GERMANY VS. NETHERLANDS (by an American) 

Good morning!! ☀️😃🌸 Already looking forward to going back to Amsterdam again one day...Hopefully another VidCon Europe next year!!!😊 What differences have you noticed between Germany and the Netherlands? 🇩🇪 🇳🇱 And what other parts of the Netherlands should I visit? 😃

You don't know the Dutch by only visiting Amsterdam. That's a fact. :-)

change the title "germany vs amsterdam"

Amsterdam is'nt the Netherlands and Munich is'nt Germany!

Boy is this shallow. You think Amsterdam is the Netherlands? That's like saying "I've been to Vegas so I've seen the USA." In my opinion, if you really want to get to know a country, you need to get out of the cities or at least visit three or more spread out over the country.

Don't mistake Dutch bluntness for rudeness. We Dutch (and people from Amsterdam even more so) are just very very very straightforward.

I moved from Germany to Netherlands and for the most part Dana gets it right. I'd add more casually ignoring road rules if you're not driving a car, lots of brick everywhere... but you also need to be careful taking Amsterdam as indicative of anywhere else in the Netherlands

You forgot the most important thing: Vla!

Amsterdam is really pricey, but in the rest of the Netherlands it's really cheap. We also start learning English when we're 5/6.

I'm from the Dutch coast, and we see plenty of people wearing helmets. However, this are never Dutch people, it are always German tourists! So it is kind of a running gag in my family that if you are wearing a helmet, you are (pretending to be) German.

I'm from Belgium (right next to the netherlands) and I do believe what's rude and what's not is up for interpretation though. My boyfriend is from the UK and he often thinks people here are rude in shops and restaurants but for here the way they act is completely normal, while for me the way they are in shops in the UK comes across as nosy as pushy and not so much as the super polite they think they are.

The most obvious reason for the Dutch bikers not wearing helmets might just be the fact that bike lanes are pretty much always separated from car lanes. Therefore, there are less accidents involving cars and bikes in which a helmet would prove itself the most useful.

I think we in the Netherlands, especially the Hollands, don't enjoy small talk in a store. I think it's the whole attitude about that you're there to buy stuff, not to feel at home and all cozy inside.

Because Amsterdam is very popular for tourists so the restaurants raised the prices a lot! In other parts of Holland the prices are lower.

Peanut butter (Pindakaas) in the Netherlands is the best of anywhere, even better than most American brands. Germans don't seem to really care for it. The Dutch also put chocolate sprinkles on their toast.

I'm from the Netherlands and I love the 'Alleen pinnen'/no cash lines. Goes soooo much faster!

The bicycle thing... In Germany we see the Netherlands as the land of bikes, cheese, windmills, wooden clogs and tulips. And the reason why so many people ride bikes is, that everything is flat. There are no real hills in the Netherlands or in the north of Germany. The prices for food are 'so high' in comparison to Germany is because in Germany you pay very very little tax on your food (I think it's the lowest taxrate in Europe) to make food, which is obviously essential for life, very affordable.

I'm an American and recently started working in a bike shop in Lower Saxony. I have nightmares about repairing Dutch bikes. They're made to be really durable but are difficult to take apart to work on them.

The Difference is that you took only Amsterdam in stead of the The Netherlands. A lot of tourists think that Amsterdam is The Netherlands, that is something what is defentily not true! The Netherlands is more than only Amsterdam!

I live on the border to the netherlands and the reason we bike alot here is generally because the ground is just so flat that you can get everywhere with a bike (wich is obviously cheaper than using a car). so we do all the short-trips by bike unless you gotta transport a washing machine or something :D

As a Dutch girl who lived in Germany i love watching your videos, because Germany is so similar to the Netherlands in many ways. I definitely noticed the same differences, but i have a few remarks. About the customer service, in Amsterdam they can be rude sometimes because they have enough people going there anyway. When you visit smaller places, or even just not Amsterdam the general quality is in my opinion a lot better. And about the bike helmets, in the Netherlands you pretty much grow up on a bike. i went to school on my bike ever since i was 4(with training wheels and my mother next to me, but no helmet). That's probably why we think we don't need any helmets. Adding that we do literally everything on our bikes and helmets are just unpractical, you can't really leave them anywhere when you are going shopping for example. An example is when I had a severe bike accident with head trauma last year, and even now I don't wear a helmet when riding my bike. Every foreigner thinks i'm crazy but other dutch don't even ask questions about me not wearing a helmet. One more difference i notice is the size, it is pretty easy to travel to any other city in the Netherlands and it won't take you more than 2 hours. while in Germany when you want to go to Berlin from Munich it will take you over 5 hours. which is about the same time i would need to go to Berlin too. this makes it harder to see the entire country and also makes the difference in culture (and language) between places a lot larger.

prices are higher in Netherlands ,we pay more taxes than germany, social security and healthcare is much better than germany, Amsterdam is overpriced because people are willing to buy it ,nice report bedankt !

As a Dutch guy, I love germany. Started to work and earn money, just finished my educations. Got a good job. Searching for a home in Germany. Love you guys!

+Wanted Adventure In the Netherlands they see movies in the native Language with Subtitles and here in Germany we make expensive perfectly synchronizations, this is why they are so good in English.

I'm from Amsterdam, and Amsterdam people are just generally more rude than the rest of the Netherlands. Restaurant servers usually just are uninterested students wanting to earn some extra money. Although, a lot of the time, people might also be messing with you. Amsterdam humour is very particular.

German speaking countries tend to be quite conservative in comparison to countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, etc. Especially when it comes to innovations like paying by card, we're rather skeptical about it.

I've lived in both (Munich and Amsterdam, actually), and three things jumped out at me. First, Netherlands is even more orderly and organized than Germany, which I didn't think was possible. It's like there is an army of gnomes who come out every night to tidy things up. Second, the people are even taller and blonder, especially in Holland. And while you can now find peanut butter in stores in Munich, people in Netherlands actually eat it a lot. A German grocery store might have two kinds, while a Dutch will have eight or ten. And for an American, that was probably the most important difference of all.

I visited Amsterdam last year and loved it so much!!!! I miss it so much. Everything was wonderful: the sites, the people, the food. It really is a perfect place!!! ❤️

Another big difference between Germany and the Netherlands are the drug store prices! In Germany you can get a Gul shampoo for like 2-3€ but in the Netherlands you have to pay 7-10€ !! I don't know why things like these are soooo expensive! 😂 So guys - if you can, buy your bathroom stuff in Germany hahahah

I like the dense bread because it is satisfying you will get filled so you are not hungry anymore, while fluffy bread has "air" in it and you will still be hungry after eating the bread.

This was really funny for me to watch since I'm originally from Germany but moved to the Netherlands two years ago. Totally agree with the differences except the bread. I really miss my German bread hahaha

one reason why the prices in the netherlands are higher is because its not a costum to tip. the service tip is calculated in the price sort of. Servers just get paid well and many times the tips that are given are put in a fund for everyone

You should definitely visit other places in the Netherlands, my favorites are The Hague and Utrecht. I lived in Utrecht for 5 months and I loved it, though it's not as big as Amsterdam but it had it's own charm with the canals and stuff. It has that small town feel though it's actually pretty big in the Dutch scale of big, haha. I can't wait to go back, hopefully soon 😍

Well, if you ever visit Münster you will find that this part of Germany is more similar to the Netherlands regarding bikes.

I love your videos, youre so cute and watching videos in english really helps me to learn it. Because even with learning english for years in school, my english and the english of many people in my age is okay, but not as good that we would have a chance of surviving alone in an english-speaking country :D Thanks!

Heel leuk. Bedankt voor deze visie over de verschillen tussen Nederland en Duitsland.

Both German and Dutch stem from the West Germanic language branch. But along centuries in Germany two languages developed, the Low German (spoken in the North, adjective low is due to altitude not latitude) and High German spoken in the South. A reform came, merged both, and adopted the Hannover pronunciation. Dutch that time was basically the same like Low German, yet being more conservative it kept lot of feautures similar to the real original Germanic language and didn't change that much. Now as you probably know, English is a mix of Germanic and Romance language (due to the Norman invasion, Normans actually were from Scandinavia and when they settled in the North of France they adopted the French language spoken that time) Common daily spoken English is mostly Germanic in origin, instead the language used in Science, Politics, Law, Economy, is Romance. Summing up, changes in English and German, created a situation where Dutch is placed exactly in the middle between English and German, therefore for them is rather easy to learn English.

I have a question about your t-shirts. Why does the web site say "Last day to order!" every single day?

"i know the netherlands". Only been to Amsterdam.

Very interesting video Dana! ^^ I've been to the Netherlands many times because I live very close to the border and I can definitely agree with you on all points you mentioned :D

Hi, I want to adventure out into the world doing the thing I love Which is music. I love your videos as I'm from German heritage as well as Irish. I know I'm just American but just learning what my ancestors and possibly people today who are in Germany or Ireland that I'm distantly related to does and how they live is truly amazing

Amsterdam is an exceptional city for dutch standards and not completely representative for the netherlands. It's very crowded and because of that people become unfriendly or impatient sometimes as you would also have in London or New York . The germans are more patient and quiet but also more boring. This was my experience in Berlin. it has it's pro's and cons. Foodprice wise: In Berlin it was nice to pay € 2,50 for a sandwich. In Amsterdam it will set you back at least € 3,50.

Nice observations, hahahaha, loved it !! thought you were spot on.

Amsterdam sounds like a fun place to visit! Thanks for pointing out the differences! I really want to see these bikes (did you take any pictures?). :)

A fun fact about the Netherlands and bycicles: in average we, dutchies have 2 bikes Some explanations: Restaurant prices: Amsterdam is a touristic capital city, that is why it so expensiv. But against Rome or London, Amsterdam is cheap! (exclusiv panecakes, they are always expensiv in Restaurants) How to pay: if restaurants al pay with credit card, a robber won't get any money from that restaurant. That is one of the reasons why you need to pay with credit card, because it is safer. But also easier and faster, like if you need to pay in the shop 18.83€ then you don't need to count the cents. Bread: with raisons = Krentebol/baquettes = pisolet English speaking: in the Netherlands you already learn English as second language in the primary school (and a lot of films are english with dutch subtitle)

As an Indian, I observed that almost everything is closed in Germany during Sundays. But, many shops in Netherlands are opened. I remember when I and my friends used to travel from Aachen (Germany) to Netherlands just to buy a couple of beers. lol. Moreover, Netherlands has lots of Canals. A small town near Eindhoven even had traffic signal for boats.

I’m British and lived in The Netherlands for 5 years all around, I love it and love the people, nearly most Dutch people can speak fluent English

Hi Dana! I submitted German subtitles for your last and your current video.

If you're interested in the differences, read the book "Auf Heineken könn wir uns eineken".

I have to say that English is probably more of an Amsterdam thing: where I live, yes, technically, people do speak English and I could probably get by if that's all I could speak, but there is no denying that life became much, much easier once I learned how to speak Dutch. I wasn't aware of the cash thing: whenever we go to Germany we have no problems paying with our PIN passes. But speaking of cards: is Germany on the OV card system (one card, all public transit systems covered, including bike rentals)? We usually drive to Germany but the one time I took the bus there we had to pay cash. If you're ever in Nijmegen or Arnhem let me know; I'd love to show you around the part of the Netherlands that pot-smoking Brits haven't invaded :-)

As a Dutch girl from Amsterdam, currently living in Munich this is really fun to watch! I think you hit the nail on the head. The always having to pay with cash thing drives us craaaaaaaazy. I must say though that I find people in customer service here in Munich shockingly unfriendly. But maybe I'm biased.. ;) xx

Hi i'm Dutch and I'd like to tell you more About what you said in the video: 1. Bikes: we do use oir bikes mostly for transport. So we all go to school and work by bikes etc. We also have a special cycling exam when we are in 5th grade! 2. English: we learn English in school, we start learning it when we are like 4 years old! And when you go to middle school (age 12) we start learning French and German as well (when you go to a Gymnasium school you will learn Greek, Latin, French and German) (I don't know much about the other subject you were talking about😂)

The biggest difference is that Germany doesn't have AOW (Algemene OuderdomsWet - State Pension for Senior Citizens). So Germany boasts around of having the biggest economy in Europe, yet there are a lot of elderly people, far over the age of 65, DAILY working to make ends meet. In the Netherlands you see pensioners riding bikes through the landscape and enjoying their Autumn of their lives! In Germany you see 78-year olds working as Putzfrauen being bossed around by the young! "Dudesland? What's Dudesland?" "It's that little country next to the Netherlands where the young enslave the elderly"

In the Netherlands, movies are subtitled. So if a movie is in English, you will actually hear English. Maybe that makes that Dutch are comfortable with English.

Last year I went to Amsterdam, and I remember seeing this really cool bike-bar contraption(which I recently learned they have one in my city too!). But that was really interesting to see because here was just a bunch of people drinking and having fun while pedaling and controlling the "vehicle".

This was so fun to watch! With very little travel under my belt, I enjoy hearing about your experiences. :)

In my opinion, besides the heavy wind and frequent intermittent rainfall, the Netherlands is the best country in the world. I moved to England 7yrs ago and day doesn't pass by that I don't feel "heimwee" / homesick...

:) I'm from Amsterdam and your finding sounds pretty accurate. Nice video! Keep up the good work!

I just love the fact you have a Mos Eisley clock.

I found your observations about bicycles in Amsterdam super interesting. Pictures would of been wonderful. Please consider taking and sharing them with your videos.

The main reason why Dutch restaurants are more expensive is down to real estate pricing and, consequently, rents. Renting a restaurant space in Germany is a lot cheaper than it is in the Netherlands. There's not a huge difference in taxes; and some things are slightly cheaper in the Netherlands, such as the actual food itself - an advantage of having a huge shipping port close to almost any part of the country. And then there is doubtlessly and "Amsterdam tax" because of the huge amounts of tourism. I don't live in Amsterdam but I work there, and I have long ago ceased going to restaurants in the city centre because of the prices, horrible service and dito food. I remember that when I first started to travel regularly from the northern Netherlands to Germany in the 1990s, one (then) Guilder equaled 1 Mark in the real world; which meant that being in Germany was in fact 10% more expensive. Re-unification has largely suppressed inflation for a few years, and living in Holland became much more expensive in that time, so that now the cost of living here is higher.

As a german i'm really interested in moving to the netherlands some day😊

The only American in Amsterdam that didn't notice all the coffee shops.

Nice vid. I have been in america for a long time. I was very glad when i was back in europe, I missed the way of living in Europe very much and also the culture etc things they don,t have in the vs

Hi Dana, an other difference is that the Dutch are more laid back concerning manners. The Germans are more formal and in some situations it is an absolute no-go to address your boss/superior with you=du in Germany. In The Netherlands, mostly you may call your chef with 'jij=du' or with their first name instead of Mr./Mrs......Next to that, although the Netherlands are quite small, some regions are influenced by the adjacent neigbouring country. So the Southern regions with Belgium and the Eastern parts with Germany. Some parts in the Eastern regions are also speaking an own dialect (Nedersaksisch-Niedersachsisch) that kinda mixes Dutch and German into their own language. That is why people from the eastern part, let say for example the Twente region, can understand people who are speaking Nedersaksisch as well in parts of Northern Germany.And because of the great influence of Germany with The Netherlands, in some parts the Germans can just speak their own language like in tourist areas at the North Sea or in greater Dutch cities like Enschede, Maastricht etc.And finally, one of the most respected and honored Dutchman, Willem van Oranje was born in Germany and even 2 of our former queens have married Germans. Therefore our present King Willem-Alexander is half German. And in our national anthem we have also a line that says: "Ben ik van Duitschen Bloed, literally translated I am of German Blood" So, next to our differences, we have also some things in common.

Thank you, Dana. I lived in the Netherlands for years before moving to Germany. Holland is basically an urban environment, hence the bikes - plus it is flat. It is really not worth driving a car just to move through town and pay parking fees. You really should go to another city though, Amsterdam is not typically Dutch, it is a tourist trap. German is also a `big´language, nobody expects somebody to speak Dutch when they go on holiday - this means they sometimes speak 3 or 4 languages.

Spot on differences! The rude service used to be the standard, however it is changing. Not everyone caught up yet, that might explain the extremes.

restaurant prices in the Netherlands outside of Amsterdam are quite a bit more cheap, but still not as cheap as in germany, especially the drinks are more expensive here in the NL. If I go out to eat at a restaurant in Venlo, where I live (Venlo is on the german border), it's generally €20-25 per person while just across the border it's €15-20 per person. it's also really rare when they just accept credit cards etc. 99% of restaurants also accept regular cash payments.

The Netherlands are right next to England and the USA is their 3rd Important country for imports. It doesn't surprise me much that they speak good English. We Germans lern some English in school and after that most people never really need to speak it. Austrians speak German, Swiss people speak German. All movies, all video games... almost everything is available in German. So people loose their English really fast. It's like with the Americans. They lern some Spanish and then the barely have to use it. People in Norway speak also really good English. Over all much better than Germans.

I got an ad for the netherlands before this video started lul

münster is the german bike capital so if you ever go there in the summer you will be amazed by how many bikes there are! not as much as amsterdam but its crazy to see that in münster

Coming from a Dutch person living in Austria, I couldn't agree more about the bread statement.

riding bycicles in the netherlands is not a "thing" it is just normal. it's normal here to have a bike. like seriously it is normal for all children to go to school walking or by bike. the're are almost no schoolbusses so we kind of have to haha 😊

inglesh?

The helmet thing has a couple of factors behind it. 1) In Holland bicycle is as common as walking. in the rest of the world it is closer to sporting. Sporting comes with sports gear, daily routine comes with daily clothing. As another result, bicycles and bicycle infrastructure are ubiquitous, so all traffic is aware of them. (like: you don't need extra protection when you walk on the sidewalk in a busy city) 2) You don't pick up uncontrolable speeds cycling through Amsterdam, for Amsterdam is both flat and crowded.

excellent video.

Same People 🇩🇪❤️🇳🇱

She Speaks "Anglesh"

It actually was cute how you talked about Dutch bikes haha. I'm from the Netherlands and we all grow up with riding on bikes so to us it's like walking. :) haha loved it

Dutch schoolchildren, aged 12, are doing a theory and practical bicycle exam. These exams are quite similar to the exams taken for a car driver's licence.

I life in Germany and I'd rather live in the Netherlands.

The prices in restaurants... Well i guess if a certain type of tourists gets the inevitable munchies, you can charge them any price :-) And yes, the dutch (and most scandinavians) easily outrank us germans when it comes to foreign languages. I never understood how our teacher suck so hard at english.

If you see someone cycling with a helmet in the netherlands, it's usually a german or austrian tourist!

The reason many Dutch people speak English is because it is a compulsory subject at school. And in Amsterdam there are a lot of tourists most of them come from English speaking countries. I have been to New York 2 months ago and had a lot of questions about how it is in the Netherlands. If there are any questions that need to be answered. Just ask (I'm Dutch so there will be a lot of answers)

The reason why so many people speak English in the Netherlands is pretty simple. As there is not enough money for a good dubbing they have to watch TV-Series and movies in English with sometimes captions but sometimes even without captions so learning English is needed to understand media.

The most important difference, as any German or Dutch would tell you: four World Cup victories vs. none! ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️

I am an American so I cannot speak to the differences you've experienced. However, I have taken on a "Polyglot Challenge" where I am learning three languages at once- German, Swiss German, and Dutch. Yes there are many similarities. But each is unique and a joy to study. I find that I have learned more by studying three languages at once than when I just concentrated on one. Thanks for sharing your adventures. I learn a lot about culture and "the way things are done" there. Tschuss!

Agree with the hit-and-miss customer service and the prices in Amsterdam are way up there with the most expensive cities in Europe. People live at home longer because it's usually harder for a starter (someone looking for a place to live for the first time) to find something affordable since the market is so small and demand is pretty high. Also distances are smaller so it's not always necessary to move out to study. Because we're so small we have to learn different languages. And yeah we love our bikes and we try our best at being good at English - glad we succeed somewhat!

Lekker Nederlands praten. Ik ben een Belg. (dutch)

Das Brot dort kann man gut als Kissen benutzen!

At the weekly markets on the main squares in the Netherlands, at most stands it's also possible to pay with bank carts. I have never seen that elsewhere.

Last week, I (german) made holiday in the netherlands. » bikes: The dutch's definitely drive much more with bikes (without helmets). The streets have bike lanes and often they have a higher priority than cars. And I wondered how many bikes were parked at the Centraal Station in Amsterdam (a long line and a parking house with 3 floors just for bikes). » restaurant prices: Cash still is very present. The once location without cash, which I saw, was the Euromast in Rotterdam (restaurant and souvenir shop). » bread: Oh yeah, it's very fluffy. We had it every day at breakfast in our pension. » english: In TV, nearly every international movie was in english with subtitles. And dutch is like a mix of german and english, so it's more near to english. So it's no wonder that many can speak (better) english. ... other differences: » The speed limits in the netherlands sucks. The Netherlands have limits of 50/80/130 (in town/out of town/highway) while the limits in Germany are 50/100/unlimited (130 recommend). And they have much more speed cameras in the netherlands. That's very annoying. Just the streets are in better condition. » At gas stations, the netherlands mostly have only Super (E5) and Diesel, while in germany you have a wide variety of gasoline/diesel. And in the netherlands, you will find much more gas stations where you can pay just with cards. And the prices for gasoline are much more higher in the netherlands (20-30 cent per liter). » When riding with a train, tram, bus or anything, you always have to check in and out. I never saw this here in germany. » You want to go in an ice cream parlor to get a sundae or just eat some cake in a café? You have to search, because that's very rare. The most time you find just snack bars. » In the netherlands, the letter boxes are orange, while they are yellow in germany.

The Netherlands is not only Amsterdam..

What about Afrikaners in South Africa?

random info: We used to have a joke in the Netherlands if you would tell somebody you lost your bike, they would answer back: Have you checked in Germany yet? around WWII and after there was a belief/reality that the Wehrmacht when occupying the Netherlands, stole ALL the bikes of the Dutch civilians for their own bicycle infantry.

It’s right, everyone speaks a bit english in the Netherlands, I am 14 Years old. I love to go to Italy in my vakantie. And I love Terschelling in the Netherlands. (You can Bike there very well.) In the Netherlands you can everywhere pay with cash and With pin.

de taal

Well, Dutch kinda is a mix of English and German, so it's no surprise to me, that more people speak fluently English in the Netherlands ^^ Many also speak fluently German as well :) Both languages are rather easy for them to learn - and in turn, for me it's not that hard to understand or read dutch, despite never learning it - just with my English and German knowledge ^^

Another thing is that the Germans just talk German to the Dutch when they are in the Netherlands. But the Dutch always try to speak German to them or just English when they are in Germany. It's like the Germans just assume Dutch people can always speak German.

Germans and Dutch have a very different kind of humor. Dutch tend to think of the Germans as serious and more strict. I don''t know how this is the other way around.