background listening does not replace active practice, but it keeps your ear tuned to the rhythm of the language. Dutch has a distinctive stress pattern and you absorb it by hearing it a lot.
Leela is now inside the dashboard at /leela-game, listed in the menu and on the Tools page. The Leela page got cleaner duo art, Luuk no longer covers the Dutch line, and the art is smaller on phones so the text is readable without zooming. If you tried Leela before and found it cluttered, give it another look.
The website handoff from Rick at Microsoft is done, and the dashboard radio row is verified live. That is internal plumbing, but it means fewer surprises when you open the dashboard on a different device.
How to use all of this without burning out
More tools does not mean more hours. It means better choices for the time you have. A workable weekly rhythm looks like this. Two or three short Glootie conversations, ten minutes each. One exam section from the trainer, reviewed properly. A few rounds of RushWords when you have five minutes. One Photo Description session before your exam date gets close. Dutch Town as a warm up or a cool down. Radio in the background while you do other things.
The trap is treating every tool as mandatory. Pick the two that target your weakest skill and rotate the rest. If speaking is your weak spot, Glootie and Photo Description are your core. If listening is the problem, the exam trainer and the radio row are your core. If grammar is the wall, the Verb Conjugation Game and the A2 material are your core.
One more thing. Book a mock exam before you feel ready. Waiting until you feel ready is how people run out of time. The mock shows you where you actually are, which is more useful than where you hope you are.
Practical checklist
- Open Glootie, put on headphones, and have a ten minute Dutch conversation. Do not script it.
- Walk through Dutch Town once in the morning and once in the evening to see the live clock and practice time greetings.
- Check your exam access: one free exam a week, twenty a month on a plan, packs on top.
- Run one exam section and review every wrong answer before moving on.
- Try the Verb Conjugation Game to see the new images.
- Play a few rounds of RushWords when you have five spare minutes.
- Do one Photo Description session and write down the words you missed.
- Turn on the Play me! radio row in the dashboard sidebar while you review.
- Visit /leela-game from the menu or Tools page.
- Confirm all official exam details on DUO, Mijn Inburgering, and CvTE.
FAQ
Does Glootie understand my accent?
It handles a range of accents, including non native ones, but it helps to speak at a steady pace and not mumble. If it mishears you, repeat once clearly rather than switching to English. The struggle is where the learning happens.
Why is there a daily cap on exam listening audio?
The cap, set by EXAM_TTS_DAILY_CHAR_CAP, keeps generation fair and stable for everyone. It resets daily. If you hit it, do a reading or speaking section instead and come back tomorrow.
How many exams do I get?
One free exam a week, twenty a month on a plan, and packs on top. For official exam rules, fees, and pass scores, check DUO and Mijn Inburgering. Those are the only sources that count.
Is the radio row only on desktop?
The radio row was added to the home sidebar specifically so the radio is reachable on desktop. It is verified live. On mobile, the radio is reachable elsewhere in the dashboard.
What is Leela and where do I find it?
Leela is a game inside the dashboard at /leela-game, listed in the menu and on the Tools page. The page got cleaner duo art, Luuk no longer covers the Dutch line, and the art is smaller on phones.
Do I need to use every tool?
No. Pick the two that target your weakest skill and rotate the rest. Consistency with a few tools beats sporadic use of all of them.
Glootie answering back is the headline, but the theme across this update is the same: less friction between you and speaking Dutch. Use it. Talk to it. Let it talk back.
