An American's 5 Biggest Dutch Culture Shocks! (Compared to Germany)
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- čas přidán 22. 05. 2022
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In this video I will talk about my one week vacation I took in Elburg, Netherlands and I compare the cultural differences to Germany (where I’ve lived for around 4 years). in addition, I compare how it’s different from the US.
The first 1,000 people to use the link or my code hifromhamburg get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/hifromhamburg05221
cutey!
Yeah, we Dutchies are tall. But remember that most of us live below sea level. We used to have short people, but they drowned.
Hahahahahahahahaha
Whahaha, that's a good one.. 😋
😂
Die had ik nog niet gehoord! Geweldig!
LOL
In Europe the waitress is paid a decent salary so no free refills or water, but you don’t have to pay the 20% tip. And the waitress doesn’t have to work three jobs to get by.
We generally tip out of generosity, not cause we have to. So if we do it's just something extra and not even everytime. So some waitress have some nice amount extra when a lot of customers are in a good mood, but since prices got up this year people are happy they can afford to sit down and have something to eat/drink. So tipping is getting less
For about 10 years ago, discussion rose on the subject wether plain tap water was a consumption to be paid for or not. As it turned out it had to be seen as something you should be able to ask for, because people used water as a necessity of life (e.g. to take their medicine). Second reason was that drinking plain tap water should replace bottled water anyway, because of the fact that tap water in The Netherlands is premium quality and spring water comes in plastic bottles, we should get rid of because of enviremental reasons. But then: some of the restaurant owners didn't like the concept of free tap water, because *every* glass filled with it cost them money anyway. First of all: you'd like to drink out of a clean glass, right? And they're obliged to serve you that.
Then the discussion took another turn: other restaurant owners claimed tap water to be a basic need you shouldn't pay for. Yup... but then again: some restaurant owners proclaimed it as a freebee, but in fact they didn't because they calculated just a few eurocents on the dish or beverage to compensate for the 'free' glass of water.
Most of the Dutch think it's annoying when you have to pay for a glass of plain tap water but we've got to be honest regarding the fact that clean tap water has to be paid for anyway; even by restaurant owners. But if you ask nicely for a glass of water because you need to swallow your pills, my experience tells me that the waiter/waitress responds to that with giving you the freebee, because hospitality is important to them. Not always, but very often it all works on the basis of social interaction and relying on your charms (ahem...) Nice vid. Thnx for posting.
@@MSMediaRotterdam Mostly they don't have a problem for free tapwater for people taking meds.
Even though the tapwater is always drinkable in the Netherlands, it tastes differently in every city/village.(doesn't have to do with the quality, it has to do where the water is pumped up and the filtering process, you can also see it on drinking glasses in some areas if eventually has more chalk residu on them). Bottled water has a more consistent taste.
in the States once, I had a Waitress chase me out to my car and shout at me, because she thought my tip wasn't big enough! lol ... I told her, "I regretting tipping you at all right now. And I wont be coming back. Well done".
That's not really true anymore, at least in the Netherlands. It is one of the worst jobs you can have in the Netherlands. You will earn maybe 20k euros a year, which is very low considering how expensive it is to live here. No job security (zero hour contracts) and you are expected to work crazy hours. It's often done by students. There are a lot of better paid alternatives with much better job and social security. Especially after covid most of the cafe, restaurant and hotels are under-staffed. It's now common to have a QR code on your table to order your food or drink online.
Elburg isn't representative for the entire Netherlands. The Netherlands has the highest proficiency in English from all non-native English speaking countries in the world. That's due to one thing you mentioned, not dubbing foreign movies and series, and because of our schooling system. I already spoke English when I went to secondary school (although I didn't read or write it yet) and I also learned German and French in secondary school.
yes, in the netherlands it is more common to speak english to foreigners. I am in highscool and i can also already speak english
Elburg is bible belt. No tv = shit english.
Yes Paul is right. No idea why people in Elburg prefer German speak. I guess when you live about 10-20 km from the German border it is to be expected. But Elburg is more like 60 km from the German border. Still it's a nice place. i was there once visiting their local brewery. btw you look fantastic. Realy natural and honest
You are the most casual polyglots on the planet.
There’s only enough room in my head for one language. I’m fluent in Dutch but it costs me some of my English.
You can get away with popping an English word into a sentence in NL - but if you try putting a Dutch word into your English in England, they think your having some sort of seizure.
I tried my Dutch out on some Germans in Berlin - they found me ridiculous.
Spoke English already in primary school, for some reason I really liked speaking it, and it wasn’t hard at all!
But that’s probably also because I was into movies and gaming a lot.
Anyways, had German and French as well, but hates those. Dropped those subjects as soon as possible. But now I’m an adult… I actually wished I didn’t drop them. German is basically drunk Dutch (or vice versa), and French could be handy as well as most French people tend to be a bit ignorant when it comes to speaking another language like English… which they all learn @ school, but just don’t wanna use.
According to an American/British research, the Dutch have the largest percentage of non native English speakers in the world. The fact that you have found someone not speaking English enough is rare. We also do have a lot of people speaking German, but this is a lower percentage and depends on the area. Usually the border area and areas of tourism have lots of German speakers.
I agree. Most people I met speak perfect English. They say we speak a bit, but once they start talking, they are almost fluent.
The 4+dinner is only common among the very exclusive restaurants but in the most restaurants you have the regular 3
German is relatively 'close' to Dutch as a language, so it's not that hard to learn. Moreover, German and English are taught in school. In places like Elburg, most visitors are DUtch or from Germany. In Amsterdam or The Hague, English will be more prominent as a language, since those cities draw bigger international crowds (not just the Germans).
I recently saw the following statistics: 95% of Great Britain's population speak English while 90% of the Dutch speak English! (to a lesser degree is suppose).
The most closely related language to English is Dutch.
Not many people can speak German anymore. Because of the UK/US movie and music culture English has become the foreign lingua franca.
Btw, I really love the sound of (high) German. Dutch can be very guttural. I was raised in Australia (14), learnt Dutch (am now 40) but prefer German. I think that German can be very sensual, more sensual than French is supposed to be. But I digress. Good luck in the US!
Your natural surfer wave and hair look amazing and has been getting good color. Ironically, I myself will be heading to Hamburg soon. Enjoy yourself and your life back at your new (old) home in Cali. I have been to Amsterdam for a short time for a bit and quite enjoyed it, but wished I saw some smaller towns and villages. I’ll be back though.
Nice to hear that most of your Dutch "culture shocks" are actually positive ones, ;)
always great to listen to you :)
Very cool that you were in my country!
Unfortunately there were some problems with my credit card and because of that my patreon support ended. I'll try to start it up again.
With those scanners in the supermarket you have to pay for yourself and they will do random sample tests where they check if everything was scanned and paid.
I'm 48 and when I went to highschool we learned English, German and French. I dropped French after the first two years. At least one foreign language was mandatory I think to pass your exams but which ones was up to me.
Now I believe kids already start learning English before highschool. So the préférence for German over English is kind of unusual. Except maybe for the beach towns in the province of Zeeland, where there is an invasion of German tourists each year.
Hi Gert-Jan, no worries about that! I appreciate your support here in the comments too:)
Thanks for explaining that about the scanners! How interesting. I wish I could’ve tried it out while I was there :) and cool to know that German was offered in high school. That probably explains why the waitresses knew it :3
Fun fact with those scanners and self checkouts: They aren't as random as they claim. It is based on time in the shop compared to the number of items in your cart/basket. If little items but way to long in shop... check. If many items but way to short in shop (yes, that is a thing)... check.
You can simply test this out by shopping like you normal do for few items and next time shopping those same items but have it take 3 times longer. (have a chate with the nice girl/guy at the meat section, I know you want to)... I guarantee the second time you have a "random check"
You look really great!
Wish you a good time and of course thank you for the video!
Nice that you were is the Netherlands! Im from nl and watched your videos years ago!
very pleasant. I look forward to see where you're at in five years time. *Cheers and thank you very Dutch, from New Zealand*
i worked in Elburg for a while and i never had any problems getting around with English until i learnt Dutch, i think its more people arent as used to having to speak as its not as common to hear as it is in Amsterdam and other big cities and i feel Dutch are quite the perfectionist when it comes to speaking English but for the most part. But honestly, if you are a tourist, new expat/immigrant to the country and speak a ok level of english..the Netherlands is probably the easiest place to navigate.
I had 2 years of German compulsory in secondary school and 3 years of French. I learned English from 10 years old. My daughters are already learning English in kindergarten. I am surprised that you have come across more German speaking than English speaking people in Elburg
Zal wel specifiek dat dorp ziin
English - Dutch -German are Germanic languages that used to be the same language but diverged more and more over time.
There used to be a more natural transition in the border areas with people speaking regional dialects.
You also got French influence from the Norman conquest in English so they will now use fancy French words like 'Beef' instead of the Germanic 'Runt'.
But basically that is why you often see such similar words.
I , Ich , Ik
Speak, Spreche , Spreek.
English , Deutsch , Nederlands.
You see how I-Ich-Ik are basically the same ?
Speak-Spreche-Spreek are as well.
Wayyy back thousands of years it was just one Germanic tribe with one language written in runic script.
Sag mal "Germanen" auf englisch. 😁 Das ist nicht dasselbe wie "Deutsche". Wusstest du das "Diot" auch "deutsch" bedeutet und davon das Wort "I-diot" herkommt?
There were multiple tribes and they went to war with one another.
@@marlan5470 Korrekto!
@@RickDistance Words with similar meaning can move places. Take the English Sea , Dutch Zee , in German Sea becomes Meer and a lake becomes See. But you can understand how such a thing can happen if modern German is High German and they had no contact with actual salt water bodies.
Also no doubt that in English some word derived from Meer also exists for smaller fresh water bodies.
@@marlan5470 They became different tribes over time who fought wars with each other. In Dutch war means 'to be in a state of confusion' which shows the similar origins but sometimes they morph into having similar but different meanings. It is also interesting to look at how the Romans described the locations of the different Germanic tribes in order to estimate which have a more natural language relationship.
But it used to be just one tribe. Aryans or Indo-Europeans.
For two years in secondary school, German wasn't an option, it was just part of the mandatory courses. French was mandatory during the first 3 years, although I think some schools in the Netherlands might offer Spanish instead of French. English is mandatory throughout secondary school, but German (and in my case French) only became optional after the first couple of years.
Nice video i like it 😉👌
The waves look great.
Elburg is an incredibly beautiful super old city (yes it is officially a city) the Netherlands has more of these such as Naarden, Torn, Muiden and lots more. They are as you mentioned a bit more rural and in those areas it is less common for people to speak English, and they rather speak German. Everybody gets German lessons in their Highschool years, but most kids nowadays don't use it often enough to speak it confidently. As for the four+ dinner courses, that isn't that common, but sounds like a feat of a particular restaurant to get a bit more earnings in, and that by itself is quite Dutch 🤑 Nothing wrong with that I guess though...
Some villages were cities before and some villages are still officially cities. In the 19th century they ebolished the "stadsrechten" law, small towns that wanted to stay cities could request this at the government, if they didn't they became villages.
Now a city is a town with at least 20 000 inhabitants in certain area together with in the same municipality, an in industrial area of a certain degree in that municipality and at least some area of city center.
it's gentle to listen at speed 1.5
you can fall asleep
I am from the Netherlands and we get the German, French and English language in high school. Very nice video, I really liked it. And yes, I think most of the people speak English. Maybe not on a very high level, but they can have a normal conversation.
Kisses!
Well depends on which level and region i only got english which sucked i wanted to learn german and french
I live arond Elburg, our dialect is simulair to the dialect spoken in a large part of germany , it calls nedersackties. Thats why we prever in a large part of the netherlands to speak german above english. Beside that is this part of the netherlands(Elburg)a favorit holiday spot for germans, to go sailing or go with there boats.
Thank you for your educational comment. Now it makes more sense :)
@@HiFromHamburg Greater parts of the Netherlands are flooded by German tourists each year, especially the Holland coastal regions, as well as Sealand and the West Frisian (Wadden) Islands. And historic small towns like Elburg. So most people in the tourist branche speak German and English too. In the greater cities in the Holland region however, English is way more common than German.
WOW! Love the hair and you look gorgeous!!!
Thank you! ☺️
Welcome back to the beach life. You're as pleasant as ever.
I live in the area of Elburg. This part of the country has a lot of german tourists. It is also a course jou can take in high school. Most people in the Netherlands speak pretty good english though.
At highschool at the time I was at it, English, German and French were mandatory. After 2 years you had the option to skip a few. So I kicked out French. English and German I had to keep due to my planned studies after highschool. During my years working (and having holidays) I also learned some Danish, Swedish and Spanish.
I learned German the best in my younger years when TV was very limited. We only had 4 channels and 2 of them were German. In highschool it felt very natural to me.
In The Netherlands you're mostly cooking/preparing your own meals. If you're going out for food at a restaurant you're definitely going there for the experience, not just to eat.
A snackbar or subway & such are the places to grab some quick food for on the way to somewhere.
love your curls ;-)
Glad you’re back! Hope you’re doing well. The Dutch are a fun people hahaha
Correct we love to smile!
Pppppfffffff
We don’t have much courses in meals. Normally we do one main course, you can have soup or something before and dessert. And yes I speak german, not all but some people had 3 or 4 years of german in school.
In the Netherlands, as long as I remember, English, German and French have been taught in secondary school in addition to our own Dutch language. Already at primary school, the basic things of the English language are started. In secondary education, English is a compulsory language subject throughout your entire school education, and therefore also a compulsory exam subject. At least until the second year, in addition to English, German is also taught as a compulsory subject and, if desired, French as a third foreign language is offered as an optional subject.
You look so pretty with your natural hair 💁♀️
Aw thank you Jennifer ☺️ if only everyday could be a good hair day 🥲 haha
Great to see you again. You‘re looking gorgeous. Stay happy!
In The Netherlands in the early years we get English in school. Later in high school we also have the options for German, French and Spanish. And in Pre scientific college and University Latin and ancient Greek language. In the province of Limburg many people speak German as well. The languages are very similair. Also we sometimes can I think understand Norwegian as well if they speak slow. And the old South African language is our Dutch from the 1600-1800s. Same with old people in Indonesia and Suriname who mostlikely know the language. Not to forget Belgium. Before 1815 a part of Belgium. Limburg, Brabant and Flandern were part of the Netherlands as well as Luxembourg has been...
For me as a Dutchman, it’s kind of strange to hear that people in the Netherlands couldn’t speak English. Because we normally start learning English from the age of 4 or 5. We only start learning German from high school, at the age of 14-16. But I haven’t been to this part of my country that much.
In the Netherland you often have to pay for water at restaurants, so it's the same as buying a beverage as far as the restaurant is concerned.
Elburg is in the province Flevoland. Normally when we have many courses in a restaurant, that is useually an indication that you're eating at a higher segmented restaurant. Most dutch restaurants provide three courses, entree, main and dessert.
*Gelderland
I learned 5 years of german in school love.
Also being a fan of Rammstein is quite handy 😂
I'm Dutch... and yes, we learn English, French and German in highschool. It surprises me that the Dutch you spoke to chose German over English, because English is almost like a second language to the most of us.
I'm Dutch, most people learn German, English and French in school, but later on most languages can be dropped except English. Most Dutch people understand and speak English.
Yea thank god for those brave English and allied forces. Or we would be speaking German (nazis)🤮
Elburg is an old fortress town on the old coastline of the Zuiderzee.
Going out for dinner , and ristorante are for tourist . Regular Dutch people eat home cooked food at home . Which is often something simple like potato’s , vegetable and meat whit gravy .
California definitely agrees with you. In my humble opinion you look much better and you have an amazing glow to you then when you were in Germany. You have a lot of good things ahead of you, so keep looking forward not backwards.
The Netherlands is pretty cool. They love their bicycles and probably have 1 for each day of the week. I won´t be surprised if they find a way to pimp up their bikes to the next level and even add a tiny home concept to it. I can´t wait to see what they come up with.
A Dutch here, the language situation is a bit weird, every Dutch person starts learning english at the age of 7, so all generations are suposed to talk English. often Dutch also either speak german or french, depending on the choosen professional direction. the colourfull food is a sertain type of restaurants. we also have a lot of every day normal food ;-)
From 7 years? I only had it from the 7th year of primary school and I'm also Dutch
I like your video!
Those locals in the Netherlands should be able to speak English, we have English as our second language, and we learn it from at least k5 - k10-12 on a b1 level... It is a duty for us to learn English, but the same for German. We all learn besides Dutch and English, which are duties, also German and French for a few years as a duty and eventually can do exams in it. Some even also Spanish, Italian, Greek, Latin, and other languages. People in Belgium I think also have German as a duty.
You always get a free small cookie with a warm drink in the Netherlands, or maybe not at Starbucks or something.
Nice to hear from you again. You seem to be fine. I hope not to be too prying when I ask if you have found a Masters level job?
I grew up close to the dutch border and it was really good for a German to watch all the American series way earlier than they were shown dubbed in Germany and with the Dutch subtitles, you could learn this beautiful language too.
In high school (HAVO/VWO at least) you get at least 2 years of german and french. After 2 years you choose for either german, french or both. So in the end you have about 5 years of experience.
The main issue is that once you leave high school and end up in either higher vocational school or university, you often rarely use those languages anymore. English is the main language of science and universities.
I used to be able to hold somewhat of a conversation in french from learning it in high school, but 12 years later i've lost most of it sadly.
You get english during all years of high school (5 or 6 years) and sometimes it'll even already start in the final year of elementary school.
I can imagine you will be able to learn more about The Netherlands while being at your home in the U.S. Just because of an objectieve perspectiv. (which would have taken a lot of time by staying in The Netherlands itself)
There's a ton of information on economics, science, art, architecture and Dutch culture on you-tube.
Our schoolsystem in Holland is diffirent from the one of the US. We have 8 grades at juniorschool, like age 4 till 12, in that period we start to learn English. Then the next college, age 12/13 till 16-17. It depends on your degree, if it's high enough you will learn French and German next to English. After that i think it depend which way you go in studying.
With kind regards from (The) Netherlands 😉❤️
I'm from Limburg the Dutch province between Germany and Belgium and in the first two years of middle school English and German where mandatory and you could choose French.
Twitch link doesnt work?! :(
After moving back to the Netherlands from the states after decades, I have to say customer service. So much slower here and I grew up here 😊
In the Netherlands, it is common to learn different languages, in school you learn Dutch, English, German and French, in the last 2 years you can choose to leave either German or French,
frisian here
german in school ? nope, english ? yes
never spoke a word of german in school (and i have been to like 7 schools)
btw, how you pronounce the netherlands is like the cutest i've heard, never change that :P
Holland ist die geilste Stadt der Welt! xP
So isses
Zumindest die geilste Stadt Spaniens
Most Dutch people speak English from as we call it 'steenkolen Engels' (mediocre) to excellent , due to our school system. Usually we don't have fancy food dinners at restaurants (too expensive for most) it is for the experience. But if we don't want to cook or can't, we order fast food (with or without an app) from a Cafetaria, McDonald's/KFC, Pizzeria, Döner Kebab, Chinese/away restaurants/take aways.
Try other places in the Netherlands if you ever have the chance to visit again. Valkenburg in Limburg, Texel (Island) during the summer season loaded with Germans, Utrecht.
In the Netherlands you have to learn english (and ofcourse dutch) and you have the option to study german or french (or both) so most people know a bit of german or french in the east its mostly german and in the west its mostly french some schools also provide spanish or chinese but that's not really common also if your on the highest level of education (gymnasium) you can learn latin and greek
the food in elburg is not typical dutch there. here are 3 typical dutch evening meals. 1 kale stew sauerkraut stew and broccoli potatoes with a piece of meat. so maybe next time try 1 of these meals. nice video btw. greats from the netherlands :)
a lot of waters and shop owners in tourist areas speak IJsselmeer Duits
We learn german at school (optional) I live near the border and learned speaking german starting when I was 6 years old.
One resson why in Elburg might speak German easily is that the Northeastern regions of the Netherlands speak a dialect that is Low German/Low Saxon , thus basic German is fairly easy to learn/speak.
In dutch highschools you get 2 or 3 years german classes , bit I would say that I gained a lot of of my german from the LowSaxon dialect of my eastern region and from watching German tv . In the eighties we had only 2 dutch public tv channels and 3 German. The germans had a lot more tv hours , so as kids we'd often watch the German channels.
Nowadays, with cable tv and internet etc people hardly watch German media and knowledge of German has dropped significantly .. It is primarily english as a foreign language.
German is an optional language you learn at high-school, and as English Dutch and German are germanic languages, Dutch in a sense feels a blend between German and English, making it easy for most Dutch to understand/speak 3 languages. Though at age of 10 we already get English lessons. And as you mentioned all English spoken stuff gets subtitles so in a sense helps to learn understand it also. People close to the border in Germany even get taught Dutch.
Normal people learn German, English and French in middle school, and forget the French after school. Elburg and that area is flooded by German tourists every summer, they have their boats there.
As you dont seem fine to me, I hope you get all the love, cuddles and attention needed from friends and family back home❣ Bye from Hamburg 😉
Hi, I'm surprises me that they choose speaking German over English, because we learn English, German and French in Highschool and as you saw we watch English/American spoken tv shows and movies. But we try to adapt to the people who start speaking to us, to help them in the language they speak. ☺️
I also had German in school. And learned a lot from the TV. Listening and talking is fine. But disks? no! I come from Spakenburg, which is on the same stretch of water as Elburg. With the newest province of the Netherlands. What you look at. Greetings from Spakenburg, the Netherlands
You're looking fantastic!
Aw thank you 💕
Yep. We learn English, French and German in our schools.
To put it most simple:
In the Netherlands
Dutch is the mothertongue
and English
is used by far by the most Dutch people as the first or even only foreign language,
so that is why Dutch and English are obligatory in all levels of all sorts of schools even uptil and including the exams of those schools. Other languages are optional.
I hope You will find this information useful
and thank You for Your kind remarks
about the Netherlands!
Greetings,
Johannes Walraven.
( Hans ).
Born and Bred Dutchman
living in The Netherlands.
P.S.: One sees more and more
the use of Netherlands,
( sometimes even Netherland
for: Nederland, other term for it
used by Dutch people as well is:
Holland )
instead of The Netherlands.
P.P.S: Dutch is of
the modern western languages
linguistically most closely related
to English.
Bred must of course be written as bred
Nederland ook Pays Bas genoemd.
Answer: to Adele Tollius-Bennet:
True, but I only mentioned other translated names for the country The Netherlands in relation to the English language not all other languages in the world.
Greetings,
Johannes Walraven
( Hans).
I could show you so much more of the Netherlands. You seem to have missed out on a lot of good stuff :-)
First 3 years of high school I did French, German, English, Latin and ancient Greek. The last 3 years only Englisch and German.
Watched you for the first time and Yes 85% speak English and 50% know to communicate in German. Me as a Dutch I speak 3 languages at a very good level. That's because we as Dutch know that our world will grow pretty big if we learn English, German and many about 20% speak also French and Spanish at a level you will understand them. Thats what made the economy in the Neherlands big over the years....
Precies
Everybody here learns Dutch, English, German and French). But English is taught at a younger age (like 8 / 9 al through high school, college, uni) while German and French are mostly taught solo at high school alone. But of course i areas where there a lot german tourists it could be a little bit different. I thought we were the number 1 country that didnt speak English originally or as second language but can speak English pretty well.
Everybody learns Dutch and English (mandatory), but most common options are German and French. But also Spanish Greek and Latin.
Love German dubbed westerns.
"Hände hoch, oder verstehst du kein english"
😂
Shock 1+ : I (69 years old) use my phone in the AH, to self-scan the items, then use my phone again to pay. So checking out without any assistance (not saying that is persé a good thing though).
im dutch in my time it was english as 2nd and could chose between french or german for the 3th or drop the 3th language
haha
yes the cookies you got with your coffee. you get at every restourand in the Netherlands. even at macdonalds or kfc
I realized after few mins that video was on mute.... 😀
Elburg is fantastic! And yes, we all get German at school. There's an option to drop it though. Many people do that z which is a shame I think. I love German!
Elburg is a bible belt area in the Netherlands. Conservative and religious.
German is spoken because of the many german touriists
I grew up in Harderwijk a city nearby.
It is a nice area for tourists
Almost all dutch people speak english
German language is not so populair.
Almost all of us speak English and German. Many speak French, Latin and Spain aswell.
Everybody in the Netherlands can choose the course 'German' in school, depending on level maybe.
Roughly up to the 1980s the Dutch people in the eastern part could receive 3 or even 4 German TV-channels: ARD1, ZDF-2, WDR-3 or NDR-3 with roof antennas. That wasn't the case in the western part.
It is one reason why German language proficiency in the eastern part is much higher than in the western part.
When we visited our grandparents as little kids, who lived ca. 10 miles from Elburg, we always viewed "Die Sendung mit der Maus", we couldn't receive that at our home in the west.
My grandparents, in my memory, mostly viewed German TV. Far more than Dutch TV as they had more channels and also far bigger TV-shows and also more interesting TV-series like Tatort, Derrick or Der Alte (Krimi's was quite a German specialty then).
Most Dutch language TV-series were very dull compared to the German and suffered bad acting. Dutch TV already in the late 1970s carried a lot of BBC and American TV-shows.
I actually grew up with the Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Mork & Mindy, Happy Days, Lucille Ball, Star Trek and All in the Family on TV, and from the early 1980s Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, LA Law, Dallas, Dynasty as well as "the A-Team" were massively popular series on Dutch TV.
Most Dutch people can speak English. Maybe some are not so confident with it, but everyone has learned it at school. In areas where many German tourists come, the restaurants and hotels select their workers on their German language skills. It's not that it's close to the German border, but just because there are many German tourists.
In the Netherlands the basic options are German, France, spanish and Latin , you have always English in school
We Dutch in general can understand German, but most Dutch only think they can speak German. Because the languages look similar at first glance, a lot of the Dutch just speak Dutch with a German twist and call it German. Totally incomprehensible for a German. Along the German border it's better. Especially in the province of Limburg. The Limburg dialects are closer to the German tongue.
I just accept that I suck at German 😆. There's a reason I dropped the subject after 2 years. Nice to learn the "basics", but that book about grammar exceptions to the basis was 4x thicker... Since my job at a laboratory doesn't actually involve (much) German at all I get around fine (and even German work instructions I can make heads & tails of).
Well if you miss the Netherlands so much you can live with me because your cute an very friendly . 🙏😉😘
The 3 or more corses are in the expensive restaurants
German is being learned to my information in every Highschool you can name in the Netherlands. It’s mandatory for a few years and in the last 2/3 years of highschool you can drop it.
May you find love anywhere you go or stay 😍😍😍
we get a choice at school.. english is a major, and aside u pick or german or french .. so we basicly all speak english and german/french aside.
Dutch dinner is typically pretty simple. Some dishes from all over the world. More rice than you might expect for western Europe.
6 courses is not really normal no ^_^
[5 course meals in resturants]
No that's not common 😀 that's a luxury meal, and you pay accordingly
[waitresses preferring to speak German]
That's not common either, personnel with tourism education knows their languages but throughout the country, most prefer English. This place must have had lots of tourism from Germany, it isn't that close to the border but I guess the lake and beaches attract lots of them. German lessons are mandatory but only for a few years, and optional as an exam subject; most of us don't choose it and we don't get enough to be fluent.