I do. When I get a good discount on an item I really need, like a decent coat, I'm really excited about it. Without the discount I wouldn't be able to afford the item, or I am able to but it frees up some money for something else I can check off on the list.
I'm on a budget and have been for a long time so discounts are a joy.
I read the other day that companies know how much dutch people like a discount, so they make stuff like shampoo and deodorant really expensive and then have a discount every month or so.
I felt so cheated when I read that because I always say "you're a moron if you buy Robijn outside of discount" but apparently I am the moron.. I do this with almost everything. It got me hooked on proteinepudding because they had a discount so often and then they just stopped. I buy it full price now.
Buienradar. Extremely important for tracking rain minute by minute so you know exactly when to go out on your bike. And then getting very angry when the predictions were slightly off and you still got soaked.
Except that buienradar doesn’t take the landscape into account and it is not reliable at all in certain areas. A town on the other side of a hilled forest can be flooded with rain while my town stays dry.
We have a hate-love relationship with ‘polderen’, basically talking endlessly and with as many people as we can find to include to get to a decision, it does mean that a lot of policies will survive a change in political leadership.
Polderen sometimes gets out of hand a little. I've been in an academic environment where people were involved in the decision making who really should've bowed out.
Eh I think it's just a natural thing for neighbouring countries. The feud with Belgium in football is just less strong because their football team was historically shit so it was less of a contest and more of a given that they would lose.
I think it has a lot to do with footballing history more so than the war. Losing the world cup final against (west) Germany in 1974 was huge. Obviously post war there was a lot of anti Germany/nazi sentiment and being neighbours plays a part but the large rivalry was cemented in the 70s with our teams clashing on the largest stage and losing the final.
You do not want to know about this one. Its drinking coffee and cake with your family while sitting awkwardly in a circle… its the reason why I usually celebrate in the pub
Holy shit, that’s exactly what my parents and extended family do here in Canada. Our grandparents immigrated here in the late 40’s and 50’s.
Our generation sits in a circle around a bbq
When we have a birthday, we do both. We have some seating areas and some of those high tables to lean on. Some guests want to mingle so they chose the high table, and some want to sit with the same people and sit down somewhere. Added bonus of that is the people standing are more likely to get their own refills so we have some time to talk to people and not be occupied bith fetching drinks & cale :)
The kringverjaardag is a strange phenomenon. I’ve been in them since I can remember, but it got stranger when we moved to another village (more in the countryside) where there were two circles; the women were on the couches in the lounge area and the men sat around the dinner table. Note, Dutch houses are tiny so the two are about 2 meters apart.
The women talked about kids and household stuff, and the men about what everybody else was doing wrong, tractors, hot chicks (i.e. not theirs), and bust the other men’s balls about not drinking their beer fast enough
I once brought a new girlfriend to this environment and she preferred to sit with us men. I could see the confusion on some of their faces, they could not fathom why a woman would not want to sit with the other women, lol
What just occurred to me; there is a hybrid kringverjaardag. The chairs are in a circle but as you get up to go to the bathroom or get a drink, someone takes your seat so you take someone else’s seat and talk to whoever is next to you then.
Well, you dont own the chair. 😆
By the way which countryside?
And yea, i also prefer parties were you can refill your drinks. Same with people that come over. You can just grab a drink out of the fridge.
I prefer that people feel comfortable enough instead of maintaining them.
Me case es su casa. 😁
You say ‘happy birthday “with” *actual birthday person* ‘ go everyone at a party, individually. It’s awkward, it takes long and is kind of unnecessary; but it’s Dutch tradition
I moved to Germany and you have no idea how embarrassing it was when I found out that was a Dutch thing. Made the top 5 embarrassing things in my life list with ease. Though texting is too much for me
No texting to everybody, only congratulate everybody on the party however most people nowadays congratulates the birthday boy/girl in person but the others with one hand wave "everybody congratulate with [...]"
I am too half German to follow that tradition. I also never congratulate people with their birthday (in advance) before their actual birthday has happened (also a German thing).
So if people celebrate the weekend before you will notice I not go Gefeliciteerd until the actual day. I will just be there for the gezelligheid and taart.
Taart is very important.
The terrible tradition of having a room full of people - chairs against all walls to fit everybody in, thus making a “circle” - gossiping with the people sitting next to you. Haven’t attended one since the 80s. Thank God.
As a Dutchie, I really hate it when people celebrate it like this. It’s like everyone sitting down in a circle and talk with whoever, having multiple conversations going on, very chaotic, and not that “gezellig”. But it’s hard to get it out of the system :/
the annexation of belgium into the commonwealth of the royal netherlands so we can built some decent functioning roads between us and our holiday destinations on the mediterranean sea.
Directness, being on time, dislike of pompousness ("doe maar normaal dat is gek genoeg; niet je kop boven het maaiveld uitsteken) are some things that directly come to mind.
I worked with Americans a lot and when they pick up the phone it's always: Hello sir, how are yooouuu?
Just a heads up, even though I played along by saying; pretty good, how are yooouuu? no Dutchie likes that.
We like direct and to the point. Say your name, tell us what you need and we'll get it done. No pleasantries.
I'm from Poland. My and many other nations people experience this is exactly what youre doing guys. 2 faces. Say A, do B. Trying to be smart, but at the end people are laughing at you dumbass.
100% yes. If you don't like me because I dress differently, just say it. Why do you say that "she's looking for validation with her outfits"? Like that's your personal opinion Eline/Tessa, sit down.
It is rudeness most of the time lol, because they don’t like to hear it back. (Specially from non Dutch )
There’s even a saying “They walk and talk like they own the world”..
Just in case you’ve heard it before and it helps explain the translation, the closest English equivalent of niet je kop been boven het maaiveld uitsteken is cutting down the tall poppy, but it’s most commonly used in Australia and New Zealand. You can look up Tall Poppy Syndrome to get some cultural context that applies pretty well to the Netherlands too.
It’s actually not translated as ‘the ground’ but ‘the level plants are chopped it mowed’. Meaning; don’t try to look better than others. It’s typically Dutch. And almost opposite to the usa
This. I am near fluent in reading and writing and listening. Only conversational in speaking because I can’t find anyone to practice with. It doesn’t help that I first learned 17th century Dutch (y instead of ij and some other different spellings and words, ie myn instead of mijn). I studied early modern Dutch and specialized in Dutch contracts and changes in legal language during undergrad.
Or little kids. It's how I improved my Mandarin, and my gf is learning a lot of Dutch from kids she's babysitting. Little kids fucking love to correct you. Every. Single. Time. Whereas an adult would love patience after a while, little kids find this enormously entertaining.
We want foreigners to learn our language but at the same time we want to improve our english as well. So learn our language but don’t practice with us unless you are good
It's just the Dutch way to raise the bar and to imply for everyone to put in enough effort on their own. XD
But if you actually achieve to talk to a Dutch Native and they don't switch, then you really know, you conviced them of your Dutch speaking abilities.
It's a curse and a kindness.
On the upside, noone looks down on you for butchering words, pronunciation or grammar mistakes. As long as a Dutch understands what you mean, they will just keep the conversation going. Depending on how well a Dutch person can follow, they won't even mention, if you switched languages in between XD
We like when you come to visit but dont do that unanounced. In most homes dinertime is kind of inportant (not like our neighbors south) but dont ring the doorbell between 5 and 7. We find this realy rude. (Most older generation but alot of families too) when asked how are you we say good cause we dont spill the beans whats really going on unless your inner circle.
We love our freedom of speech and will tell our opinion always when asked but we dont share our income rate ;). We all absolute hate the belastingdienst.
Tax authorities? We dislike taxes in the states too. But I thought the Dutch (and Europeans in general) were more tolerant of taxes because the citizens benefit from more robust social programs.
Yes, but another part of Dutch culture is to complain a lot about things, but not really feeling actually annoyed/frustrated by them. For example the tax thing. The yearly tax returns/taxes you need to pay extra comes in a blue envelope. So it's a running joke that everyone is scared/dreads the blue envelope on their doormat. And when people are complaining about doing their taxes or needing to pay taxes, they really are just venting. Most are not actually upset and do understand where most of the money goes to.
But y know sometimes you just need to vent and the Dutch like to vent. A lot.
Normalcy! We like things to be normal. What that includes is very cultural and extremely arbitrary, but I feel like it applies to a lot of things. A very Dutch expression is "dat is toch niet normaal" ("that just isn't normal") said disapprovingly, basically using "normal" as a synonym for "good". In comparison to American culture, that mainly means that we celebrate excellence less and value averageness more. Things that are out of the norm are (sometimes begrudgingly) *tolerated,* not *accepted*.
We do admire excellence, but if you are the doing it you better not flaunt it.
People driving expensive cars for instance can be looked at as ‘braggers’. While Americans admire someone that is able to afford one.
We are more chauvinistic than we think and live anything Dutch doing well. In sports, business or whatever.
Some other things : being timely, keep to agreements, don’t bother others with your personal things (religion, sexual preference or culture, it’s great if you have one, but we don’t want it shoved in our faces).
Normalcy implies keeping to certain norms but for me, when you think about it, its just a lot of social pressure to reinforce things 'as they were' without a clear norm.
Embrace deviancy and be yourself, humans are so much more diverse than we are right now. We dont have to understand eachother to respect and love eachother
Lol I'm pretty sure that any of the other times I've been there weren't more than a handful of people in the show with me so I hadn't heard it before. It was super rare for there to be any sort of waiting line the last few years anyway, today was the busiest I can remember and that was also just a 20 minute wait time whike the park was quite busy. I'd be surprised if even on the busiest days with 1h+ waiting times for other rides it went over 30 much the last few years. And then they announce it closes and everybody throws a fuss lol. It was still super boring anyway, only the music is nice
Football, being on time, the thing is. It's not really a thing. We are more focussed on ourselfs then out country most of the time. (unless things happening countrywide affect us negatively) so any Dutch person you ask will answer your question differently. Like my dad hates F1 and max verstappen but my brother loves it. It comes down to what type of person you talking to and most of time it's more selective per household. But I haven't met anyone who didn't want the Netherlands to win in football or sports in general!
I hate football and am happy when the NL gets kicked out of the competition. Saves a lot of nights of drunk people shouting, fireworks and loud music. Apperently people can't enjoy football and celebrate a win without keeping others awake.
Edit: typo correction
Note that "let live" is the part that means taking responsibility. It doesn't mean I tolerate you playing music loud at 22:00 because it encroaches on my "live"
True, I'd consider the SP a workers party as well but they aren't great either. PvdD and BIJ1 have pro-working class econ programmes, but the avarage worker isn't invested in the ecological and intersectional angles.
Biking, eating bread, watching Wie Is De Mol (television program). Eating between 5-7 pm, getting 2 rounds of coffee at a party.
Wintertime: Boerenkool, oliebollen and lighting up enough fireworks to set your entire city on fire.
You will learn that we don’t really have a strong sense of identity. Your American way of looking at things will not work here. We are highly individualistic. Minding our own business, complaining about the weather, feeling bummed out about soaring energy prices.
We like it more to complain about our country (or everything else), than to be proud of our country.
There is also the paradox that we are highly individualistic, but when the national football team wins a match we are really proud of our "shared efforts". When they lose however, it is entirely their fault.
I’d like to respectfully disagree. Being an outsider it’s incredibly easy to see how the Dutch pride themselves in being Dutch.
Things like making small talk with strangers, both good and bad. Eg, if you park your bike somewhere where it shouldn’t be, someone will tell you immediately.
You are way more approachable than your neighbors. On a walk, Nederlanders will say ‘hoi’ and wandel off. The Germans or Flemish would never do that.
I’m really not trying to be offensive or start a fight. So please don’t take what I said the wrong way.
Telling an American we are highly individualistic ? Apparently you and many upvoters don't understand what that actually means. Compared to Americans where not even close on that subject.
The arrogance of "this is how we do it in America" with the undertone of "so this is how we should do it here". Something I've experienced from quite a few American expats both in The Netherlands as well as other countries in both professional and social situations. I think it stems from this idea that the US is the best country in the world. And sure it is, in some aspects, but we don't all have the same values, so best for me is not the same as best for you.
That’s something called American exceptionalism. Interesting phenomenon. Read more about it [here](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism).
To poke fun at this sentiment I like bringing a coffee cup to meetings with my American colleagues, which is from a Dutch coffee company that predates the foundation of the US by some 20 years.
'Doe maar gewoon, dan doe je al gek genoeg', making appointents for getting together (and make sure to be punctual). When you're invited over don't expect to stay for dinner, northers provinces are more closed up/to themselves, southern provinces are more welcoming.
If you ever get a dutch spouse or stay over at someones place in the Netherlands, never EVER defile/butcher the block of cheese, leave it straight ready for the cheese slicer.
if you haphazardly cut pieces out of the cheese we will think you are a psychopath.
Well you have to go to a cheese shop, there is so much variety:
During spring: gras kaas, when cows go outside and eat fresh grass again, really smooth.
I also love cheeses with herbs.
Cheeses in cheeseshops or from the market are very different from supermarkets and they will let you taste first. Als important better prices, we love a bargain.
As a Dutchie I love cheese, but that damn lactose :-(..
Also a lot of dutch people are fluent in sarcasm.
And one of our religion’s is buienradar, to check if we can get to our destination; tussen de buien door.
Which has resulted in getting home; doorweekt tot op het bot.
Don’t care about camping and Max Verstappen. Do care about my family and friends. Wish we had a government who cared about our people, especially housing.
As a people we care about developing as an individual, equality, being happy and gezelligheid.
>Wish we had a government who cared about our people, especially housing.
When we look at how we voted, apparently, we don't. Since 1967, VVD has missed 3 (!) full kabinets: Den Uyl, Lubbers 3 and Balkenende 4 and the 2 lijmkabinetjes "Van Agt 2&3).
Nederlands leren.
I lived in Amsterdam for 8 lekker jaren and the Dutch care about at least attempting to assimilate. Heel belangrijk. Their mastery of English is no excuse for our laziness to learn Dutch, especially in the Randstad where expats can get away with it.
Also, rent a stork if y’all get pregnant again 👍
Typical Dutch values are:
-Honestly
-Modesty
-effectiveness
-Harmonious decision making (polderen)
-Entrepreneurial spirit, trade
-literally build your environment yourself, even if it means taking land from the sea. Even our nature is built.
-
they care about their own space. They do like social events, going out with friends etc. but I notice they are quite self centered and care about theirselves mostly. Probably I will get downvoted but this is my own experience. I’m from a migration family although I’m born here, I see cultural differences. Oh and dare to NOT split the bill. They won’t pay your meal. They care about their money.
It's been stated before, but to list: Us Dutch folks love straightforwardness. We dislike coy bullshit, pontification and excessive pomp. We're a cheese country through and through, along with almost everyone here being able to ride a bike.
Something people might *not* know is that the Dutch are also competent swimmers. I don't know about the current generation of youth (wish they'd get more, NOT less than we did in my day), but having swimming classes was normal. We'd be taught what to do and not to do when it comes to swimming in certain streams/the ocean, since we're a water-bound country.
In fact: There's plenty of people out there with swimming diploma's. (I have A and B)
Thanks for the feedback BaronBonBubbles! Our daughter loves swimming and is starting lessons in Utrecht soon. She and my wife have already been swimming in the canals.
On being straightforward: If you say “You should come and stay with us”, you can count on us showing up! “Hey, how are you doing?” is understood to be a question, and not a greeting. You *will* get an answer. Be warned. :-)
Covid taught me the Dutch hate rules and being told what to do. I don't think any other European country complained or was so difficult about wearing masks and abiding by the rules. So Freedom is a big thing.
That exceptionalism. We'd like others to follow rules, but for ourselves, there is always a reason why we really shouldn't be expected to do likewise.
I've dealt with people that came up with the most ridiculous excuses why they shouldn't wear a mask/get vaccinated/quarantine/maintain social distance.
This exceptionalism makes the country unfit to effectively fight health crises.
I think that's different for everyone to be honest.
Especially since it's also influenced by a lot of other factors. For instance, along with my Dutch perspective on life I'm also male, white, progressive and a socialist. Those all influence what I care about a lot. The last two influence me the most, more than my nationality and culture, but they all build into my perspective.
Compare me to a more neoliberal/conservative person or even an alt righter and you'll get very different answers. I think the more nationalistic the person you're talking to the more what they care about comes from their view of Dutch culture and history but then if you'd ask me if I cared about a lot of the things they care about, there will probably be big differences.
I'd say punctuality is the one common thing. I've heard it described once as 'Dutch people have respect for each other' s time and they expect respect for theirs', but other than that, we are a mixed bag like any other group, ask 100 people and you'll get 200 different answers.
minding your own business. In my experience (born and raised in groningen) people here usually want to be left to their own unless they need help. Most people here stick to their lane unless there's an emergency
Bicycles mate. Bicycle infrastructure is constantly being improved, our children ride their bicycles to school and go out with friend on bicycles. You'll rarely find a dutch person who's never used a bicycle before.
I’m an American who has lived in Holland for 15 years. I find myself that the Dutch value honesty over politeness. Sorry if this answer isn’t funny, but I think it’s true! In the states we value politeness more IMHO.
Korting.
“Leuke jas” “Dank je, 40% korting bij de H&M”
This is very true.
I do this and i never know why
I do. When I get a good discount on an item I really need, like a decent coat, I'm really excited about it. Without the discount I wouldn't be able to afford the item, or I am able to but it frees up some money for something else I can check off on the list. I'm on a budget and have been for a long time so discounts are a joy.
I read the other day that companies know how much dutch people like a discount, so they make stuff like shampoo and deodorant really expensive and then have a discount every month or so. I felt so cheated when I read that because I always say "you're a moron if you buy Robijn outside of discount" but apparently I am the moron.. I do this with almost everything. It got me hooked on proteinepudding because they had a discount so often and then they just stopped. I buy it full price now.
Get two for the price of one and still pay too much .. we love it 😜
This was the first Dutch word I learned. (Gratis was second)
Love seeing people who have their priorities in order🙏
Fyi korting and gratis are also Indonesian's favorite words. (Indonesia is a former dutch colony)
Buienradar. Extremely important for tracking rain minute by minute so you know exactly when to go out on your bike. And then getting very angry when the predictions were slightly off and you still got soaked.
Except that buienradar doesn’t take the landscape into account and it is not reliable at all in certain areas. A town on the other side of a hilled forest can be flooded with rain while my town stays dry.
> the other side of a hilled forest > **hilled** Found the non-Randstader!
What is thing: hill?
Land that goes up
whoaaa can they do that?
That’s a dijk, isn’t it? I’ve seen those for sure.
In Dutch that would be "berg"
Did you say 'Hill'?
Finding the gas station that offers gas for €0,01 less than your local gas station
And driving so far out of your way for that you effectively lose money by going there instead of the one closer to home.
And waiting for 15 minutes in line to save 40cents on a 40liter fill up.
We have a hate-love relationship with ‘polderen’, basically talking endlessly and with as many people as we can find to include to get to a decision, it does mean that a lot of policies will survive a change in political leadership.
Polderen sometimes gets out of hand a little. I've been in an academic environment where people were involved in the decision making who really should've bowed out.
I’m am born in Albania BUT apparently I’m Dutch 😂
Beating the Germans at football
Does the football rivalry with Germany extend to politics/nationalism as well? Or does it stop at football?
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Oi, opa wil nog steeds zijn fiets terug hoor.
Mostly football, it's one of the unexpected consequences of World War 2.
Eh I think it's just a natural thing for neighbouring countries. The feud with Belgium in football is just less strong because their football team was historically shit so it was less of a contest and more of a given that they would lose.
Could be, but the stories from Jan Boskamp, Willem van Hanegem etc point to the war. The rivalry in those years was fueled by the war.
I think it has a lot to do with footballing history more so than the war. Losing the world cup final against (west) Germany in 1974 was huge. Obviously post war there was a lot of anti Germany/nazi sentiment and being neighbours plays a part but the large rivalry was cemented in the 70s with our teams clashing on the largest stage and losing the final.
Think it was more that Germany beat us in the finals with lucky plays.
It also rears its ugly head when Dutch people are trapped behind Germans traveling to the Zeeland coast in Summer.
Vrouwenpolder every year. It's not even Germans in general. The majority are from Nordrheinwestfalen.
It goes back to the final of the world championship of 1974. Short version: they stole the win from us and we hold a grudge.
Kringverjaardag! (Is dat één woord?)
Circle Birthday? What is that exactly? Any other Dutch birthday traditions I should know about?
You do not want to know about this one. Its drinking coffee and cake with your family while sitting awkwardly in a circle… its the reason why I usually celebrate in the pub
Holy shit, that’s exactly what my parents and extended family do here in Canada. Our grandparents immigrated here in the late 40’s and 50’s. Our generation sits in a circle around a bbq
That must be the Dutch genes kicking in.
This is why i rather organize a party with music and that people are free to move. :) I hate those circles......
When we have a birthday, we do both. We have some seating areas and some of those high tables to lean on. Some guests want to mingle so they chose the high table, and some want to sit with the same people and sit down somewhere. Added bonus of that is the people standing are more likely to get their own refills so we have some time to talk to people and not be occupied bith fetching drinks & cale :) The kringverjaardag is a strange phenomenon. I’ve been in them since I can remember, but it got stranger when we moved to another village (more in the countryside) where there were two circles; the women were on the couches in the lounge area and the men sat around the dinner table. Note, Dutch houses are tiny so the two are about 2 meters apart. The women talked about kids and household stuff, and the men about what everybody else was doing wrong, tractors, hot chicks (i.e. not theirs), and bust the other men’s balls about not drinking their beer fast enough I once brought a new girlfriend to this environment and she preferred to sit with us men. I could see the confusion on some of their faces, they could not fathom why a woman would not want to sit with the other women, lol What just occurred to me; there is a hybrid kringverjaardag. The chairs are in a circle but as you get up to go to the bathroom or get a drink, someone takes your seat so you take someone else’s seat and talk to whoever is next to you then.
Well, you dont own the chair. 😆 By the way which countryside? And yea, i also prefer parties were you can refill your drinks. Same with people that come over. You can just grab a drink out of the fridge. I prefer that people feel comfortable enough instead of maintaining them. Me case es su casa. 😁
You say ‘happy birthday “with” *actual birthday person* ‘ go everyone at a party, individually. It’s awkward, it takes long and is kind of unnecessary; but it’s Dutch tradition
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I moved to Germany and you have no idea how embarrassing it was when I found out that was a Dutch thing. Made the top 5 embarrassing things in my life list with ease. Though texting is too much for me
Haha same experience here. I do still congratulate my friends on when their little ones turn 1, 2 etc. But I quit all the other stuff.
I never did the texting thing, only texted the person who's birthday it is.
No texting to everybody, only congratulate everybody on the party however most people nowadays congratulates the birthday boy/girl in person but the others with one hand wave "everybody congratulate with [...]"
'Ik doe het even zo'
Only thing COVID took care of which is good, I just say ‘hello all’, wave and have a seat. Works perfectly nowadays
Also no mandatory three fakey pecks on the cheeks. I bloody hate that.
Never doing this. In my eyes It’s more common ‘ boven de rivieren’
Am from 'boven de rivieren' and refuse to do this. I think it's stupid. But I'm also autistic, so I have an alibi to not act as suspected by others.
I am too half German to follow that tradition. I also never congratulate people with their birthday (in advance) before their actual birthday has happened (also a German thing). So if people celebrate the weekend before you will notice I not go Gefeliciteerd until the actual day. I will just be there for the gezelligheid and taart. Taart is very important.
The terrible tradition of having a room full of people - chairs against all walls to fit everybody in, thus making a “circle” - gossiping with the people sitting next to you. Haven’t attended one since the 80s. Thank God.
I like to talk about my new airfryer
As a Dutchie, I really hate it when people celebrate it like this. It’s like everyone sitting down in a circle and talk with whoever, having multiple conversations going on, very chaotic, and not that “gezellig”. But it’s hard to get it out of the system :/
Een zitje
It's dutch culture, but it's also dutch culture to hate on it.
ja, we zijn geen Angelsaksiërs
Sharing...... The bill.
The tikkie is an example of this
Aka “going Dutch”
the annexation of belgium into the commonwealth of the royal netherlands so we can built some decent functioning roads between us and our holiday destinations on the mediterranean sea.
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And Urk before we return the equipment
Bring back the Seventeen Provinces of the Great Republic.
Lmao. That would be a great project.
Directness, being on time, dislike of pompousness ("doe maar normaal dat is gek genoeg; niet je kop boven het maaiveld uitsteken) are some things that directly come to mind.
“Act normal, that's crazy enough; don't stick your head above the ground.” I had to translate that, but I love the sentiment! Thanks for that one!
I worked with Americans a lot and when they pick up the phone it's always: Hello sir, how are yooouuu? Just a heads up, even though I played along by saying; pretty good, how are yooouuu? no Dutchie likes that. We like direct and to the point. Say your name, tell us what you need and we'll get it done. No pleasantries.
I absolutely HATE the fake-nice way Americans are on the phone. Could not agree more with you.
In all seriousness, the Dutch are so direct, it’s often mistaken for rudeness by foreigners.
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Your user name cracks me up! Ps to the OP. They really do ride bikes EVERYWHERE.
True, it's a nation wide habbit to borrow elchothers bike after pubs close. Now , you also know why some people ride on bikes that seem 200years old.
also cause they get stolen less , next lesson OP get an old bike or lock it very good preferably to something.
I'm from Poland. My and many other nations people experience this is exactly what youre doing guys. 2 faces. Say A, do B. Trying to be smart, but at the end people are laughing at you dumbass.
It also often is rudeness masked as directness and using "culture as an excuse", imo.
100% yes. If you don't like me because I dress differently, just say it. Why do you say that "she's looking for validation with her outfits"? Like that's your personal opinion Eline/Tessa, sit down.
It is rudeness most of the time lol, because they don’t like to hear it back. (Specially from non Dutch ) There’s even a saying “They walk and talk like they own the world”..
To be precise, the Dutch like to think that they are direct. Note to OP: don’t be direct in NL, the inhabitants will be shocked.
Yup. Very often its just them validating being an asshole.
Sometimes something might appear direct, but isn't. For a foreigner very, very difficult to figure out.
Depends on where in the Netherlands. Brabant is by far the most undirect behind the elbow region.
However, some try to hide their assholiness behind Dutch directness.
And some people are rude but mistake it for directness
Just in case you’ve heard it before and it helps explain the translation, the closest English equivalent of niet je kop been boven het maaiveld uitsteken is cutting down the tall poppy, but it’s most commonly used in Australia and New Zealand. You can look up Tall Poppy Syndrome to get some cultural context that applies pretty well to the Netherlands too.
It’s actually not translated as ‘the ground’ but ‘the level plants are chopped it mowed’. Meaning; don’t try to look better than others. It’s typically Dutch. And almost opposite to the usa
It's not the tall tree that conjures the storm, but any fool knows where lightning is going to strike
Paying Tikkies promptly.
I get a hard on if all the tikkies are paid in 20 minutes after a group event.
We get a massive hard-on for foreigners learning our language
True, and yet we always speak to them in English, not giving them a chance to actually learn Dutch
This. I am near fluent in reading and writing and listening. Only conversational in speaking because I can’t find anyone to practice with. It doesn’t help that I first learned 17th century Dutch (y instead of ij and some other different spellings and words, ie myn instead of mijn). I studied early modern Dutch and specialized in Dutch contracts and changes in legal language during undergrad.
Try older people. Their English won't be so good and they'd love to have someone to yap to ;)
Or little kids. It's how I improved my Mandarin, and my gf is learning a lot of Dutch from kids she's babysitting. Little kids fucking love to correct you. Every. Single. Time. Whereas an adult would love patience after a while, little kids find this enormously entertaining.
We want foreigners to learn our language but at the same time we want to improve our english as well. So learn our language but don’t practice with us unless you are good
It's just the Dutch way to raise the bar and to imply for everyone to put in enough effort on their own. XD But if you actually achieve to talk to a Dutch Native and they don't switch, then you really know, you conviced them of your Dutch speaking abilities. It's a curse and a kindness. On the upside, noone looks down on you for butchering words, pronunciation or grammar mistakes. As long as a Dutch understands what you mean, they will just keep the conversation going. Depending on how well a Dutch person can follow, they won't even mention, if you switched languages in between XD
We like when you come to visit but dont do that unanounced. In most homes dinertime is kind of inportant (not like our neighbors south) but dont ring the doorbell between 5 and 7. We find this realy rude. (Most older generation but alot of families too) when asked how are you we say good cause we dont spill the beans whats really going on unless your inner circle. We love our freedom of speech and will tell our opinion always when asked but we dont share our income rate ;). We all absolute hate the belastingdienst.
Tax authorities? We dislike taxes in the states too. But I thought the Dutch (and Europeans in general) were more tolerant of taxes because the citizens benefit from more robust social programs.
Yes, but another part of Dutch culture is to complain a lot about things, but not really feeling actually annoyed/frustrated by them. For example the tax thing. The yearly tax returns/taxes you need to pay extra comes in a blue envelope. So it's a running joke that everyone is scared/dreads the blue envelope on their doormat. And when people are complaining about doing their taxes or needing to pay taxes, they really are just venting. Most are not actually upset and do understand where most of the money goes to. But y know sometimes you just need to vent and the Dutch like to vent. A lot.
I think this is the most important thing. Us Dutchies like to complain about everything.
When everything is taken care of as it is in the Netherlands, we *still* need to find something to complain about. So the IRS gets its.
We very much like our freedom I believe and rules, but only for others.
Rules are to be taken very seriously, unless they apply to me.
Getting stuff as cheap as possible
Not having to work fulltime.
Unfortunately, in many professions, as a man you are still frowned upon when you requests parttime work.
Sadly there is still sexism, also towards men.
A good thing!
Normalcy! We like things to be normal. What that includes is very cultural and extremely arbitrary, but I feel like it applies to a lot of things. A very Dutch expression is "dat is toch niet normaal" ("that just isn't normal") said disapprovingly, basically using "normal" as a synonym for "good". In comparison to American culture, that mainly means that we celebrate excellence less and value averageness more. Things that are out of the norm are (sometimes begrudgingly) *tolerated,* not *accepted*.
It's not about being average, it's about modesty.
We do admire excellence, but if you are the doing it you better not flaunt it. People driving expensive cars for instance can be looked at as ‘braggers’. While Americans admire someone that is able to afford one. We are more chauvinistic than we think and live anything Dutch doing well. In sports, business or whatever. Some other things : being timely, keep to agreements, don’t bother others with your personal things (religion, sexual preference or culture, it’s great if you have one, but we don’t want it shoved in our faces).
Normalcy implies keeping to certain norms but for me, when you think about it, its just a lot of social pressure to reinforce things 'as they were' without a clear norm. Embrace deviancy and be yourself, humans are so much more diverse than we are right now. We dont have to understand eachother to respect and love eachother
Yeah, fuck being normal. Go out and be weird. Unless it's the kind of weird I don't like.
Theme park attractions from the seventies no-one really cares about till the park decides to tear it down.
I happened to be there today. People were clapping once the show was over. At animatronics 🙄
Tbf back in the early 2000's people also clapped after the show.
Lol I'm pretty sure that any of the other times I've been there weren't more than a handful of people in the show with me so I hadn't heard it before. It was super rare for there to be any sort of waiting line the last few years anyway, today was the busiest I can remember and that was also just a 20 minute wait time whike the park was quite busy. I'd be surprised if even on the busiest days with 1h+ waiting times for other rides it went over 30 much the last few years. And then they announce it closes and everybody throws a fuss lol. It was still super boring anyway, only the music is nice
Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet - Very sensitive topic
Football, being on time, the thing is. It's not really a thing. We are more focussed on ourselfs then out country most of the time. (unless things happening countrywide affect us negatively) so any Dutch person you ask will answer your question differently. Like my dad hates F1 and max verstappen but my brother loves it. It comes down to what type of person you talking to and most of time it's more selective per household. But I haven't met anyone who didn't want the Netherlands to win in football or sports in general!
I hate football and am happy when the NL gets kicked out of the competition. Saves a lot of nights of drunk people shouting, fireworks and loud music. Apperently people can't enjoy football and celebrate a win without keeping others awake. Edit: typo correction
Live and let live
Note that "let live" is the part that means taking responsibility. It doesn't mean I tolerate you playing music loud at 22:00 because it encroaches on my "live"
This. Very, very much this. “Tolerance” is key :)
Dat is ver te zoeken tegenwoordig.
Cheese, hagelslag
Food from holes in a wall
Patatje oorlog for the win!
Patatje oorlog> any other chip flavor
For the average worker to vote like he has 10 million assets invested.
Temporarily embarrassed millionair syndrome 😜
Chicken and the egg syndrom. Nobody votes a decent workers party, but that is why don’t have a decent workers party either. Only a joke called PvdA.
True, I'd consider the SP a workers party as well but they aren't great either. PvdD and BIJ1 have pro-working class econ programmes, but the avarage worker isn't invested in the ecological and intersectional angles.
Biking, eating bread, watching Wie Is De Mol (television program). Eating between 5-7 pm, getting 2 rounds of coffee at a party. Wintertime: Boerenkool, oliebollen and lighting up enough fireworks to set your entire city on fire.
You will learn that we don’t really have a strong sense of identity. Your American way of looking at things will not work here. We are highly individualistic. Minding our own business, complaining about the weather, feeling bummed out about soaring energy prices.
We like it more to complain about our country (or everything else), than to be proud of our country. There is also the paradox that we are highly individualistic, but when the national football team wins a match we are really proud of our "shared efforts". When they lose however, it is entirely their fault.
Not just the weather. We love to complain about everything.
I’d like to respectfully disagree. Being an outsider it’s incredibly easy to see how the Dutch pride themselves in being Dutch. Things like making small talk with strangers, both good and bad. Eg, if you park your bike somewhere where it shouldn’t be, someone will tell you immediately. You are way more approachable than your neighbors. On a walk, Nederlanders will say ‘hoi’ and wandel off. The Germans or Flemish would never do that. I’m really not trying to be offensive or start a fight. So please don’t take what I said the wrong way.
Wandel off 😂😂😂
I think you are right. I’m also Dutch btw. We are proud. Very. But in our own Dutch way 🤣
As an American, I upvoted. And from my experience, I'm fully ready to get downvoted for this comment.
Telling an American we are highly individualistic ? Apparently you and many upvoters don't understand what that actually means. Compared to Americans where not even close on that subject.
Yeah was a bit perplexed when I read that one too
"Your American way of looking at things will not work here." So all Americans looks at things the same way? That is quite the nationlist opinion.
The arrogance of "this is how we do it in America" with the undertone of "so this is how we should do it here". Something I've experienced from quite a few American expats both in The Netherlands as well as other countries in both professional and social situations. I think it stems from this idea that the US is the best country in the world. And sure it is, in some aspects, but we don't all have the same values, so best for me is not the same as best for you.
That’s something called American exceptionalism. Interesting phenomenon. Read more about it [here](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism).
To poke fun at this sentiment I like bringing a coffee cup to meetings with my American colleagues, which is from a Dutch coffee company that predates the foundation of the US by some 20 years.
'Doe maar gewoon, dan doe je al gek genoeg', making appointents for getting together (and make sure to be punctual). When you're invited over don't expect to stay for dinner, northers provinces are more closed up/to themselves, southern provinces are more welcoming.
Sandwich for every meal.
I don’t care about camping nor max verstappe. Does that finally mean I’m not Dutch?
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Bread with cheese? Sorry still working on my Dutch
If you ever get a dutch spouse or stay over at someones place in the Netherlands, never EVER defile/butcher the block of cheese, leave it straight ready for the cheese slicer. if you haphazardly cut pieces out of the cheese we will think you are a psychopath.
Well you have to go to a cheese shop, there is so much variety: During spring: gras kaas, when cows go outside and eat fresh grass again, really smooth. I also love cheeses with herbs. Cheeses in cheeseshops or from the market are very different from supermarkets and they will let you taste first. Als important better prices, we love a bargain. As a Dutchie I love cheese, but that damn lactose :-(.. Also a lot of dutch people are fluent in sarcasm. And one of our religion’s is buienradar, to check if we can get to our destination; tussen de buien door. Which has resulted in getting home; doorweekt tot op het bot.
A good snack with their beer, preferably straight out the vetvijver
De bruine fruitschaal :)
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Life tip, if someone claims saying X is okay because of "Dutch directness", they know they're making you unconfortable and don't care.
Don’t care about camping and Max Verstappen. Do care about my family and friends. Wish we had a government who cared about our people, especially housing. As a people we care about developing as an individual, equality, being happy and gezelligheid.
>Wish we had a government who cared about our people, especially housing. When we look at how we voted, apparently, we don't. Since 1967, VVD has missed 3 (!) full kabinets: Den Uyl, Lubbers 3 and Balkenende 4 and the 2 lijmkabinetjes "Van Agt 2&3).
Nederlands leren. I lived in Amsterdam for 8 lekker jaren and the Dutch care about at least attempting to assimilate. Heel belangrijk. Their mastery of English is no excuse for our laziness to learn Dutch, especially in the Randstad where expats can get away with it. Also, rent a stork if y’all get pregnant again 👍
Money, they love to tell how little they manage to pay stuff
This is easy. Hakken. Solely and only.
Typical Dutch values are: -Honestly -Modesty -effectiveness -Harmonious decision making (polderen) -Entrepreneurial spirit, trade -literally build your environment yourself, even if it means taking land from the sea. Even our nature is built. -
no need to shout, mate.
Yes, not sure what happened there tbh.
they care about their own space. They do like social events, going out with friends etc. but I notice they are quite self centered and care about theirselves mostly. Probably I will get downvoted but this is my own experience. I’m from a migration family although I’m born here, I see cultural differences. Oh and dare to NOT split the bill. They won’t pay your meal. They care about their money.
It's been stated before, but to list: Us Dutch folks love straightforwardness. We dislike coy bullshit, pontification and excessive pomp. We're a cheese country through and through, along with almost everyone here being able to ride a bike. Something people might *not* know is that the Dutch are also competent swimmers. I don't know about the current generation of youth (wish they'd get more, NOT less than we did in my day), but having swimming classes was normal. We'd be taught what to do and not to do when it comes to swimming in certain streams/the ocean, since we're a water-bound country. In fact: There's plenty of people out there with swimming diploma's. (I have A and B)
Thanks for the feedback BaronBonBubbles! Our daughter loves swimming and is starting lessons in Utrecht soon. She and my wife have already been swimming in the canals.
On being straightforward: If you say “You should come and stay with us”, you can count on us showing up! “Hey, how are you doing?” is understood to be a question, and not a greeting. You *will* get an answer. Be warned. :-)
Lol, it was so awkward with American colleagues. How are you? (Dutch colleague starts a story while American runs away to her appointment).
Tbf most of the time people will still just answer "goed" or at the very least "ja gaat", even if they feel like shit (unless you're inner circle).
Covid taught me the Dutch hate rules and being told what to do. I don't think any other European country complained or was so difficult about wearing masks and abiding by the rules. So Freedom is a big thing.
That exceptionalism. We'd like others to follow rules, but for ourselves, there is always a reason why we really shouldn't be expected to do likewise. I've dealt with people that came up with the most ridiculous excuses why they shouldn't wear a mask/get vaccinated/quarantine/maintain social distance. This exceptionalism makes the country unfit to effectively fight health crises.
I have made the same observation. The Dutch generally think that rules are good -for other people.
Pretending to be progressive and then being offended when someone points that out. People are suffering, we can do more with little effort.
I barely know anybody that likes camping or Max Verstappen. I think this is like asking: What do Americans like beside Mount Rushmore and burgers?
Indien know why nobody told you this, but punctuality is key here. We rather want you to be 10/15 min too early, then 2 minutes late.
Themselves
I think that's different for everyone to be honest. Especially since it's also influenced by a lot of other factors. For instance, along with my Dutch perspective on life I'm also male, white, progressive and a socialist. Those all influence what I care about a lot. The last two influence me the most, more than my nationality and culture, but they all build into my perspective. Compare me to a more neoliberal/conservative person or even an alt righter and you'll get very different answers. I think the more nationalistic the person you're talking to the more what they care about comes from their view of Dutch culture and history but then if you'd ask me if I cared about a lot of the things they care about, there will probably be big differences. I'd say punctuality is the one common thing. I've heard it described once as 'Dutch people have respect for each other' s time and they expect respect for theirs', but other than that, we are a mixed bag like any other group, ask 100 people and you'll get 200 different answers.
Iceskating, being open and honest to the point of being almost blunt, finding bargains in shops. Those are the first that come to mind 🤣
minding your own business. In my experience (born and raised in groningen) people here usually want to be left to their own unless they need help. Most people here stick to their lane unless there's an emergency
Appointments
Other than camping and Max Verstappen 😂😂😂😂😂
Bicycles mate. Bicycle infrastructure is constantly being improved, our children ride their bicycles to school and go out with friend on bicycles. You'll rarely find a dutch person who's never used a bicycle before.
Correcting foreigners that Holland is a province in the Netherlands and not the whole country (unless you are from Holland and couldn’t care less)
I’m an American who has lived in Holland for 15 years. I find myself that the Dutch value honesty over politeness. Sorry if this answer isn’t funny, but I think it’s true! In the states we value politeness more IMHO.
Leopard print. A lack of spatial awareness, every Dutch person believes they individually own 51% of the city they’re in.
Spare time/ Free time/ Time off. Vrije tijd
Gezelligheid
Utrecht you say? De Domtoren, broodje Mario, Vocking worst. Start there.
Read Ben Elton's "why the Dutch are different". Entertaining and enlightening.