Leveraging cognates — words shared or similar between Dutch and English — gives English speakers an enormous head start. Dutch and English are closely related Germanic languages; thousands of vocabulary items share roots and are recognizable once you know the sound-shift patterns. Key patterns: Dutch ij/ei often corresponds to English i (tijd = time, mijn = mine, vijf = five). Dutch oo often corresponds to English o (boot = boat, brood = bread, rood = red).
More cognate patterns: Dutch v at the start of a word often corresponds to English f (vader = father, voet = foot, vis = fish, vlieg = fly, vuur = fire). Dutch d at the end often corresponds to English th (bad = bath, luid = loud, oud = old, goud = gold, midden = middle). Dutch ch/g at the start sometimes matches English y (gisteren = yesterday, geel = yellow, jaar = year).
Internalize these patterns and start guessing Dutch words from English roots — you will be surprised how often you get it right. Guess before looking up: What would “fish” be in Dutch if v=f? (vis). What does “vader” mean? (father). This active guessing develops pattern recognition and makes new vocabulary stick faster. English speakers who exploit cognates typically progress to B1 Dutch significantly faster than those who treat every Dutch word as unrelated to English.