I went to a party while I was living in The Netherlands. Everybody else at the party was Dutch. They spent the entire evening speaking to each other in English for my benefit.
I was visiting a friend in the Netherlands, who had to work one day which left me exploring Rotterdam alone. I commented that I was worried about what I was going to do for lunch, since I didn’t speak Dutch and didn’t know how I was going to order food.
He said, “just go into a Burger King and start speaking English - the cashier will understand you unless they completely failed highschool.” I always appreciated that about Dutch culture. They all speak 3 or 4 languages seemingly effortlessly.
Okay but why go to Burger King except maybe to ask, “where can I get some good food in this town?”
Surely the waitstaff in other places would have at least the same education.
In the Netherlands the person would not respond to the question:
‘Dove’ means deaf person in Dutch
I know I shoehorned that joke in, but a friend of mine dated a partially deaf person that was angry because of that brand name and that was so absurdly funny to me that I needed to share
Dude, everyone in the Netherlands speaks English. This map can’t be right.
I went to a party while I was living in The Netherlands. Everybody else at the party was Dutch. They spent the entire evening speaking to each other in English for my benefit.
Yeah that tracks. Bet it made you feel at ease.
So fucking hard trying to learn Dutch when I was working over there, everyone switched to English on me as soon as I started speaking.
Weaponized politeness.
It’s not weaponized politeness. It’s a love for efficient communication; everyone speaks English, so why not use it.
Weaponized efficiency
I know it’s not meant to be shitty in any way it was just one of the funnier frustrations I had, I was genuinely trying to learn the language lmao
I never let strangers know I can speak english.
If you try speaking their native language, they can definitely tell by your accent, though.
yeah,I got a turkish accent. also, unless you’re SUUUPER anglo, people can just tell you have an accent, not a specific accent.
I was visiting a friend in the Netherlands, who had to work one day which left me exploring Rotterdam alone. I commented that I was worried about what I was going to do for lunch, since I didn’t speak Dutch and didn’t know how I was going to order food.
He said, “just go into a Burger King and start speaking English - the cashier will understand you unless they completely failed highschool.” I always appreciated that about Dutch culture. They all speak 3 or 4 languages seemingly effortlessly.
Okay but why go to Burger King except maybe to ask, “where can I get some good food in this town?” Surely the waitstaff in other places would have at least the same education.
I dunno, that’s what my friend said almost 20 years ago. My time machine is outta gas so I can’t go back to ask him.
Visiting fast food in other countries can be fun for comparison / novelty purposes, fwiw
In the Netherlands the person would not respond to the question:
‘Dove’ means deaf person in Dutch
I know I shoehorned that joke in, but a friend of mine dated a partially deaf person that was angry because of that brand name and that was so absurdly funny to me that I needed to share
I think they asked only old ladies in the Baltics too.