An American's 5 Biggest Dutch Culture Shocks! (Compared to Germany)

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.

[TerryVogelaar]

Yeah, we Dutchies are tall. But remember that most of us live below sea level. We used to have short people, but they drowned.

[hunchbackaudio]

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.

[Dutch]

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.

[koen]

The 4+dinner is only common among the very exclusive restaurants but in the most restaurants you have the regular 3

[Thuras]

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.

[gijsvanlieshout]

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).

[LiebeNachDland]

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.

[TTTzzzz]

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!

[rolandxor]

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.

[gert-janvanderlee]

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.

[TonyKleinKr]

Nice to hear that most of your Dutch "culture shocks" are actually positive ones, ;)

[betht]

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.

[einde]

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.

[vincenzodigrande]

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...

[Daph]

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.

[mariekevandellen]

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!

[marjoleinvoogt]

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.

[jaapklok]

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

[epd]

Nice that you were is the Netherlands! Im from nl and watched your videos years ago!

[Callofnatureprojects]

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.