PRIVACY POLICY – LEARNDUTCH.ORG

Who are we?

learndutch.org is the website run by online Dutch teacher Bart Leenhouts-de Pau, registered as a company: BLC Language Courses BV, Landstraat 190, 1401 ET, Bussum, The Netherlands; contact: bart@learndutch.org. Chamber of commerce registration: 71196846

What is this document about?

This document describes which data is collected on the website learndutch.org, how, why, and what we’ll do with it.

Which data do we ask from you to use the website?

There are 3 types of users on this website:

  • free user without registration: no data is requested, you have no login; you cannot track your learning progress, not all free content (like exercises) might be available
  • free user with registration: we collect the e-mail address (necessary to create account/password reset); other details are optional (name would be necessary for those courses that provide a certificate upon completion); as a free registered user we build a personal profile so you can track your learning progress; that means that all the answers on your exercises are stored in the website’s database, as well as completion of lessons
  • premium (paid user): apart from the e-mail address and storage of the learning data, EU regulation on Value Added Tax requires us to ask for address details, and additionally IP-address is stored (to confirm the location to apply the correct tax rate); without providing these details it’s not possible to buy premium access on our website.

We use SSL certificates (https) to encrypt data that is stored online.

Other forms that store personal data on our website:

  • contact form and pre-sales requests
  • reporting bugs/erros

Weekly e-mail/newsletter
Apart from the registration as a user as mentioned above, website visitors can subscribe to our newsletter:

  • a weekly e-mail (usually in the weekend) that contains normally:
    • a link to newly published video lessons
    • a link to a newly published blog-article about learning Dutch
    • a link to lesson (from the premium course) that is accessible for free during 1 week
    • occasionally – other information or links related to learning Dutch
    • information about our paid products: premium e-learning course and our Dutch Summer/Winter School
  • we use Mailchimp to send our newsletter (marketing automation platform); by subscribing to our weekly e-mail you acknowledge that the information you provide will be transferred to MailChimp for processing in accordance with their Privacy Policy and Terms. This information is stored on Mailchimp’s servers in the United States of America.
  • we have closed a Data Processing Agreement with Mailchimp.
  • Mailchimp tracks activity (such as: is e-mail opened, are links clicked etc). This helps us to identify inactive members of our mailing list (to remove them from the list).
  • when you subscribe through the exit-intent popup, this subscription to the Mailchimp mailing list is handled through Retyp LLC d/b/a OptinMonster’s software in accordances with their privacy policy and terms; we have closed a Data Processing Agreement with Retyp LLC d/b/a OptinMonster.
  • We use the double-optin function: which means that you need to confirm the e-mail that we send to you after you completed your name and e-mail on the website to subscribe to the e-mail newsletter. If you don’t click on the link in the confirmation e-mail, you won’t be subscribed to the list.

Other places where we ask for data on the website
1. Dutch Grammar Test: the Dutch grammar test is an assessment test; that identifies to what extent the maker of the test could benefit from the #dutchgrammar lessons. 

– E-mail address and name are asked for input. The test results are sent by e-mail.

  • The user can accept or decline a free preview lesson based on a mistake in the test. If checked, we will send one or two extra e-mails with the preview lessons. 
  • After the e-mail with the results and the optional preview lessons, the data will be deleted.

To access and remove your data:

  • to access your date stored on the website – go the student profile and click the link on the bottom of the page
  • to remove yourself as a ‘user’: send a delete request to bart@learndutch.org with your e-mail and username (paid users: we can not delete billing information, because that’s required for our accounting)
  • to access your data stored in the the mailing list:
    • click the link in the footer of the e-mail newsletter to access your data information/settings
    • to unsubscribe: click the ‘unsubscribe link’ in the footer of every e-mail newsletter

How long do we store your data?

  • Free registered users: we regularly clean our database; accounts of free registered users who haven’t been active on the website (doing exercises/completing lessons) will be deleted after 24 to 36 months since the last activity.
  • Data which was input in other forms on our website (contact, bug reporting etc): maximum 12 months
  • Paid (premium) users: we store billing information as long as required by Dutch tax authorities. Current legislation requires 7 years of storage. We will delete/anonymise billing information after 7 years unless regulations change.
  • Readers of our e-mail newsletters: 
    • non-active readers of the newsletter are deleted after 12-18 months
    • active readers of the newsletter are not deleted

COOKIES

This website uses cookies to let the website function. A cookie is a small piece of text that our website places on your computer. For example: we use a cookie so you don’t need to login every time you use the site. Cookies can also have other functions: to gather statistics, to serve relevant advertisements. Cookies can be placed by third parties.

The website shows a popup message the first time you enter the website:
– with a link to our privacy policy 

– and the option to accept or decline cookies.
You can change your initial choice later using the ‘reset cookie consent’ button in the footer of the page.

Which cookies do we use?

Google Analytics

We use Google analytics to track how users use our website. The statistics will be stored at Google’s serves in the United States of America. Our website sends the IP-addresses anonymised to Google. Because the IP’s are anonymised our website places cookies without consent. For more information, read the privacy policy of Google and the privacy policy of Google Analytics. We have signed a Data Processing Amendment with google. And we have opted-out for data sharing. Our Google Analytics account is linked to our Google Adwords account. This allows us to measure effectiveness of our advertisements.

Youtube

This website uses embedded videos that are hosted on Youtube (Google). Youtube places cookies to identify the visitor. Videos watched on youtube, including the embedded videos on this website influence how other videos (including advertisement videos) will be offered on Youtube to the visitor. More information: Youtube’s privacy policy.

Marketing

We use cookies to promote our services via Google Adwords. Through this cookie, you might see an advertisement of our products (Summer School, Winter School, online courses) on other websites. Also, we have linked our Google Analytics account to our Google Adwords account: this will let us measure if our advertisement is effective.

Vimeo

This website uses embedded videos that are hosted on Vimeo. Vimeo uses cookies to function and so called ad targeting cookies: cookies that will track behaviour in order to serve relevant advertisement. For more information check Vimeo’s privacy policy.

Social media

This website uses social media buttons (Facebook, Google+, Twitter and other social networks). When someone likes/shares our content, your information is submitted to these social platforms.

Newsletter popup

As mentioned above, we use a popup feature (Retyp LLC d/b/a OptinMonster) to encourage people subscribe to our e-mail newsletter. This popup usually is shown when a person is abandoning the page (so called: exit-intent popups). Cookies are stored to prevent the popup showing every time you visit the website, and show up on every page.

Good to know: you can also edit cookie settings in your browser.

OTHER

Children

We acknowledge the privacy of Children and we encourage parents and others in charge of the children to play an active role in the online activities and interests of Children. Children younger than 13 years, or 16 years in case the children are inside the European Union, can not use or try to use our services. In case we find out that personal information was collected about a child, we will delete this information. Parents who find out that this website has collected information about a child can send a request to bart@learndutch.org to delete this information.

VAT-country-check

If you make a purchase on this website, in accordance with European law the VAT of the country of the user must be charged. This website uses Taxamo, which is a service that checks wether IP address, bank address, and address of the client corresponds to one country, so that the VAT of that country is applied.

Who else has access to personal data?

Hosting / Programmer

learndutch.org is hosted by Kroon Webdesign, which has it’s servers in the Netherlands. We’ve closed a Data Processing Agreement with Kroon Webdesign. Kroon Webdesign also provides help in building / improving the website.

Accounting

Data about purchases on this website is processed by our accountant VHA, in King Software. Our Accountant VHA has closed a data processing agreement with King Software under their privacy policy.