American Reacts to "How The Dutch View Americans?" 

To Dutch viewers: I will be making a video asking random Americans questions about the Netherlands 🇳🇱 What should I ask them? Thank you all for watching! I will be up in the mountains this week making new videos. See yall soon!

There is a RU-vid channel called NotJustBikes, run by a well-travelled Canadian who settled with his family in the Netherlands. In one of his videos he talks about the differences in zoning laws in the USA/Canada and the Netherlands, which almost force Americans and Canadians to do everything by car. Very interesting if you would like to know some background in why the Dutch cycling culture works.

Funny, the presenter starts stereotypically American. There's much more Netherlands than Amsterdam and there are many cities in which you can drink, smoke weed, take mushrooms and visit prostitutes in the Netherlands. The tallest people are not in Amsterdam, in the North they are more than an inch taller on average. If you ask about stereotypes the negative ones come out because stereotyping is seen as negative itself. But there are also a lot of positive stereotypes like optimistic, entrepreneurial, easy to talk to, big thinking.

One piece of advice: never say to a Dutch person "how are you?" unless you have time to spare. He or she will tell youexactly how he/she is and disclose every detail of whatever shitty things have happened to them in the last fourteen days. Funny thing by the way that about half of the people interviewed aren't Dutch but British.

Please understand, A'dam is not the Netherlands.# I have known various people from all over the world. There are cultural differences but everybody is uniquely human.

I love the "You keep on trying" the man said, Thats soooo dutch. We are really frank when it comes to what we think in a conversation. So he knew the interviewer wanted more, and instead of thinking of something else. He just went and told him he knew what he was doing xD. Love how all my fellow dutchies are alike.

6:22 the guy is trying to give an example by using a Dutch saying: 'ieder voor zich, en god voor ons allen' literally translating to 'every man for himself and god for all', meaning people don't worry or care about other people, they just care about themselves and their own wellbeing and the rest will take care of itself.

5'10" for a man is short in The Netherlands.

By far the most preposterous idea Americans have is that other peoples would like to imktate or adopt American culture. I can guarantee you that this is the very last thing most people want to do.

For 'individual' read 'selfish'. When social democracy is looked upon, and described, as an evil, people such as the Dutch will immediately question the morality of those making the statement.

Its funny how people stereotype us in extending our answer when asked "how are you". We often asked eachother how are you, and answer "im fine you?" Yeah im great and go on your way. It really depends on the person and especially where you are. In the supermarket you say hi and bye, in a bar or cafe you extend on the how are you. on the street you say hi an bye it really depends on the location. afcourse there are always some people who like to extend on the how are you question.

Correction, you can buy weet en mushrooms in every big city in the Netherlands. Not only in Amsterdam.

I got another stereotype about the USA: America is more obsessed with the entertainment around a sporting event, then the actual sport.

Love your honest reactions in your vids

9:06 What my problem with the ''Hey, how are you?'' is that they don't care about the answer. If you don't care and it's just a greeting, then why not say hello instead? Pretending to care by asking feels fake on its own.

In certain villages in the north of the Netherlands, everyone greets each other. Even if you don't know each other. If you greet someone you don't know in the west, you will be looked at strangely.

I think what that one guy meant with 'easy to manipulate' is more about how there's not a lot of trust in the government (sometimes rightfully so). There's also a much bigger belief in conspiracy theories in the US. Whilst this used to not be the case in The Netherlands, sadly we've been gathering a loyal group of conspiracy theorists spouting nonsense as well. Another example of easy manipulation comes from my own experience in the service industry. For example, I worked at a cruise ship terminal and if I asked just simple questions about American passengers lives or their holidays I would get huge tips. So I would exploit that a little by sometimes adding that I visited the US which would make them more enthusiastic and thus give me more tips. In general, I think Americans are fun to be around if not because they are outgoing than the naive (stupid at times) ideas some have about the world.

Driving an automatic is NOT driving a car: learn to use a shift stick! (joke)

In many, many ways the Netherlands (and other west European) countries are similar to the US or parts of it. We (the Dutch) are also loud and rude (direct), yet also very friendly and social. We've got a Bible-belt and a famous Southern Hospitality (not fake tho). We're very progressive as well as quite conservative. We think we're the best in pretty much everything we're involved in (and rightly so...) Have a irresistible tendency to tell others how to handle their shit. Are very cocky but with a great sense of humor, similar to British humor. Not many claim to be that patriotic or easily offended, yet when a foreigner criticizes our country we all go apeshit. And we've got very similar culture and interest. Then again; many settlers were of Dutch/German descent and the US has been the biggest influencer in western Europe ever since the end of WW2 and the subsequent division of our continent in west and east. But as in any other country; it always depends on character, location, vibe or time of year what your experience will be of course.

Your comments are very good.👍Thank you!!

7:59 (dutch guy here) to my interpitation of this, he means that Americans always have this facade, acting cheerful happy caring nice etc. But underneath lies a bad personen, and you're never able to tell until you've seen that part to which its mostly too late, thats how trust issiuses form, you'll never know their real intent, thats how i see it, and thats how i experienced it

if you ask in the Netherlands "he how are you" you will probably hear there whole life story :-)

I am 183 cm or a tad over 6' and I am average. Most short people are of foreign origin in Amsterdam. A surprising number of Dutch teenagers today, including adolescent girls of 15 or 16, are already 6' tall.

I think my personal stereotype is that the USA exists of extreme opposites. - One part of the country is very sex-restrictive (is that a thing), while at the same time the country has the biggest p0rn industry. - When it comes to politics there are only two sides that count, and you're either Democrate or Republican, there is no such thing as something in between. - People are either very well educated, or really dumb. - You're either a real pacifist, or a total gun-lover. - You are either really fit, or you're obese (related to that, you either go 100% athlete, or not at all). - When travelling it is either be one with the local people and learning, or it is being loud and obnoxious, letting people know 'Murica is the best. - There are extremely rich people, and extremely poor. And then not an extreme opposite thing, but more of a saying: "In the USA you live to work, instead of working to live." Of course I know this isn't 100% accurate, but it is how I got to know the country, through media (documentaries, tv shows, RU-vid channels - like this one =D ), people (either from the US, or people who travelled/studied/worked there), and books. Edit: Oh yeah, wanted to share an anecdote of my brother (you mentioned Mormons, we happen to be LDS, and my brother was on a mission in Utah). When he talked to people, he noticed that they weren't geographically aware of even the United States. Apparently Alaska is placed in the south on maps, near/besides Mexico, as it doesn't fit on the maps. This made some people think Alaska was neighbouring Mexico and not Canada.

Americans: We've got the best democracy there is! We're the textbook example for the rest of the world. Those same Americans: we have the right to bear arms and don't you dare try to take that away from us because we need those guns to defend ourselves against our own goverment.

There are no Americans to judge as they differ much. So do the Dutch.

You are below average, as I am at 5ft 11" When you can't tell the truth WITHOUT swearing on a work of fiction there is something terribly wrong. 'How are you doing' as a greeting is inherently wrong. Just say 'hello'.

Interesting to hear you say that only a relatively small part of the US is really religious and that a larger part is not. One of the stereotypes that I have is that Americans are very religious, but have lost all touch with christianity. I read somewhere that at this moment, in the US there are more atheists than catholics.

By their accents i know for sure that the old lady and the couple were from the UK and the rest were Dutch. If you film in Amsterdam you will meet a lot of people from other countries. 😜

I'm Dutch,...but I like the way you agree on most of the things the Dutch say :)

Europeans on the whole are well educated. They know a lot about other countries, about those country's geography, history. An European is able to mention probably at least 100 names of different countries for example. Americans usually have had a bad, insufficient education in our eyes. I doubt if there are many Americans able to mention only 10 countries! I even saw some Americans on RU-vid who didn't even know the difference between a continent and a country!

18:00 To be fair, though... If you ask any regular Dutchie (or European for that matter), to name as many of the US states as they can on a map, they would probably not get far either. Most of us know California, Texas, New York and Florida (as most Americans can probably point out England, Germany, France and Spain), but beyond that it's mainly geography/USA nerds. State capitols is a whole 'nother level I won't even get into. We like to think we're so much more worldly, but many don't realize how the USA is a union of states way larger than all of Europe. Being able to point the country out on a map and knowing that the capitol is Washington DC is not comparable to being able to locate the Netherlands on a map of Europe.

Not everybody thinks that way,dont worrry,you are very welcome when you come to the Netherlands

So good to hear you are interested in Dutch culture. Maybe you could react to this video where an American lady, who has lived in the Netherlands for quite some time, discusses the myths America had told her about Europe and proved not to be true. Here is the link ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JpnzGPvepa4.html

I think that the interviewer has gone about this interview in a very 'easy/lazy' way by asking random pedestrians in Amsterdam. Judging from the accents, at least 3 parties were none native Dutch. Amsterdam is of all Dutch cities the most cosmopolitan (ex-pats) and tourist 'congested'. If the interviewer really wanted to know what the Dutch think of Americans, he should have gone to a few smaller cities out-side the 'randstad' (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht). I have considered giving my opinion on this subject, but I will limit it to some suggestions for improvement. Get rid of the 2-party elective system, by introducing more political parties, Get rid of the "red-lining" system to improve equality of live and education, Get rid of the "for-profit" health care system, seriously WTF ? Just to name a few.

There is more than just Amsterdam, people think that the Netherlands is like Amsterdam but that is not true. Visit the south, it is nice there

the guy at 6:30 was saying that there's a stereotype Americans are very individualistic like they don't want social healthcare because they have to pay tax money to druggies or other people that don't take care of their health, even tho they do

In The Netherlands I always take a big coke at Mc Donalds or another fastfood chain. So the first time I went to America, I ordered a large coke. My God, it was big. Really, in my country that is the size for a vase you put flowers in. And there was even a bigger portion available. And the amount of ice in it, would immediately empty a Dutch freezer. That was the most important difference between America and The Netherlands. The enormous size of everything, the cars, the roads, the houses, the highrises, the portions, the supermarkets, the amusement parks. Even hotelrooms and the beds, I thought they were much or less the same size around the world, but in America they are or at least seems bigger. People are nice and welcoming, but indeed the fake welcome greetings they should get rid off, if it was up to me. The nature is beautiful, but the cities and town mostly aren’t. Big roads, lots of carparks, hardly any old buildings, many operetta shops (you know, big ugly boxes with a fake decorated front). The exceptions, known to me, are downtown New Orleans, Saint Augustine, Annapolis and downtown Savannah. But even Philadelphia, Pensecola, Washington DC and New York had their charms. The worst cities were Kissimee/Orlando and Raleigh (NC), I’m sorry to say (for the ones living there).

The man's words about Everyone for himself, God takes care of us all, is in fact not necessarily religious. It's a saying in the Netherlands, it just means something like: we just take care of ourselves and whoever is taking care of you, well that's your problem not ours. I don't care. So if you're relying on someone to take care of you, you better rely on God (meaning on nothing at all) because I'm certainly not going to do it.

the woman in the video around 1:50 is not from the Netherlands but from England just listen to the accent I am from the Netherlands

He is interviewing mostly people who are NOT Dutch!

the avg is about 6.03 feet for a male in The Netherlands.

When we great someone we say good morning or hello. When we say how are you we really want to know .

Don't forget the interviewer is asking specifically for 'stereotypes', not what they themselves think about Americans. And US tourists who come to Europe are almost all middle/high class, we rarely see the poor and homeless. When we visit the USA, we go to places that are wellknown and impressive, Manhattan, Central Park, not the back alleys of Harlem. Why look at the poverty when you can visit Hollywood and Beverly Hills? So you do not get the full scope, Europeans not about the USA, and Americans not about Europe. Though you can find a tourist guide who shows the worst parts of Charleroi (Belgium), the urban dessert.

The problem is that everything starts with Amsterdam......which is clearly not a profile of the Netherlands.

i'm dutch and the average man here is 6'1

Dutch people ( Europeans in general ) do have enough days / weeks off, to enjoy quality family time. Maybe people with minimum wages can't afford to travel like we used to do, but most Dutch people can afford to leave home for vacation. In the Netherlands it's not normal to work more jobs. Even minimum wages are enough to live, albeit without luxury. Even with minimum wages you don't have to worry if you have to visit your doctor, thanks to our healthcare system. To me the US are the most ridiculous country in the entire western world. The most people in jail, the most gun related death, the .............. People allways thanking the military for what they have done for their country; well they have NEVER done something for the US. They only did things to others, and often outside international law. A country invading other countries to "bring" democracy , while the US are not democratic themselves. ( they say they are, but do your math.......they're not) Traveling the US I met wonderful people. I visited wonderful places. I realy enjoyed my vacations in the US. But.........I'm greatfull I don't have to live there. The suggestion from SutamangoTheGreat about watching ru-vid.com?search_query=not+just+bikes is very good. Have fun here in the Netherlands.

It's about stereotypes, so obviously most will have only a marginal connection to reality. I've visited the US three times and dare say, having visited a good chunk of the country, especially midwist, southwest and northwest, some of these do hold up. The fakeness is not really fakeness, I mean you do see right through the pleasantry chit chat when meeting new people, but once they let you into their lives, on average they are just regular people. I do recall it got a bit on my nerves in every store to be greeted with fake enthusiasm by the sales person, but I mean, what do yo want, them to ignore you? But I admit, after spending a few weeks in the US returning in the Netherlands and being greeted again by a salesperson in the store with a look on his face "What'yah want? How are you going to ruin my day", I sort of chuckle and enjoy it, for a while ... Everything big and religiosity is totally regional and can't be maintained as a supposition. The things that I deem typically American, but even then I'm talking about a particular group, mostly caucasian: - Older generation very patriottic, younger generation depends on where they live (sometimes the opposite) - Know shit about the world as they think CNN, FOX etc. actually inform them, so in general very badly educated (of course there are exceptions) - Provincial attitudes as they rarely go anywhere outside of their country, most of them just have ID, not even a passport - Very warm and welcoming to strangers, very hospitable and I always loved that, it is a bit superficial as your average American very soon will invite you to their home and share a meal, but deep genuine friendships are far less easy, but isn't that the case in most places in the world? - Don't get irony, have experienced this time and again in conversations, really odd, must be some interesting psychological reason for that, but haven't figured out that one yet - On average pretty extraverted, which I don't mind really, but does get a bit tiresome after extended periods of exposure. Also however this is very regional and determined by a whole plethora of different factors, geographic being just one. Anyway, enough of that. Like most nations, Dutch people have a bit of a love/hate relationshop with the US, i.e. its citizens but as with everything, the closer you get to know it, the more likely stereotypes will fall away one by one, as they should ...

The guy who said that Americans are individual probably means individualistic. He mentions Obamacare as an example to illustrate how hard it is to have collective health insurance. Every American rather wants to determine for themselves whether they want health care or not. The tax would be another example: despite patriotism, nobody wants to pay for their country. We Dutch are far less patriotic, but we pay much more taxes. And we see it spent on excellent infrastructure and social security. About being loud, big and fake: this comparison to the intros of Masterchef illustrates it best... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-A2zT4aHDCwg.html

Ask dutch people on the streets in their country about americans AND ask american people on the street in the USA about the dutch (THAT's THE DIFFERENCE + don't expect americans to speak dutch there) :>)

You don't have to defend your self , like in the Netherlands..stereo types... we don't all do drugs , don't have a boat etc.... no tullips in the house ....no windmill in the garden and every province is different.....We find People from the West of the Netherlands loudmouth's etc. So like everywhere ...different People, different backgrounds etc... but we are not closed off here , i think we are really interested in other People.

With 5'9 you'd be just pretty normal.

A lot of people interviewed who are not dutch but from the UK. To bad

You are about 1.75 m. That is a little under the average height here for men. Good thing the dutch judge you on kindness, not on height.

Yeah the average height is around 6ft1 for males :)

The man talking about individuals and "god takes care of everyone" isn't talking about religion. He's addressing the stereotype (if it is one) that Americans are very big on self-reliance and seems to have this huge aversion for socially responsible programs like social healthcare, unemployment benefits, welfare, etc. Things that are common in Europe and which are paid out of taxes, another thing that Americans seems to be averse to. Now we are not advocating the extreme group think that exists in the Far East (China for instance), where the individual is highly restricted and the group comes first, but the extreme individualism that most Americans seem to favor is pushing things in the other extreme. There has to be a decent balance between the individual and the group!

At about 6 minutes into your video when you say you're a little confused about what he's saying. I think he was a bit confused about what he was trying to say himself. It wasn't so much about religion... More about politics and the difference between the American "capitalist" system compared to the Dutch/European "Scialist/Social-democratic" system. Specifically I think he's trying to mention Social Welfare and Health insurance (he kind of mentions the difficulty Obama had getting the ACA into law).

The American dream is often a nightmare. Also a dream, just not a good one.

You stomached these well!

19:48 appreciated ;) considder this though, this ammendment was made in the founding years of the US and mostly designed agains the British not the US goverment. The idea nowadays is naive and outdated + from european origin. This is upsetting to us.. we have different oppinions about these laws and when we dicusss it, we get the "it's american you dont understand" while these laws and rules originated from Europe not from the US. (fun fact, the Dutch supplied arms to the independence war while the English boycotted the rest of the world not to do so)

yeah you would be small in the Netherlands..I think 5.9 is the average lenght of Dutch women. For men it's 6.1

Drugs are not legal in Amsterdam

Today the 2cond Amendment is of course supported by the enormous US military Industial Complex, and a lot of politicans that get payed by them. Infact it goes back in a time when the US was still forming, and they needed militias to defend the state (any state).

The average height for Dutch women is 5'7" or 5'8" so yeah, you'd be below average for men.

But the context is not the context anymore😍

You are below average in height. I am 1.80. I am the smallest male in my family. Everywhere else I would be a bit above average except in the Netherlands XD

If we in the Netherlands talk op Christians, we talk about people whose belief start with Jesus. Catholics, mormons, amish etc are christians. If the are of good faith they would believe that helping poor people is their duty. That is not treu in the US. They believe in helping themselves and not their neighbour like told by Jesus

I am new to youre channel witch i realy like by the way, for this topic, i visit the USA several times and the Fake part is what stuck with me sorry for that, it has to do with al that extra its just not is in our dna. If you go out for dining the visit your table every single minut (are you oke, do you need anything, etc) for us this is over the top and very Fake, we just want to eat if i need anything i ask for it, it begins with the fact that in the Netherlands if you work in a restaurant you get a normal salary , the tip is just extra, in the USA they have to live from the tips, that is a big difference so i understand why they ask so mutch but on some1 from Europe it has just a wrong effect. Then of course because all the guns are allowed in your country there is a lot of murders , rapes and more, that is not defending what's yours, in the Netherlands the police are the only 1 with legal guns so not mutch violience here. We say you pray to God every day but then you shoot another, witch we find kind of hypocriet, that Amercans think they invented the world but is to us a bit of a joke because we owned it New York (new Amsterdam) so yeah we let the Amercans gladley think that they are the boss but no1 believes it over here. It's a bit of hard comment sorry for that, i realy like a lot of Americans who live over here (we have the American base around the corner) they all say that living here is very very different then live in the states. The dutch people have 1 thing that americans can't get when they not living here and that is we are very direct, you find it rooth we find it honest, so you can learn from it. I think that is the most different thing between Americans and the Dutch

The couple seem from the UK to me.

A lot of British accents in the video.

Wha ha ha we have more bikes 🚲🚲🚲than guns in the Netherlands 🇳🇱🇳🇱thank god😁😁but I understand some things about American people because I follow Jovies home on youtube and she is an American that lives in the Netherlands and she tells the differences living in the US and the Netherlands….

Every thing is bigger in USA also there problems.............glad to live in Europe now .......succes whit it .

Sir, we greet others too in that way. And Mormonsand Catholics are Christian too. I am younger and we have the idea Americans live in their own bubble. Even Americans I know here in the Netherlands say that's true. That older women is actually saying what we younger people think too. America is A DEMOCRACY because Americans are colonists that came from DEMOCRATIC countries from Europe. Feedom of speech came from the law in Europe. It is not an American invention. America is way too busy with other countries and should focus on it's own big problems. We don't like the wars the USA (even illegally) start all over the world. Even bombing a European country to establish their 2nd largest USA military base. That does not sit well in Europe. Europe is way older, the history is way richer and the US has traits from Europe. And PLEASE....Amsterdam is just a tiny part of the Netherlands. With it's own culture.

Look, if someone asked me: "point to a map where Louisiana is" I wouldn't know either. It's the equivalent of not knowing where The Netherlands is, imo.

to sum it up irl though.. we love American expats/immigrants we do not like American tourists

For me…. Having lived in San Francisco for many years, don’t take it personally but what I can’t get over is the fact (Especially under the Trump administration) that a nation build on immigrants and slaves can still be so racist and homophobic in this time and age. Of course, I understand that you’ll find racism everywhere in the world, also in Europe and the Netherlands….. but not in that extend as in the US.

buddy edit your video's

That is so completely not how the Dutch feel about Americans, the interviewer was clearly looking for negatives and most of the interviewees were not even Dutch. This clip is embarrassing.

Many people that are interviewed arent even dutch. Bad interviewer.

The fact that Americans are loud and overreacting is just so true. For example, I can’t watch a show like Jimmy Fallon or Kimmel or one of the others… just so fake and over enthusiastic.

He's not stating facts in the beginning. Drugs are not legal and Amsterdam isn't that unique in the Netherlands

Sorry the world changed so much after Obama, this is not accuraat