How Do the Dutch Learn English so Well?

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Some Dutch people learn English in school, but many people learn English by watching television, movies, and listening to music. In this video I ask people in the Netherlands about their experience with learning English, and what contributed to their current English level the most if they learned through multiple means...
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The education system in the Netherlands places a strong emphasis on language learning, and this early exposure to English can help Dutch people develop a strong foundation in the language. Additionally, the Dutch are exposed to a lot of English-language media, which can help them become more comfortable with the language and improve their skills. This combination of factors makes it easier for the Dutch to learn English and become proficient in it.
It is also worth noting that the Netherlands is located in close proximity to other English-speaking countries like the UK. This makes it easier for the Dutch to be exposed to the language and have opportunities to practice it regularly. This can help them develop a better understanding of the language and improve their speaking and listening skills.
In conclusion, there are quite a few factors that may contribute to the Dutch proficiency in English. From their education system and proximity to English-speaking countries, to their exposure to English-language media and natural aptitude for language learning. These factors combine to make it easier for the Dutch to become proficient in English and use it effectively in their daily lives.
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2 окт 2022

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Комментарии : 117

@CultureCompassTV 2 месяца назад

Thanks for watching. If you found this video interesting, please consider sharing it with other people that may find it interesting.

@Nettsinthewoods 5 месяцев назад

Our language isn’t so different, but the Dutch are superb English speakers and understand English idiosyncrasies. We share the same sense of humour too which is very endearing❤

@BabzV 5 месяцев назад

Us Dutchies love the British sense of humor because it's the same as ours, dry, sarcastic and dark at times 😉

@proudofyourroots9575 Год назад

As an English person I can confirm it's true about Dutch English skills. Every Dutch person I have met spoke perfect English, which is something I haven't experienced with any other people

@himars_m142 Год назад

What about Sweden or Norway?

@AD4M88 8 месяцев назад

@@himars_m142 Swedish people I've met speak amazing English... a few even had me wondering what part of the UK they were from as I couldn't quite work out their accent, and it turns out they were Swedish

@beautyneytiri 8 месяцев назад

you seriously call it perfect english ?

@shoelacedonkey 6 месяцев назад

@@beautyneytiri I wouldn't call it perfect either, but compared to people from most other countries, except perhaps Scandinavia, it's more than good enough.

@crystalp7242 6 месяцев назад

English and Dutch are also pretty closely related linguistically (I think only Frisian is more closely related to English than Dutch is), and there are probably elements of the English language that are relatively easy for Dutch speakers to pick up on when learning English. I’m an English speaker and I’ve done a little bit of Dutch on Duolingo, but I don’t know if it’s as easy for English speakers to pick up on certain elements of Dutch (for example, the differences between when to use “de” versus “het” or the several words for “you”, as English has simplified the definite article down to just “the” and we only have one word for “you”, and that’s simply “you”). But compared to another Germanic language such as German, things like word order are easier to pick up on in Dutch for an English speaker.

@ferark 8 месяцев назад

I lived and worked in Den Haag in 1977-81. I tried to learn Dutch but found it difficult at first. I gradually got better was not fluent but I did take a job interview in Dutch and for two years all I spoke was Dutch..but that was a long time ago now. HET IS AL MEER DAN 40 JAAR GELEDEN MAAR EEN DEEL VAN MIJ IN HET BIJZONDER. DEN HAAG IK HOUD VAN JE. ❤

@mep6302 Год назад

3:35 Her: English is also a Latin language and Dutch also so it's not so difficult. Me knowing that English and Dutch are both Germanic languages: 💀💀

@ghosty3507 Год назад

Hahaha

@SBP_Official Месяц назад

I think she meant latin alphabet

@mep6302 Год назад

One of the main reasons Dutch people can speak English so well is because both are Germanic languages. They're very similar. I've been learning Dutch (no special reason) and there are many similar words and grammar structure. Although Dutch and English grammar have their differences.

@B-Meister 9 месяцев назад

Exactly. But I think it's also that American/English TV shows aren't dubbed here, as mentioned in the video.

@JfromUK_ 7 месяцев назад

Yes, the comment from one of the interviewees about Latin confused me -- Germanic it is. I went recently and did encounter one person who didn't speak English, but it was the staff at a Turkish bakery :) They do very well overall. I have a Dutch friend who says her English is better than her Dutch!

@EvanFromJersey 21 день назад

2:30 is a pretty solid example of an English homonym. Patients are the people she receives and takes care of. Patience is the ability to tolerate setback without getting upset or angry. Both are pretty applicable to her profession. By the way, the lady right after her when she said "with er hands n er feet" sounded incredibly American. The guy at 4:16 is also the man.

@dutchgamer842 Год назад

As a kid I was kind forced to learn English. Before I even went to school. All kids shows were from the US and some from UK or Canada. When I started to learn how to read, I also picked up the written words on TV and in games, printed media

@bakedcake1954 5 месяцев назад

I love the Dutch accent😍 it sounds like the Irish/American/German accents combined

@lightworker2956 2 месяца назад

Interesting -- many Dutch people hate the Dutch accent when Dutch people speak English.

@jingle1161 Месяц назад

@@lightworker2956I can confirm that. It’s pretty awkward to endure a heavy Dutch accent. It’s sometimes stereotyped in comedy, portraying a not so bright Dutchie speaking English. I guess a native English speaker doesn’t really perceive it as such.

@h.a.dejong192 16 дней назад

When I grew up, there were limited TV channels. Since everything is subtitled on Dutch television it was easier to learn English and German. I even learned a little bit of French because of the shows from Michel fugain and Charles aznavour.

@carolinedanon 3 месяца назад

I also think that there are a lot of international companies that are settled in the Netherlands, so when Dutch work over there, the common work-language is English.. That makes it a lot easier to learn English… It is also fun to work for a German Company if that is settled over here, as then mostly the common language is still English, but then also German sneaks in. Dutch can really good understand German. Only French is a little more difficult, though I speak that too because of lessons at school.

@Nwk843 7 месяцев назад

💕😘 love Dutch they love english lang no matters the technical analysis says bout english. Dutch people are smart and attentious in bussines, travels and concrete life. They love in be polyglots I love the cultural side of all Netherlands. 🤗❤😘🇳🇱

@stepheng9607 Год назад

Very interesting and thanks for the video. In the past we have found that Dutch people speak English very well but we have come across a couple of people who did not. We stayed for a week in Rotterdam recently and learnt a few Dutch words and phrases to prepare. It was useful when shopping and reading menus. We noticed that a lot of information, such as on the train, was provided in both Dutch and English. Visiting one attraction, it was rather pleasant to be asked a question in Dutch by another visitor and to be able to respond back in Dutch.

@CultureCompassTV Год назад

Thanks for your comment Stephen. Did you come to the Netherlands for vacation? Just curious what your reason was for visiting the Netherlands, not that you need a good reason, but yeah just curious. About "We noticed that a lot of information, such as on the train, was provided in both Dutch and English": Yeah I see this happening more and more over time. My doctor's answering machine is in English now too I noticed recently.

@stepheng9607 Год назад

@@CultureCompassTV it was just a short city break. Rotterdam is a good base because of the easy access to places to visit using the railways

@Pik871229 3 месяца назад

Dutch ppl should be one of the best English speakers outside English speaking countries I reckon. That explains why Dutch footballers settled well while playing in English Premier League, since they are able to communicate easily with teammates and manager

@Tommy_007 13 дней назад

I'm from Denmark. (I speak English quite well.) I understand the Scandinavian languages and German very well. And some Dutch. I think that all these languages have the same linguistic "distance" to English. Among people from these contries, I think Dutch people's English pronunciation (and maybe also vocabulary) is on the highest level. Maybe Dutch is phonetically a bit closer to English which might give them a little advantage. For instance, Danish and German are more staccato. Dutch (and Swedish) are more melodic - and closer to English sounds (in my ears).

@taridean 9 месяцев назад

3:42 I would saw yes because as native a English speaker that was the case for me when I spent 6 months on an internship in the Netherlands. However, I do strongly believe learning the local language(s) of the country you move to. Unfortunately, I never got to learn much Dutch because everyone just spoke to me in English as soon as they realised I was a foreigner. Even where I was working, they purposely spoke in English most of the time to accommodate us non-Dutch speakers that were there.

@arandomlanguagenerd1869 6 месяцев назад

I honestly live the accent when its noticable

@WhoopDePoopDeScoop 4 месяца назад

It's because Dutch and English share a parent language - Fries

@rtoet18 8 месяцев назад

I've learned english at a very young age through video games. Started playing Diablo 1 when i was around 10 and to understand the game you had to learn the language a little and ofcourse you learn some at school but its mainly the basics.. I believe the biggest reason why most dutch people speak english is mainly because nothing gets dubbed on TV (besides shows for really young kids)

@doublenickel1000 6 месяцев назад

I had a Dutch boss who went to Holland every other year or so, and one time somebody said to him, "You speak pretty good Dutch for an American!"😄

@ellenlaehnemann7361 Год назад

When I went to school in the Netherlands it was at that t time compulsory to take Dutch, German, English and French as subjects in school. The Netherlands is a tiny country as you know therefore it is almost necessary to speak a variety of languages in order to communicate with the rest of the World. Of course nowadays with a great influx of people from all around the World and doing business on a global level being familiar with a variety of languages becomes an integral part of day to day life.

@CultureCompassTV Год назад

Yeah I agree. It used to be school (the main way in which we learned). Now with the world becoming increasingly more of an international place that contributes a lot also.

@quatra1000 9 месяцев назад

Yes, 4 years of French, 4 years, each, of German and English. Languages "weighed" as much as math.

@AceofDlamonds 18 дней назад

I noticed when I play online games I see Dutch people speak English the best outside of Anglo regions.

@andrewattenboroughtwothumb4697 2 месяца назад

I have ancestors who spoke Dutch and English and lived in New Zealand

@donbenyimm2 Год назад

I didn't learn English until I went to school. Sadly, I lost everything I learned before school.

@fzavalloni 9 месяцев назад

Indeed, Dutch people speaks a really good English and you can live here without knowing Dutch. But it is not true that we don't try to learn the language. In my case, I study in general 4 or 5 hours a week, but it is really difficult to learn.

@seanpainvorswijk4106 Год назад

I got you man 💪💪💪thanks voor de interview

@CultureCompassTV Год назад

Leuk je ontmoet te hebben en leuk interview ook, jij ook bedankt👍

@seanpainvorswijk4106 Год назад

@@CultureCompassTV zeker weten ben nu geabonneerd op al je kanalen 💚💛❤️

@seanpainvorswijk4106 Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Hll8fsivPAg.html&ab_channel=SeanPainVorswijk

@moi984 Год назад

Vandaag Paul kort ontmoet maar helaas geen tijd voor een interview. Leuk kanaal!

@CultureCompassTV Год назад

Leuk om te horen dat je het een leuk kanaal vind Mo. Waar had ik je precies ontmoet in Alkmaar? Ik ontmoet een hoop mensen wanneer ik aan het interviewen ben dus weet zo niet 123 welke van de mensen die ik ontmoet heb jij bent. Stukje nieuwsgierigheid.

@moi984 Год назад

@@CultureCompassTV Hey, de drie jongens voor de frietzaak.

@dubbletfoundation4827 8 месяцев назад

I started to develop my english language skills when i started to play Runescape

@MikhaliusSeverius Год назад

I learned inglish throe seriesh on netflixsh

@heylson Год назад

😂😂😂

@philip-at-tube 3 месяца назад

lol !

@Joe-xq3vp 2 месяца назад

😂 Sheesh

@broodplank 4 месяца назад

Millennials learned basic English from cartoon network, more advanced English on school

@dtmaravillajr 9 месяцев назад

Dutch sentence construction is very similar to English and vice versa.

@mariaconcepcionflores2850 Год назад

Ich spreche auch English aber nicht so gut

@QnJhbQ 9 месяцев назад

0:36 )) die vond het wel heel interessant om te vertellen allemaal

@FlaminCat 8 месяцев назад

Ongezellig

@slayerdude18 3 месяца назад

through gaming and movies for me

@doublenickel1000 6 месяцев назад

I once met a girl who I thought was probably Canadian. Her English was perfect--too perfect for an American!😄 When I found out she was Dutch, I didn't like it. It gave me a creepy feeling. Like she was a spy or something!😆

@philip-at-tube 3 месяца назад

lol

@andrevandervlies5700 Год назад

Not onlee doo wee speek Inglis verrie wel, wee olso don't hef un eksunt et ol! Just kidding of course, I know very few people who don't speak any English. The subtitled media we consume is probably the greatest reason most of us speak it. English lessons in school didn't add much to what I had already learned from tv and such.

@CultureCompassTV Год назад

I agree, and my eksunt is the best 😅 I personally learned English mostly by reading and participating in internet forums when those still were predominant (in the dinosaur internet age).

@andrevandervlies5700 Год назад

@@CultureCompassTV Yeah, that makes sense, but if I recall correctly I'm a few years older than you. I learned most of my English before the internet dinosaurs.

@CultureCompassTV Год назад

@@andrevandervlies5700 Haha ok hmm I wonder what came before that. Ah yeah the subtitled media you refer to. Got it. I somehow never learned really well from that. I guess it helped with the basics and familiarity of pronunciation, but when I really engaged in the English language actively on forums I became fluent over time, though no doubt my eksunt is still there. I'll just think of myself as the Dutch Arnold Schwarzenegger and feel better 😇

@andrevandervlies5700 Год назад

@@CultureCompassTV Let me put it this way: I was in the fourth grade of primary school when it was decided we needed to start learning English there. Teachers had to take crash courses to teach the subject. Which resulted (I kid you not) in a teacher "explaining" the pronunciation of the word "vegetable" as "vetsjuh-taybul".

@phoenix5054 2 месяца назад

A now-adult learned English before entering school because she wanted to watch RU-vid videos. I feel so old. 😂

@Poepiedrol78 9 месяцев назад

When I was four I used youtube to learn english

@angharadhafod 8 месяцев назад

I suspect the Welsh are the best non-native English speakers in the world (even if you exclude those who grew up with first language English). Apart from that, the reason Dutch people are usually so good has something to do with the similarities between the languages.

@exitspree 8 месяцев назад

That's not true, about 75% of the Welsh population don't speak Welsh at all and it's not the de-facto language in Wales. Obviously it's an official language, but it's not commonly used.

@angharadhafod 8 месяцев назад

@@exitspree It is true for those who speak Welsh. *hi there, waving at you...*. And it is not only one of the de-facto languages of Wales, it is literally the only de jure language of the whole of the united kingdom (fun fact)

@Dan-eq6po 2 месяца назад

Same as Irish

@PieterdeBats-ev6cc 3 месяца назад

Make that the cat wise.

@davec5153 8 месяцев назад

Its probably the closest language to English, so it makes sense that they learn it easily.

@GrzegorzWronkowski Месяц назад

Double Dutch

@musicmoviesandgames2004 9 месяцев назад

3:56 And you can’t say the same about France, now can you?

@plonss 9 месяцев назад

English is easy for Dutchmen. And from an early age they are exposed to a lot of English. And despite that many have an awful pronunciation and they prefer to use the English words that resemble Dutch, carefully omitting the more exotic ones, which they often don't even know. As a Dutchman I really don't understand this recurring theme of Dutch speaking English well. I think they are too much flattered. A tour through Europe would teach you that there are peoples, including some who have native languages much more different from English than Dutch, who speak English much better and more fluently.

@GabrielViana-mg3vh 9 месяцев назад

I think we can be proud that we can have a conversation with almost every English speaking tourist or visitor. If you would go to Czechia or France, more than half wouldn’t understand what you’re trying to explain.

@randygomez9595 8 месяцев назад

I think perhaps the difference with Dutch people is they very open to speaking English and, when talking to foreigners, would actually rather just use English from the start then take the time to guage how much Dutch the person might know. Because the Dutch are so keen on being efficient with everything 😅

@plonss 8 месяцев назад

@@randygomez9595 that makes sense, and some het quite upset then when a foreigner does not speak English :)

@exitspree 8 месяцев назад

@ Plonss And yet we genuinely rank #1 in the EPI (English Proficiency Index) out of all non-native speaking countries and have consistently been in the top 3 for years on end. I think you severely underestimate how many people in other countries completely lack the ability to form coherent sentences in English. You probably mostly just get confronted with the people who do have that ability, but extending your personal experiences to a generalized statement is committing an anecdotal fallacy.

@nicknieuwelink351 Месяц назад

I love the dutch accent😂😂😂

@SuperLightningStarOfficial 4 месяца назад

Highest English Proficiency

@FLOYD-MAYWEATHER-TBE 2 месяца назад

@youdontknow8729 Год назад

Youtchube videosh

@snoesje4u255 Месяц назад

I don’t believe it. The interviewer also talks hakkie talkie Dutch 😊

@renevw5812 Год назад

I come from The Netherlands and i must say we are not great English speakers. Yeah for a little chit chat, but business (so formal English) that is something completely different. The AR/AP invoice, Quotation, General ledger things.

@CultureCompassTV Год назад

Here's the study in which the Netherlands ranks #1 as the best non-native English speaking country, if you're interested to see it: www.ef.com/wwen/epi/ I'm not sure about its accuracy but there must be at least some truth to that I figure. The Netherlands has ranked #1 in that study for 3 years in a row now.

@andrevandervlies5700 Год назад

I see your point and you are right in that regard. However, i find it doesn't really come up in regular (off the clock) conversation, unless the English speaker you're talking to is in business. Each profession has its specialized lingo that not everyone (even native speakers) will know. I wouldn't say a Native Dutch speaker's Dutch isn't great when they wouldn't know what a "koof" or "snelspanner" is, simply because they haven't worked in finishing construction, for instance.

@RH-ro3sg Год назад

Being the 'best non-native speakers' (supposing for the moment that's true in the first place) doesn't nearly equate to being (close to) native in skills- especially when discussing specialised areas such as these (business administration, I suppose). As the Dutch say: In het land der blinden is éénoog koning.

@PaulVoorberg Год назад

@@RH-ro3sg Sure but no-one is arguing that case. I think that would be too high of an expectation for countries where English is not a native language.

@dutchgamer842 Год назад

@@andrevandervlies5700 Native speakers also don't speak their native language perfectly. If you speak your standard language, you are always influenced by your regional dialect even if you don't speak it.

@juloedtb1420 8 месяцев назад

When i listen to my fellow countrymen, most of them speak dunglish, and yes even our king and prime minister suck at English. Their accent is very thick and I can't believe that we are better at English then countries like Denmark, Sweden or Norway. Even Belgians speak better English then us Dutchies, in my opinion. I've been living in the states for nine years and I'm still learning some English/US English pronunciations and meanings of new words. Fortunately the internet is helping quite a lot with the correct translations. I can recognize a Dutchman by just listening from a mile away. In other words, don't compliment us Dutchies too much with our understanding and speaking of the English language. (or anything else for that matter) We are known for how easely we're to walk beside our shoes, and how hard it is to make us wear them again. The reason why the Dutch speak on average three languages is because we have done, and are still doing a lot of trading with countries all over the world. And beside, since only a handful of countries, (Belgium, South Africa, Surinam, Aruba, Curaçao and Saint Martin) understand Dutch, we prefer to do business in English.

@CultureCompassTV 8 месяцев назад

In the comments of a similar video on TkTok Amerians compliment and are impressed with the Dutch speaking English, while quite a few Dutch talk shit about Dutch English speakers. I think it communicates more about the attitude than the language.

@juloedtb1420 8 месяцев назад

@@CultureCompassTV Nope, I ment what I said. Just listen to our sentence structures, English is often spoken with the Dutch structure. And if we don't know the word, we just say it in Dutch and hope the other person understand it. The few things that I find positive is, we're not afraid to speak other languages, and we don't go mental if someone speak non-Dutch in public. We don't care if we don't understand the language if the conversation does not include us. If it does include us, we'll try to make it work somehow. (Where there's will, there's a way)

@CultureCompassTV 8 месяцев назад

@@juloedtb1420 Ok fair enough. thanks for elaborating. I think the accent isn't a problem but some Dutch butcher sentence structure no doubt. We're none-native English speakers though, so expecting that to be perfect is a high bar to set. I think most Dutch do a pretty good job relatively speaking, but I haven't personally been to Sweden etc. The idea for this video came from this study where the Netherlands has been ranking #1 in English for quite a few years in a row now: www.ef.com/wwen/epi/

@juloedtb1420 8 месяцев назад

@@CultureCompassTV I think it's more about the effort that we make to have a conversation with other non-Dutch speaking people. Like I mentioned before, we benefitted from speaking multiple languages in trading with a lot of other countries. I do think it's awesome that we rank #1 but I'm quite surprised because a lot of other nationalities, with relative small amount of people speaking their language worldwide, are putting in the same or more effort as us. Don't forget, this is just my opinion. As a side note Yesterday on youtube, I was watching Guy Verhofstadt being interviewed on the british GB news channel. And because we having this conversation, I was paying attention to those three points I mentioned, accent, pronunciation and structure. Ofcourse he has a little bit of an accent, especially in the intonation. He's good at pronunciation of words in English and also the sentence structure. And in my opinion, a far better at english than our prime minister Mark Rutte. That ofcourse doesn't mean that on average, Belgians are better at English. So that point is still debatable. Anyway, thank you for this conversation. I really enjoyed it.

@CultureCompassTV 8 месяцев назад

@@juloedtb1420 Yes, Mark Rutte is the embodiment of 'steenkolen Engels'.

@vescenti 5 месяцев назад

wish i still knew how to speak dutch😔, would be cool to be bilingual instead of a person who moved to America when they were five and forgot how to speak dutdh☠️. i'm basically american now 🤢

@alexmuller5833 Месяц назад

I don’t clearly understand the case of the Netherlands. I understand this is an international language, but why use it so often in the detriment of your national language.

@snoesje4u255 Месяц назад

Dutch a Latin language 😅

@JayJay-okay Месяц назад

I personally find that it's greatly overrated. What does though set the Dutch apart: they readily respond in English without this second of shock, that one may encounter in other Eurooean countries. I have frequent contact with Dutch people and find that overall they retain a strong accent, possibly also because their language is the only Germanic language without "aspiration". My verdict: on a par with Germans, but no comparison to Scandinavians.

@FenceThis Месяц назад

if you can live with every s being a sch it’s fine I guess

@ashzab1 8 дней назад

They don't have a super strong accent because their language sounds like an American trying to speak German with an American accent 😂 so when they speak in English it sounds fine

@user-wj5qp2uw5e 2 месяца назад

I think Scandinavian countries and the Baltics, even Flanders, Belgium speak more and definitely better English then the overconfident Dutch.

@GpeterKostwinder Год назад

Stone coal English, yes verrie muts ja ja

@Summer-tv7rz 9 месяцев назад

Vergeleken met al die nieuwe Nederlanders die hier al jarenlang wonen en nog steeds bescheten Nederlands spreken spreken wij, Nederlanders, verdomd onze vreemde talen stukken beter.