5 things I've only seen in the Netherlands & as an American I'm still surprised by them!
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- In this video, I share a few things that I've only seen Dutch people do! Even though I moved to the Netherlands a few years ago, these things about the Dutch lifestyle still do not fail to surprise me as an American.
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I like to share my experiences of an American expat in the Netherlands. I describe both the unique and everyday aspects of Dutch culture, and life in Holland while enjoying every bit of it!
Blog website: www.dutchamericano.com
Instagram: DutchAmericano
Get in touch: dutchamericanonl@gmail.com
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I feel that our parents generation was way more fluent in german, spanish and french, but our generation is much more raised with english
English? You mean 'American- Denglish' copied from tv-series, movies and social media videoclips. :)
@@Wuppie62 And gaming.
don't know what age you are, I learned pretty fluent German before I could understand a word of English. Comes from only having 4 channels on television, 2 of them German.
And spending most vacations in Germany and Austria.
I was sent to the bakery while on vacation in Germany when I was 6 or so to buy bread for breakfast...
@@jwentingi found, when in the army back in the days, that the eastern half of the Netherlands were more familiar with German, while the western half had a natural preference towards English...
German was very common. For me it was because of TV. We had 3 dutch channels. And, correct me if I'm wrong, 4 or 5 German Chanels. Which by the way had better cartoons.
When I was a telephone operator I could easily switch from Dutch to German to English to Italian to French to Polish. One day the company had an American visitor who had to wait in the hall for a while and his jaw almost dropped on the floor as he watched me doing my job.
I was a telephone operator in the military (in the dark ages before digital ) as well (with those cords , you know what I mean probably ) and the Americans on the base always wanted to speak to the Dutch operator and I had a hard time convincing them every time that.. (And I learned German from the cleaning lady who came in early in the morning ,but that's another story..)
Tbf, I'm Dutch and a language nerd on top of that, but I would also be super impressed meeting someone who speaks 6 languages. I can comfortably talk Dutch, English and German and then read a bit of French. I know a few words in a lot of other languages, but not enough to have a simple conversation.
I'm Dutch, and I speak and write English almost fluently as a result of 40 years of practice. I understand spoken and written German as well, but I wouldn't dare speaking or writing it myself. And it takes me some time to read and understand most Frisian. I know a few French words, and that's it.
Over all, I'd say I know a little over 3 languages, but am comfortable in only 2.
As a Dutch person, I would have been impressed as well! Italian and Polish is not that common.
Dutch people also sometimes wear helmets on their bicycles, but these are often people with disabilities or people who can have spontaneous seizures (touret or epileptic seizure).
Also one of the reasons the Dutch speak multiple languages is television and cinema's. We subtitle all programs or films which are in foreign languages. So whenever you watch a foreign movie or program, the original sound is used, even if it is in Chinese.
And since the subtitles are often crappy so is our grasp of foreign languages.
There's one slight addition I want to make to this statement, tv programming and films for a very young audience will often be dubbed. The whole mouth not moving correctly is very annoying but understandable for shows aimed at an audience where most of them aren't proficient at reading just yet.
I do think having more dubs available these days with modern digital technology could actually be a good thing, but it should always be an option since we can now include multiple audio and subtitle streams.
@@_PJW_ Actually they are good, so good we subconsciously learn other languages since early childhood, as soon as a kid can read their tv programs will get subtitles instead of dubbed voices & this has helped us all when we got older.
The funniest language thing happening to me was in Sweden, where I wanted to order a sausage with bread at a "Gatukök" (small kitchen car in a street). I was there with my now ex and she only speaks Dutch and English. The guy making the sausages only spoke Swedish (and maybe Farsi, I think he was from Iran). There was also a German and a French lady who only spoke German and French. I ended up translating everything Swedish into German an French and back again to order. But then my ex wanted to know what the French lady said. So I translated it to Dutch, whilst the German guy started talking to me. I withdrew quickly. My brain exploded.
Hi, Ronald! Happy to see you here!
Hah,.. had a similar situation once doing German, French, English, Dutch outside a bar for the evening. Fortunately at the end of the evening everyone more or less spoke only Slurr and Giggles.
Most difficult language to translate is Gibberish, usually does not make much sense after translation. 😊😉
It's something your brain gets used to if you do it more often. I'm a Dutch guy, working as a waiter all around the world. Being Dutch, I always adapt my language to the guest, so it can be that on a single table of 6 people, I'm serving everybody in a different language, swapping language every sentence without trouble. Doing that for a while even got to the point that when I'm drunk, I can use 6 languages in one sentence without even noticing. Or dreaming in a different language each night, just watch some French video before going to sleep, and I dream French.
Haha, had once something similar in a conversation with several people with loads of code switching going on. Then a German guy started speaking French to me and I told him he could speak German as that was easier for me than French Only when some people started laughing I realized I had said so in English.
The snacks-in-the-wall (Febo) concept was historically invented to circumvent the mandatory shop closing times. It was not originally invented as a fast-food concept, even though it is (now).
correct also a fact to consider is that you need way less shopfloor space.
The big automat racks full of snacks are not so commen anymore like once in the 80's.
But coffee, lunchrooms and foodtrucks often have 1 or 2 racks besides the counter filled with fast sellers.
Motorway gasstations also have them alot.
I first saw them at very busy places in a big city and always thought it was pure a profit model, you need less people in the shop and smaller lines waiting to get a small snack fast. Never liked the cheap looking and often bad tasting Febo with prob the cheapest fastfood they can find on the market. Maybe it's me, but i always have the feeling you never know what you get at the Febo or other supercheap places, well made or half baked with maybe some hairs in it etc... sorry. I rather and would suggest anybody to go to a regular snackbar/fastfood place that looks decent (and cleans up after people leave) with prob the owners serving you, but that everyb already knows. Anyways snackwalls, i'm not a fan, who knows how long its been in there...
The HEMA in the train station in Zwolle still had them not to long ago for just regular stuff people might need when traveling. Umbrella's, deodorant, etc. Have not been there in a while. So not sure if they or even the HEMA is still there.
@@ronrolfsen3977 yes I thought of this one! Toothbrush too! It's gone now sadly :( Hema too
In Heemskerk you can get pastry out of the wall...
Fun story: in the 80’s I went to Scotland with a friend to pick strawberries for 3 weeks. We ended up in some sort of shed where we lived together 24/7 with about 15 international people, coming from France, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Hungary and Germany. Most of them spoke very limited English. We very quickly developed some kind of ‘pidgin’ language and became the interpreters for the group when talking to the farmowners, because we were the only ones that understood them with their extremely thick Scottish accents. So they would talk to us and we would translate it directly to the group in our new language. I remember the owner being completely in awe when they saw that happening. I was amazed by it myself as well so I made a list of our common vocabulary which I still have. It felt like the most interesting spontanious linguistic experiment ever!
This is so great. For me it proves that our ability to mirror other people (in a healthy way) makes people onderstand each other
Very cool!
Wow. Really funny story. I am glad I read this
Awesome!! Thanks for sharing
If you ever leave the city and drive around the countryside you might also see the snack in the wall machines at farms. Where you can buy fresh fruit, vegetables, potatoes or eggs. Often more fresh and cheaper than in a supermarket. And the farmer gets a decent price for their work too.
And milk! I *LOVE* those milk machine "walls" from farmers themselves! It's fresh, tastes WAY better AND all money goes to the farmer. I love being Dutch 🥰
Although it was in Belgium, I saw similar vending machines - or rather one machine along a route I used to drive - with freshly baked bread, even on Sunday.
Those are very useful indeed, I appreciate the more fresh part most for the strawberries from a nearby greenhouse (kas in Dutch). The ones that come out of those machines actually smell like they are meant to and are sweet as they are (just like when you pick ripe ones from the plant yourself). The ones in the stores just don't taste quite right, I suspect they don't get to fully ripen on the plant. And imported ones are usually even worse, can be acceptable as an ingredient but not as a treat to appreciate on its own.
Oh and here in my northern area the more old fashioned approach is used at the majority of locations. A box with a roof/small shed/box with a lid/whatever with stuff they have for sale along with a price list and the customer is expected to put their money in a mailbox or some metal box that isn't even always fixed in place or locked. Always took it as a sign that people can still be trusted when this continues, the amount of locations doing it with eggs has actually expanded in my area during and after the whole covid restrictions era.
Haven't found a milk vending machine yet, but must admit that I haven't gone looking for one.
So I'm a Dutch 13 year old and I have six languages is school: Dutch, English, German, French, ancient Greek and Latin. And I'm learning Swedish online to. I had a Spanish lesson today at school, so we can decide if we want to do it next year. The teacher talked slowly and the whole class could understand, because so many Spanish words are similar to Latin, Greek, Dutch, English, German, Swedish and French.
When I was in school, turned 44 yesterday actually, so a while ago from 1992 to 1996 when I had Dutch, English, French and German being mandatory for 2 years. Third year I was able to drop either French or German (or keep them), but I dropped French and took Spanish. Since Spanish is way more spoken throughout the world than French, plus we often would holiday in Austria, so German made most sense mainly because they are by no comparison our biggest trade partner. Back then I kind of knew I wanted to get into an office job anywhere in the port of Rotterdam, but not certain, then when I actually did choose that to get 4 years in college, German was actually mandatory next to English and Dutch. I'm not 100 percent sure, but at that school, the core was there to become a maritime officer and they too had German being mandatory.
*too
(Slordig voor een talenknobbel als jij)
Maar eh, dat doe ik je niet na, hoor.
Zes talen ! Ik spreek er maar 3 en een half; brabants, duits, engels en gebrekkig frans
Gymnasium?
Helaas hadden ze geen latijns of oud grieks op lagere niveaus:(
Wil het wel nog altijd via een cursus leren.
Ook spaans overigens.
@enriolf8893 congratulations if your a proud 13 yr old Dutch mf no need to show off to make your Dutch booty so special with ur 41 likes
Thats awesome. My daughter just added Chinese to your mix (gymn too). It’s just crazy, I just can’t understand how you kids do so many languages and some with so much passion too. Keep it up!
For non-Dutchies: Kaassoufflé (literally cheese soufflé) is a deep fried snack with a cheese filling, it is not the fancy kind of French cheese soufflé that collapses when you open the oven.
If it existed in England it would probably be called a 'cheese puff'.
@@keithfre_nlThat would probably het kaasbroodje, which, like saucijzenbroodje, is made with puff pastry. They are not deep fried, but some vending walls do sell them.
@nienke7713 okay good for you ur a Dutchie no one cares makes y’all dutchies sooo worth the special energy
@@The_Livingdude lol cope, maybe don't watch videos about the Netherlands if you don't care about it and it's inhabitants, I'm just adding a helpful clarification
@@nienke7713 it's just called a soufflé here in the US. Not really a Dutch food item.
The abbreviation FEBO founded in 1941 comes from the Ferdinand Bolstraat in Amsterdam , where Johan Izaäk de Borst learned the pastry trade. When Johan Izaäk de Borst was 18 years old, he started training as a pastry chef. He also had a part-time job at a pastry shop when he was 14. In addition to traditional bread and other delicacies, Johan de Borst immersed himself in making a snack: the Dutch ‘kroket’
Part of my list of Dutch treats when I am in Holland. Bitterballen is also high on my list🤪
School children are awaiting for one of those that serve cheap energy drinks and a worstenbroodje for their breakfast, and lunch.
Uit de muur eten.
You can really tell by the diseases we curse with (tb, typhus, plague, pox, cholera) in what period of history they came about, but cancer is a different story. As a curse word it is relatively recent and it has different connotations than the other 'curse diseases'. Do not curse with cancer unless you want people to (quietly) label you as trash.
Precisely!!!
Never heard anyone cursing with tb of tbc. The rest yeas, absolutely.
@@Edwin3x Tuurlijk wel. Tering.
@@Edwin3x tb = tering. Teringzooi, teringjoch, krijg de takketering en zo
@@Edwin3x Krijg de tering = get tbc (also "krijg de vliegende vinketering"); krijg de klere = get cholera; teringlijer = tbc patient
I totally get how it's shocking to hear Dutch people curse using diseases. I'm dutch myself and it's even shocking to me. I especially hate it when people curse with cancer, as I had it myself when I was 15. It's triggering to keep hearing the word around you, it's used so casually while it's a disease that's had such a huge impact on my and a lot of people's lives. I see that especially a lot of young people, mostly teenagers use it, my sister cursed with it too as a teen and then I got cancer and she immediately stopped. I wished people actually stopped to think about how that word can affect people. At least with kids who haven't had an experience with cancer, I kinda get it but when you're an adult and still curse with it, I think that's disgusting. They should know better. I don't care if I come off as a goody two-shoes or whatever, I've literally seen how much that disease can destroy, I've met babies and little kids who had no chance of making it and here there are people who just say cancer-this cancer-that like it's some sort of joke. Just say f*ck or sh*t, it's not that hard, people..
I only really swear with tyfus and tering myself and I've always hated it when people swear with cancer. There was a campaign or something going on when I was a kid and it taught me it was a bad thing to say, so I almost never did.
I'm sorry to hear about you getting cancer, but I hope you're doing well now!
@@soulangela7154 I appreciate that, and I fully believe people sometimes just don't know how it can affect other people so I definitely don't hold anyone accountable for swearing with kanker in the past or when it slips out at the worst moments in your life or anything. It just bothers me when there are people who know it, have seen campaigns and just don't care to try and change their behaviour. When they just use the word for everything and say things like kankerhoer, it's just weird but so normalized for some reason. Anyways sorry about my rant haha. Thank you for your concern, I'm luckily rid of cancer now, I still have a big chance of getting it again though so it still haunts me. And I got a bone condition cause of an allergic reaction to my medication at the time so I'm still rehabilitating. But I'm doing much better now, thanks for asking. You seem like a very caring person.
@@RookieAssassin That's great news it's gone now! It must have been exhausting. Let's hope it doesn't return and I hope you can rehabilitate in peace. Best of luck and health to you
The reason why 'kanker' is used so much as a swearword is because of the K in the word and it's almost satisfying to use it when you hurt yourself. Almost never used it in the past, only if i really hurt myself like falling on my ass with my bike. Since my mother had cancer in 2015, i try to avoid the word completely. My mother hates to hear the word as it reminds her of one of her worst years in her life every time she hears it.
Dutch lack history, civility.
About the stacking bikes thing: I am a Dutchie, but haven't done it more than two or three times, because I am very short and even pulled down I have to lift way above my height. But if I do it, my struggle is so noticeable that each time I've been offered (and have accepted) help by tall men 🤣
i am 1.98 and decently strong but have never put my bike on top (yet)
I'm tall and also decently strong, but yeah it definitely takes a bit of muscle to get it up there. If there's a spot free on the floor I choose that.
I’m Dutch, short but weighty. Getting things down I can do by leverage. Haven’t used the topbike thing only a fee times, Just out of fear of looking stupid. I think it’s one of those things getting easier if you do it more often.
What I found makes it easier is to just put the front wheel on the metal ledge first and push it up and put the back wheel on the ledge, so you never have to lift the full weight of your bike and you don’t have to lift above your height.
When I went to highschool in the 1990s, Dutch and English were mandatory, and I had to do exams for them. But I also got French for four years and German for three years, along with Latin for three years. Even though I was never good in those, I do notice now on holidays that enough is engrained into my memory that I can use it to get around.
I can relate to these experiences so much. Recently moved from Germany to the Netherlands and I guess I look "Dutch enough" for people to start conversations in Dutch but then switch to English or German when they realize how bad my Dutch is. Whenever someone doesn't automatically switch to another language but actually continues in Dutch, I count it as a win 😂
Also those bike racks are intimidating. I tried to avoid them at the beginning but with some practice when no one is watching I am slowly getting the hang of it.
Funny language story, I once celebrated Christmas with people from south Afrika, from germany, from england and us Dutch. In the beginning we all spoke English but by the time everyone had had quite some drinks everybody fell back to their native language and everybody could understand eachother 😄
Afrikaans is such an awesome language hahaha it always warms my heart 😂
Or you were just beyond caring.
Hi, Ava. Being Duch myself, I also dislike the swearing with diseases (amongst others) we Dutchies frequently do. The vending machines for food date back a long time ago, they were also common practice in the 60s. However I can't tell you in what period they they started to appear.
”Pastéis de nata, just for me” is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard someone say
Haha, I loved reading this!
I once work for an "european" company and their secretary spoke the official 3 languages (English, French, German) and she is Marocan, she also spoke Arabic, Spanish, Italian and Dutch and prob. more
The three 'official' languages? Wtf you mean with official?
As I child I used to stay with my grandmother a lot. In those days there wasn't much TV on Dutch channels but close to the German border where my grandparents lived, people could receive German TV which was on most of the day. Without realizing so, I picked so much of the language that Germans thought I was a native German speaker.
My experience too, growing up in Maastricht...
Aside from dutch I took classes in English, Germand and French, even though the last one I didn't graduate with. I picked up a little latin over time and even if I don't speak Spanish or Italian I can more or less understand the general meaning of texts. For a trading nation understanding your neighbors languages is vital.
Simply love your observations in all the videos. Keep 'em coming. Great to watch!
As a Dutch person one of my favorit insults is:
"Krijg de vinken tyfus!"
"Get the [bird] Finch typhus!"
But I have many many more Dutch insults, being Dutch.
About the languages: Yes, we learn them in school. But my French and German were in an unusable state when I left school. I am now fluent in French, having lived there for a prolonged period, and my German is now also much better than when I was 16 or 17. Needless to say, my English is now far, far better than when I left school.
I'm Dutch, I've never used one of those bike racks that go up ever in my 33 years. Reason being is because that's only in the big cities, underground, right in the center or at a train station. I haven't personally encountered one so far myself and would probably also find it a bit intimidating at first. But another Dutch thing is to never be afraid to ask help. Someone will instantly explain how to do it it, show it for you, as long as you ask.
I once went into an italian restaurant over here in NL, and I was joining a Bulgarian friend who had taken her parents with her and I had also taken my parents with me and my friend and sister. So we stumbled in there and joined round a table discussing who was to sit where. My friend talked to her parents in Bulgarian, but I was speaking to them in German, because I knew they also spoke German, my girlfriend spoke English to us and we responded either in Dutch or in English, and that all went in a quick and chaotic manner. The waiter was looking at us with bigger growing eyes and said: My God, in heavensname where are you coming from???? such things can happen in the Netherlands and we are proud of that.
The highest form of education for children 12 to 18 years old is called 'VWO' (Voorbereidend Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs; eduction to make you ready for university). This consists of Atheneum and Gymnasium. The only difference between them is that Gymnasium had Latin education compulsory. If you're a real language geek you can choose Old Greek when you're in Gymnasium. Tldr: Atheneum - no Latin/Greek, Gymnasium - Latin compulsory, (old) Greek if you like.
I think it's easier for us Dutch to learn other languages. As you said, it's pretty close to German and a lot of other Germanic languages. French and Spanish are like 50% the same with 75% shared root words. I personally see language as barriers. When you take them away, a whole new world of culture, art, music etc. is opening up. People are more welcoming too. It's also a sign of respect.
With so much immigration and mixing of cultures, i always wondered why this is not the same in the usa. My guess is because most people like to stick to their own and so they go live in giant communities where they will never have to speak English or any other language but their own. A great way to keep your own culture alive, but also a great way to alienate yourself. Netherlands is not big enough. We have small communities, small neighbourhoods of people with the same ethnicity, but everybody has to go outside of it to function in daily life. I like that a lot.
Making people wear helmets turns cycling into this dangerous activity. Cycling is like walking but more efficient. We don’t want somebody to overcomplicate it.
Making people wear helmets will reduce ridership which will in turn reduce safety.
Also thanks for the new video!
I know right?
When everyone doesn't have a helmet, they all try to be more careful.
Only people who can get away with helmets are small kids and professional athletes.
Love to see my life in my country through your eyes.Thanks a lot!
I keep enjoying the cultural mirror you provide me.Thanks again, Ava!
The cycle rack thing is actually pretty easy and of course you need it. Basically the ground level gets filled up first so this way we get double the parking space. People who live in places were this is needed are familiar with it. Dutch people from small villages sometimes need to study it first. They are also hugely intimidated if you take them into Utrecht traffic at busy times. You get used to it easily but it is rather crazy at times.
The place with food in the wall used to be called an Automaat when I was a child and that brought back wonderful memories. Everything you expressed is so true. I look forward to seeing and hearing your impressions. My favorite wall food are Croquettes
automatiek
There used to be loads of Automats in Manhattan when I was a kid then the got rid of them. The last one was on 57th Street and I think it closed in the 80's or 90's
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As a Dutchie, I have to admit I felt exactly the same when I managed to get my bike stacked like that for the first time... And maybe even every time since. 🤣
I live in Spakenburg, on the old Zuiderzee. And in the summer, we have a bicycle ferry. To Flevoland, Center Parks de Eemhof. And when the ferry comes back, you can immediately recognize the tourists. (helmet)
I’ve been doing business with Dutch companies for many years and I’m always so impressed with the Dutch people’s command of languages, I’d love to learn to communicate in Dutch but they just say “it takes too long, I’ll talk English”.
The trick might be to listen in to others' conversations in Dutch. Or to watch Dutch television. (I met somebody from Germany who tried the latter.)
@@chrislaarman7532 Someone I used to know was taught a phrase in Dutch to say to impress girls, when he tried it, he discovered that what he thought was a compliment actually meant “My grandfather owns two barges”, the Dutch girl he fancied just walked away !!!!
@@jackthebassman1 What would you have done in her place? ;-)
@@chrislaarman7532 Kept my mouth shut 😂
So happy to see you got pastel de nata at the vegan 'Life's a peach' cafe! It's my go to place whenever I'm in Utrecht 😍 Their focaccia and desserts are phenomenal!
They really are and I love that place!
the stacked bicycle parking has been around for about 10-12 years now, it used to be much heavier, but nowadays there is usually spings in the back to assist when pulling up.
I'm a 14 year old in the Netherlands and i have to learn: Dutch, English, French, German, old Greek and Latin.
In primary school, I got Dutch and French. At grammar school, I had Dutch, English, French, German, Latin, and Attic Greek (of 350 BCE), and some friends took Hebrew as well. Spanish became popular in the 1970s to the detriment of French and German. Spanish used to be for lower and middle-class tourists or businesses. In Amsterdam, you have some posh people of the De Grachtengordel circuit with whom Italian is mandatory as an additional, fifth foreign language. Today I try my hand at Middle Kingdom Egyptian (1150 BCE). LOL
For me, it was almost the same. I dropped Hebrew in favour for Russian. I guess you went to a Gymnasium as did i, myself😀. At university we still used alot of textbooks in German and French (medical faculty in the early 70 's).
Look up the history of automats. It was invented in Berlin and was popular in New York a long time ago. It's essentially the same concept...a wall of cubies with food in them. Once you found the item you wanted, you put your coin in and the door opened so you could get your food.
Yeah, I was fairly sure that wasn't a Dutch only thing.
Oops, I didn't mean it as a criticism, just an interesting piece of history to share. Nowadays, you probably only see them in NL.
Thank you for your video and your perspective, Eva! The Netherlands is such a surprising country! Hugs from Almere!
Hey, keep your videos, missed you. I grew up n a Dutch farming community, and visited the Netherlands-and loved it- with my first wife, so I've a softspot for Dutch culture. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada
Hey, a teacher (in Germany) once told me being a merchant is a big tradition in the Netherlands and that's why it's so common to switch language easy and fast. It has just always been a big advantage being a merchant in a country with big seashore and thus international trading early on.
I'm not sure if that really is where learning a lot of languages came from historically. To me it seemed a logically possible explanation.
That's also why I was so proud when speaking Dutch somewhere and the other person did not automatically switch to my mother's tongue :D
I've always been told in school that the Netherlands is such a small country, that learning other languages is pretty much mandatory if we ever want to travel. We can cross our country in 3 hours, so yeah xD
You are right. We are an open country based on trade. Also when German people start to talk to me I switch automatically to the German language. But if you speak well enough Dutch or when you ask me to, I answer in Dutch.
You are right about the languages. My dad born 1918 and my mom born 1919, learned at school, Dutch as native language, but beside that they spoke and wrote the languages of the countries surrounding The Netherlands and Belgium. English, German and French. During WW2 my dad worked as forced labour in Germany and learned some Russian. I also learned those languages of the countries surrounding us and a little Czech. I love to use other languages. Dutch people are always looking for an opportunity to speak and practice another language. There comes to that Dutch, German and English languages are from the same origin language when the Northsea was still dry.
About the swearing, I agree, I hate it too.. no swearing with diseases.. everything else is allright. This in opposite to the US where you are not allowed to say "The fucking asshole has shot 5 kids and the blood was oozing out of their bodies." You know what part will be bleeped out. I find it sick power terms in the US are bleeped but the most horrendous scenes situations are discribed in full color.
I'm glad they bleep the cuss words. I don't use them and don't like to hear them.
As a Dutch person who started school in the late 70s we got English starting in secondary school, high school we got English, French and German. At college you could add additional languages like Spanish, Greek, Latin or basically most European languages. If you go on you can study an language of course. So depending when you stopped going school you at least got your native Dutch and secondary English, some basic French and German. So I think most people of my generation got at least 4 languages coming from high school and 7 or after coming more from college or University. Furthermore the are many mixed ethic families in The Netherlands, which often adds at minimum 2 additional languages. My niece is 3 and speaks 4 languages (Dutch, English, Papiamento and Spanish), my cousin is 2,5 and speaks 3 (Dutch, English, Farsi) and so on. I think one of the best expenditures of your tine is learning another languages... it opens the door to so many new worlds, experiences and opportunities. If sometimes we could understand each other a little better the world would be a better place!
The first time I had ever heard of the food in the Muur, I heard of it existing at train stations. I just assumed it started because it was a quick and easy way for commuters to grab breakfast without being late for the train.
I've been talked to in English in the grocery store because (I think) I must not have looked dutch at that moment. Not by an employee, but another customer. Only after the conversation, I realized that the person preferred to talk Dutch with their companion.
Anyway, things are even more crazy in Amsterdam. In many places being able to speak English is a job requirement, while being able to speak dutch is optional. It's not (yet) that crazy in the city that I live.
Interesting point about Amsterdam! I have indeed noticed that many internationals work in stores and cafes there, whereas while that is also true in Utrecht where I live, my impression is still that most employees working in HoReCa or stores are Dutch or at least speak Dutch.
@@DutchAmericano Amsterdam is full of expats and tourists all year round, I have also been to stores or horeca where the servers would speak to me in Dutch. They would usually understand my Dutch, though. I guess when they’ve worked there a while it’s not hard to understand warme chocomel en appeltaart met slagroom :P
Lol that's also happened to me twice actually and it wasn't even in a big international city or anything. I guess it's cause I'm half asian and don't look stereotypically dutch? But there are a lot of asian-dutch people here so I don't get why they'd assume I don't speak dutch.. Another thing that's kinda annoying is white dutch people usually ask me when meeting eachother "where are you from?" and when I say Nederland, they say "no, where are you REALLY from?" like dude, I'm still from the Netherlands, I was born and raised here and have never even traveled to Asia lol.
I'd be equally intimidated by such a grand parking space, haha. For the majority of your bike rides you have plenty of space to leave your bike at a lamppost or against a railing. These big ones are really resricted to big urban spaces like trainstations or in the middle of the city centre. Next time you might see me struggling to stow my bike away, and I'm as Dutch as people come.
As a Dutch person I think you did really well at pointing out some funny and original things about Dutch culture, kudo's
I also struggled with the bike parking the first few times I had to do it. I was a teenager back then so once we get into adulthood I guess we already have had a lot of practice :) I actually like parking my bike "on top" because it makes it easier to spot between all the other bikes ;)
I really like your videos! 😃
Thanks!
Just so you know, when we Dutch people use diseases in our language it doesn't automatically mean that we wish the other person to become ill, it's mostly used as a way to put more force behind your statement. So for example I could say: "I'm very tired" Or I could say "I am *insert disease here* tired" and it would both mean about the same thing.
And still it's stupid to insert a disease there.
My mom had an oma-fiets, which I (from about 11 yrs old) parked for her in the storage below ! our apartment. In those days just plain stairs, so you had to carry the bike up and down, and the way I remember it, the thing was 30 kilo.
Thanks for your nice vlog, realy enjoyed it
1 - I think that's because you're used to the more touristy areas of the Netherlands. Where I live, people won't generally ask which language you speak. They'll talk Dutch, if they see you struggle they'll probably switch to English, and if you still don't understand try one, _maybe_ two other languages they sort of know well enough to go on a holiday. But they won't assume they need to ask which language you speak unless you're obviously a tourist and struggling. Big cities and touristy areas though, I can see that happen. Sure. We don't have a stick up our ass about expecting the rest of the world to speak Dutch, so we'll just try to find a means of communicating that just works.
2 - yep, it's a weird thing that we swear with diseases. Basically I think it developed as people in the middle ages actually cursing people (a pox on your cattle! kind of stuff) and it stuck around. Though in the school I work with we try to teach the kids not to do that, as some of those diseases (e.g. cancer) might be something another kid might have lost a loved one to... I don't particularly mind if they swear (out of frustration when they screw something up for example, not like constantly without reason), and you're daft if you think you're ever going to stop people from swearing anyway, but swears are habits and people can choose which habit they develop. Then again, I think half of our swears are actually in English. We say fuck or shit _a lot._
3 - I find it odd that this isn't a thing in other countries. It's massively convenient. You'd think this would be a big hit in the USA, but then as a drive through :-p And yeah, I _really_ don't want to do small talk generally.
4 - Well, wearing a helmet while biking is ridiculous. Do you wear a helmet while walking? Then why would I wear one while biking? When you're just learning to bike, or are so old that you don't have the reflexes to balance anymore, sure it's a situation where you might be better of with a helmet. But when you say someone needs to wear a helmet when they're healthy and skilled, you're basically saying they have a developmental issue. It's like when people would ask you why you're not using a walker when you walk through the city. You'd think that's absurd as well. Also... helmets do not really provide safety. Risk is measured as [chance something happens] x [impact when it does]. A Dutch professor studied helmet wearing and found that when wearing a helmet on a bike made cars consistently pass you at a closer distance. _Increasing_ the chance of an accident. Sure, the helmet would reduce head injuries during those accidents you wouldn't have had otherwise. But it doesn't protect you against any other injuries, and _obviously_ it's better to not have the accident in the first place.
5 - yeah, it's a special thing. But we just have _so many_ bikes, parking can't keep sprawling out. And of course they let you do it yourself: (a) they're not going to pay someone to do it for you, (b) any damage is your own fault. Sure, the very first time I did it, I felt a stab of uncertainty as well. Once. But more about using the mechanism right and not getting my steering caught in another bike's wiring.
Hi Ava. You mentioned that Dutch people use a lot of names of diseases like cancer when swearing. Swearing is however very location dependent. Where I live, Limburg, you will never hear ‘cancer’ or another disease when a person is swearing. This phenomena is typically a ‘Randstad’ thing and up to me; the sharper the ‘G’ is pronounced when speaking, the more often you will hear a disease when a person is swearing.
Yes, I’ve noticed this too! I live in the top of North Holland. We are much more crass here, less ‘correct’ I guess. I used to speak to a lot of colleagues from The Hague area and they were pretty similar to us when it came to crassness.
I hear it a lot in Brabant too though, less than the Randstad but I still hear it a lot. It sucks cause I had cancer myself so the word kanker just makes me feel sick to my stomach tbh and people use it so casually. I totally get it's not their intent to trigger people or be mean but I feel like as an adult, you should know better and curse with something else. There are so many curse words besides diseases, I don't get why kanker is so well-loved.. Especially so many teens curse with it and I don't blame them, it's cause they hear it from rappers they look up to and maybe even family members. If those adults would just stop, the kids will eventually stop too but unfortunately I don't think they will ever stop..
I'm also from Limburg and unfortunately I've heard mainly the youth swearing with cancer. My generation didn't do that (I'm 30).
I find swearing with cancer to be much less common in the north of the country. Maybe that's got something to do with the kind of people I hang out with, idk.
Cursing with cancer is mostly something in the Randstad. I livd in the north and never heard it here.
The fun part about Dutch is that it is closer related to English than to German, Frisian double so. I do believe we Dutch are less sociable than many other people; we tend not to engage in idle talk with complete strangers, yet when walking in public when eyes meet people I see people acknowledging each other with a little nod and a flashed smile
It’s not only food we can get from walls. But if you wanna bake cakes and you need a fresh eggs you can go to farmers and get eggs from walls too
What I always thought was that we Dutch were quite behind knowing just 2 languages. As most Marokkanen/Turken I know in the Netherlands at least speak 5 languages.
Very true, most immigrants or later generations speak a lot more languages than we do. And I am always equally amazed and amused when I am in public transport and someone’s talking on their phone or with a friend and I can hear a conversation in a language I can’t understand, and Dutch words get thrown in here and there.
As a Flemish guy I was totally surprised to hear you say that Dutch people are known for speaking many languages. I work for a Dutch company myself , selling their products in Belgium. Well I can tell you that out of the more than 50 employees there , there isn't a single person who speaks French. NOT ONE. So everytime a french speaking person calls them they connect them through with me or my other Flemish colleague.
She was talking about languages, you are talking about French.
Of your bike has a handbrake for the rearwheel there’s a trick to using the toprow parking space.
Pull down the slide, place your bike perpendicular to the slide, pull the brake, flip and turn the bike towards the slide and gently place the frontwheel in the slide. Then you only have to lift the rearwheel slightly to place it in.
I have never even thought abt the bike rack thing before
So about languages in school: Dutch, English, French and German are part of the Dutch curriculum. You can usually drop French or German in your second half of secondary school and depending on which classes you're going to take till your end exam, you can even drop both. But English is mandatory.
English is not just mandatory, Dutch people get confronted with English all the time even before they even learn it at school, cause of American media. Some schools invane try to enforce British, which mostly won't help. Since mass media, which you hear and read is from the US.
don't be embarrassed
as a Dutch person I also had troubles with the bike racks the first few times
Awww, thank you for saying that!
@@DutchAmericano yeah, and not being physically strong I still struggle with pushing my bike up those ramps at times decades later.
@@DutchAmericano Just ask if you need help. In my experience most people are willing to help unless ofcourse they need to catch a train. And they won't ridicule you about it. I used to frequent a bike parking place with signs that requested males to use the higher racks if possibly. Nobody expected a short male to use the high racks and taller women with some strength would use the high racks too. Both low and high racks are hard if your bike has cables for brakes.
Aaah the pastel de nata from Life is a Peach!!! Whenever I have to be in Utrecht for work I cannot help myself getting coffee and a pastel there.
It's Utrecht! That's my hometown! Hi welcome! It's always so much fun to learn about your own culture through the eyes of someone not from it!
While I do curse too, cancer, for me is just a bit too far. I have lost way too many familymembers to that disease...
As a Dutch living in Amsterdam there's just a few things I'd like to comment here. It's not that we are offended by people wearing helmets on bicycles, it is just that we travel by bike so much we don't want to fuzz around with carrying the helmet and getting our hair due fked up. Also placing your bicycle in a parking place on top of another is also a bit intimidating to me and I've only done it once. I prefer just finding some pole and lock my bike to that outside of a parking place, this also makes it a lot easier to find it back. By the way most bike parking places are not guarded in any way, which make these the best places for thieves to steal bikes. Getting snacks out of a wall is not just Febo and Smullers, these are just the 2 biggest and most well-known companies in some cities, but there's tons more. Some people probably never heard of a Smullers depending on where they live. It is true a lot of people here speak more languages then just Dutch and English, like German, French, Spanish and or Italian. HOWEVER, a lot of Dutch people only speak Dutch and nothing else, not even English. Don't think everyone will be able to reply in English to you. And yes, we curse with diseases, but only when we are really really mad and even then it is frowned upon. However in Amsterdam for example people from the streets can use cancer in a positive way like: That tastes cancer good! (Just like how people use the F word in America I guess). But these are MOSTLY kids and scum and stop using it eventually when they get older. Nice video!!
As a Dutch person I also can't stand cursing with diseases; but I'm from an older generation so that's part of my upbringing. That only became stronger later on when you actually experience how terrible it is. A lot of the diseases used aren't well known by a younger generation but most of them decimated my family... A good point
In school in netherlands now a few things are mandatory: dutch, maths, english. French and german used to be big in school, almost mandatory, but less popular these days..
To quote a certain angel in wizard form, The Dutchies are amazing creatures, you can learn everything about them in a year and yet they still manage to surprise you.
I’m kind of biased since I’m an Indonesian born Dutchie
Also in Limburg we also have a Dutch dialect that looks like German
English and Dutch are the only 2 languages I speak. Even though I've had German on school to but truly sucked at that. Never learned to speak French/Spanish/Italian though. And I feel a bit saddened by the fact almost everyone I knew, got at least one of these 3 languages to. Like my school was the only school that didn't do these languages for some reason.
Same, I can understand German, but I don't speak it. At my work we have German truck drivers who doesn't speak Dutch but can understand it. So we speak in our native language and have a conversation with each other.
Nice that you visited The Netherlands!
I've lived in Amsterdam since 2018 from Austin Texas.. absolutely love it living here is awesome 👍
So true about the swearing words using diseases 😱😱 As a Dutch person myself I find this appalling as well, so on behalf of my fellow Dutch citizens I apologize 😊
I don't associate swearing with diseases with the actual diseases except for cancer. Swearing with typhoid, cholera and such doesn't make you think of the disease. I guess because these are outdated diseases and the phrases have been around for such a long time. It has become just an expression and lost its original meaning. Like saying "go to hell" in English, you're not thinking of litterally sending the person to hell. Swearing with cancer does come across very harshly and crude however, as you mentioned.
In school, you get at least a year of German and French besides Dutch and English. Other languages are optional, and not always all are available at every school. But.. if you really want to, you generally can also learn Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Italian etc. Some schools also get you at least 1 or 2 years of classic greak and latin.
Oh, and of course, on many schools you can also learn Frysian.
Ok, you're an honourable Dutchie already - you called it an Oma-Fiets (grandma bike)... 😂🧡
I am very much Dutch. But I don't swear with diseases. I have a wide range of words that vary from emphasis-words and phrases to swearwords. I invent my own, too. Just as long as it sounds like it's doing its job. Holy smokestacks, yes!
If you go to denhaag they will do it.. rest of the Netherlands I don't think it's used.. I don't and know no one who does..
Hey Ava, nice video! In The Netherlands we will have to avoid though that people in general will get the idea that the Dutch are Bi-lingual or even Multi-lingual. There really is no language but Dutch in general which we control in a way that we can actually say exactly what we want; really express ourselves. We know foreign languages partially but we are in general not even close to native speakers in foreign languages, because that exactly what they are to us: Foreign Languages, just like French and German are probably to you.
Obviously occasionally there will be Dutch people, who actually do speak a foreign language fluently, but this is the absolute minority.
For chitchat we in general will have enough knowledge of a foreign lango, but please do not think that although we are able to chitchat with you....that we actually control any foreign lango at all, as we control Dutch. It really is the Dutch language you need to master, as you know, if you want to be part of Dutch society. See to foreigners we will superficial chitchat in a foreign lango, to friends however we will speak Dutch, and Dutch only since we do not only chitchat with our friends, but we really wish to be able to express ourselves entirely to our friends, since this is what you do with your friends. Our friendship relations we have since we are kids go deep, very deep, so way beyond chitchat. This is why friendship relations in The Netherlands may last a life time; with a true friend one shares everything and when I say everything, I really mean everything; The good, that bad and the ugly. And so a language we control entirely is a must, for obvious reasons. In general there is no foreign lango to the Dutch which even comes close to be chosen to speak with each other about things that go deep. Don't get me wrong here, we also share a lot of fun things together, but as friends were in there all the way, so not just superficial chitchat or only laughter ...
This is basically just about dutch potatoes who refuse to learn english or do work @ school. Not being able to express yourself properly is what should drive you to become a fluent speaker. For me, i'm not simply trying to learn a language because i 'want to point people towards the icecream truck'. I want to have intelligent engaging conversation, which involves being able to express yourself; ie mastering the language to at least a basic level.
Speak for yourself
@@Meine.Postma Mr Postman here claims that I must "speak for myself" This makes it painfully clear that Mr Postman clearly did not understand the point of my statement above. He is therefore one of the many in the Netherlands who actually think that they understand and speak English excellently, but in reality it turns out that this is absolutely not the case. I would therefore like to thank Mr Postman very much for his meaningful contribution in this context and his somewhat painful confirmation of what I have set out above.
@@insanebmxthomas Dear Insane Thomas, just like you can't expect a 4 star restaurant dish from a supermarket tin, you can't expect to fully master fluent English, or any language for that matter, through a course or at school. The maximum that can be achieved through a course or through school is a careful introduction to a foreign language; the very basic. You can only really master the language completely if you live in a country where native speakers speak this language and you are therefore exposed to this foreign language 24-7-365 and you are therefore forced to use this language 24-7-365 to speak for yourself. Without any excuse to use your mother tongue. After years of exposure to this foreign language, and after years of speaking this language yourself 24-7-365, only then can you be proud that you have become indeed a Native Speaker of this foreign language. You will have to be really insane (well, that's what you call yourself...) to think that you can suffice with a course or English at school in the Netherlands with the aim of becoming a Native Speaker, Ergo that you can fully express yourself as you can in your own native language; Dutch.
@@dutchyjhome Sure. You are smart and we are stupid.
It was the same when I went to school here in Norway back in the 70s: we learned Norwegian and English, and could choose between German and French (both have horrid grammars!). Nowadays I think many schools offer Spanish as well. Also, it has become popular among teens/youg adults to learn Japanese or Korean. I guess because of manga, K-pop and J-pop
At school in 1990 besides Dutch, English was mandatory and you had to take 2 years of French and German. After that you could choose if you keep learning German or French.
Ha, did I see I quick moment at 5:55 of saliva swallowing when describing Febo and Smullers? 😆😏❤️ That's another way of showing your appreciation for Dutch snack culture Eva! I concur... 😋
As a kid I studied French since I was 8 years old, I took English, French, German, Latin and Ancient Greek in High School so I thought I was rather clever. Till I found out that Thomas de Quincey (the English writer) in his days could translate Greek to English while being only four years old!
Later he consumed a lot of opium and wrote many books! While I was just able to ask for a baguette or a flute. in flawed French.
As to bike parking... you may have noticed the multi level ones are common in the western part of the country where space is really at a premium, but far less common in the eastern side of the coountry. Anyway, years ago, when the one in Utrecht was just finished, I remember walking in there with a friend to pick up her bike. With us were 2 guys from the northeastern part of the country, who were just there to take a look at this bike parking (it was making the news quite a bit at the time). Their expressions of surprise and amazement over that system were quite telling 🙂
Regardless, the one in Utrecht is somewhat unique in its size, but the system is pretty common, and ends up saving a lot of space in a place where land tends to be exceptionally expensive (city centers)
I worked in Romania as a volunteer. Beiing dutch, you try to help with translation a Manuel from german into english for a Hongarije, romanian friend. It was hilarisch. It took ages to transelate one sentens.
I love to put my bicycle in the top rack at stations. I feel like my bike gets stolen less easier and I think it’s fun to do!
I live in Utrecht and regularly put my bike in the CS bike parking. The only thing I have to remember is scanning the QR on the rack, or I'll never be able to find my bike.
I think the thing with helmets is just that you have to draw the line somewhere? Like we would probably also be safer if we wore helmets any time we went out walking just as pedestrians, but we generally don't seem to think the inconvenience of doing that would outweigh the benefits. I guess in most places they draw that line before riding a bike, and we draw it somewhere after it. I think it makes some sense too just because we bike so much and it would be really inconvenient to have to carry a helmet everywhere
It's always interesting to get foreigners to react to the Dutch way of life and especially. What's super normal to me and might not be for somebody else. Commenting on your part with the Dutch bike garages. Everyone does it, but in general, most people don't necessarily want to park their bikes above. Especially when people are in a hurry to get the train for example or feel a little lazy to park it up there. But I when it's busy people don't mind to park it up there. Also an interesting occurrence, is that most indoorbiking garages have 24/7 securitycamera's installed, but you can also find these type of biking infrastructure in the open air. Another reason to park it above, is to make it less appealing for thieves to steal the bike from there. Since they wanna do it more discretely. But what would most definitely is needed is a extra chain in combination with your key-bikelock. Just to be a bit more safe, especially over night haha!😉
By the way, all your observations are spot on 😂, so great to see non native Dutch people living here holding up that mirror 🪞 for us, well done 👍
I agree.
LOL food in the wall, they used to have them in NY, they were called Automats, when i was very young my parents took my brother and i to the Museum of Natural History and for lunch we went to Horn and Hardart's automat. Needless to say they went away. The last Horn & Hardart Automat in New York City, located at the southeast corner of 42nd Street and Third Avenue, closed its doors on April 9, 1991. These iconic Automats were a unique part of American history, especially during the Great Depression. I think i would be right at home in them there. < J
Back when I was half a person, we still had to learn both French and German in school. Two decades ago or so that was changed and now kids only have to choose one.
I’ve never thought about parking bikes on top of other bikes as strange, but now that you mention it, I can see that it may seem intimidating. The trick is to be fast, so you don’t have to hold the bike for a long time. I think the reason for our disliking helmets on bikes comes from the fact that most dutch people have used bicycles since the age of three or four, and always without helmet. Only in the past two decades when faster electrical bicycles became more popular, you have to wear one for power assisted bicycles which go faster than 25km/h.
On the bicycle stacking, I am a Dutchman (including the blond hair, blue eyes and six feet tall) and I live in the town of Leiden (a bit south of Amsterdam). We have these contraptions as well at the central station. I sometimes use the upper parking spots, but whenever possible I take one at the bottom, because I find it a hassle to put them on top.
PS One other curious thing about the Netherlands is how small it is: if you drive south from Amsterdam or Utrecht (both roughly in the middle of the county), you would pass the border into Belgium in 90-120 minutes. And Belgium itself is even smaller: in another 90-120 minutes you're in France!
Same when you go east from Amsterdam or Utrecht: in about 90 minutes you're in Germany. No wonder we often learn French or German.
lol so i was on holiday in luxembourg, another fairly multilangual country. i went to a fuel station store and forgot, she asked something in "luxembourgs", i replied in dutch, she replied in german, i switched to english, she laughed and spoke french in return so did i. it was special :D
Yea, Luxembourg is a lot more multilingual. You won't find many people that speak Dutch there, but a lot of products are labeled primarily in Dutch in the supermarkets (especially at ALDI/LIDL).
Depending on the village, people will start speaking to you in Luxembourgish, German or French (or English at the very touristy places). I would often find myself speaking German to a store clerk who would reply in French.
I've noticed (as a tourist and hobby linguist) in the Netherlands last year, some notable languages I heard were:
-Frisian (Amsterdam, but mostly in northern-North Holland and Friesland)
-Flemish (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and in the south near Belgium)
-and Afrikaans (diaspora in Amsterdam, Utrecht, enz.)
With the exception of Frisian, Flemish and Afrikaans are highly mutually intelligible to Netherlands Dutch and often I see two people just communicating each other fairly well without having switch to English or a lingua franca until they get to the more distinctive phrases and vocabularies where mutual intelligibility begins to fall apart. Flemish for example uses many loanwords and vowel shifts influenced by the French and Afrikaans has more influences from other European colonial languages, Indonesian, plus local influences from Zulu, Xhosa, and the like.
"Dónde está la biblioteca" is from a movie called Dodgeball btw xD