Any dutch speakers here please? :)

[WinnieWill]

What is the best way of translating “wat leuk” - thanks a million! Context is running into a work colleague in a bar

How nice/lovely. As in “how nice to see you here”.

‘How nice!’ Or ‘what a nice surprise’ if you want to be very English about it..

How lovely (to run into you).

Thank you!! And how about if used on a dating app? Sorry as you can tell I’m brand new to the language 😂

Leuk means plenty of things fun/nice/lovely/cute. So yeah, clearly positive except it seems to be one of the few phrases the Dutch are comfortable using sarcastically. It's also often a bit of a standard, empty, filler response to being told stuff

Need more context really!

Obviously it is used to mean "oh how nice/that sounds fun/cool" too, it's just not that simple

It was used on dating app with a smiley face!

Thought I was about to be able to make use of my Dutch degree at last, looks like others got here first!

So looks like 'what luck!'

I wouldnt overthink it really. Dutch people are very direct, we don’t agonize for hours about subtle subtexts or our choice of words “Wat leuk” is a really common expression and yes, it can be used as a canned response or sarcastiy. But most Dutch people wouldn’t really give it a second thought if someone said it to them. So if I were I would just focus on the rest of the conversation and not worry about this.

Not 'what luck' but as others said 'how lovely/nice' etc