What do you think the dutch people are?

Booooring!

Remus, welcome to Able2know.

It's always interesting to see new responses to this older thread.

Do stick around and join some of the more current conversations!

WTF! i'm dutch, but i DON'T agree with what you said (expect that part about belgians, they do talk funny) but seriously, you say that we ALL think americans are fat and dumb, that al germans are unfriendly, and al french drink wine and eat breadsticks.
that's the same as people from other countries think we wear wooden shoes all day, and eat cheese.
you idiot

I think this is funny because I understand exactly what Amethyst is talking about. I have a Dutch boyfriend, am learning dutch and live in Amsterdam. I have lived in many countries and can say that the people here are by far the most closed, arrogant and downright illogical. It's practically like living in a third world country. The service here sucks if existent at all.

The Dutch have a habit of speaking to each other in Dutch even if a couple of English speaking people are around. I speak a couple of other languages and know that in every other culture this is considered to be seriously rude. If 5 people are in a group you speak the language that is common to everyone so that no one is left out.

The Dutch lack in manners, the kids really have no manners whatsoever, they have no idea how to train their dogs and don't pick up after them.

I laugh when I hear this is supposed to be a first world country. It's just a land of farmers. It cracks me up when I hear that the Belgians are supposed to be stupid - they are far more refined, well mannered, pleasant and stylish than the dutch. If it wasn't for my boyfriend I certainly wouldn't be living here.

The Scots are the same!

It's a shame i read so many negative opinions on the dutch here. I am from the north of Holland myself, a placed called Groningen. It is true that people in the Randstad (amsterdam, rotterdam, the hague etc.) are noy easy to live with. And the 60% of holland that is not living there will agree with me. If you want to have fun, try carnaval in Brabant or the cith of groningen, which has 40% students over all of its inhabitants. Please do not judge holland by what you see in the Randstad, it's like judging russia by putin only.

After 3 year here in the Netherlands my opinion about this contry is overly negative. I'm French and there is lots of things I don't like about my country, but it looks like France and the Netherlands despate being very different have one common point: They are the 2 most depressed nations on earth==> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/27/depressed-countries_n_910345.html (poor me) but for two opposite reasons : French have to much ideal and the dutch not enough. I did meet some dutch people that I liked but I find that most dutch are sick minded because there is in this country a kind a social dictatorship. I mean by that that people are limited in they ability to think and to act by an exessive social pressure. The Dutch society is extremly normative, the punishment for those who deviate from the social standart is loneliness. People will just cut you of they life is they concider you as not being "normaal" if you display I bit to much fantaisy, if you are a bit origianal, if you have a special sence of humor, you will just have no friends in this country. when you meet somebody, it like you have a certain number of points and you can only loose points and not win any. So in order to keep you points, you are gonna display as little as possible ho you are, and if you do that all you life, you just become a nobody who does exactly what he has to do, think what he has to think and live your whole life acting like a little robot. Robots are sure tolerant, yes, and freedom of speech is at its best in the desert, yes. Welcome to the netherlands. You can sure say what you want, but nobody will listen to you. This is not very what a free thinker wants. Have you ever heard a pretty Dutch song? I never did, neither did I saw a good Dutch movie, Neither did I hear an novel idea or insight out of the mouth of a Dutchman. This is so because talent connot be manufactured and processed like everything is in this country, they are just iccapable of having any talent. People here will just do what they have to do, but nothing more. Apathy rules! They call themselves direct... well, as long as anything you say can lower your social credetial, what you do is just keep you mouth shut. I never saw any dutch being direct, but it is true that they are rude and displeasant overall. even if they can give you a good feeling for a short moment if they want to. Those are the patterns that I found in this country, they don't apply to all the Dutch of course.

Finally someone whom I can agree with.
When other people ask me to describe the Dutch in one sentence I say:
They are people who are as flexible as the Germans and as efficient as the Italians

I have been to the NL as a tourist but have some Dutch friends too so I think my opinion has some grounds too. I have been positively surprised by the Dutch. I have always thought of them as a very serious people, a little snobbish like the British, instead ... not at all. If you ask for information not only they help but very often they also chat a little, ask where you are from , where are you going .... on trains I have always been helped, someone even volunteered to watch our bikes while we set in another compartment ... Sure, they have their faults but on the whole I have felt "gezellig" there ... I hope I am not offending them now but they seemed to me a little like we Italians!!

Totally agree with you. I am married to a dutchman (turned Canadian). So for 42 years I've lived with Dutch in-laws and friends and acquaintences. They are extremely opinionated, racist (if you know them) but spend so much time talking about how they are so open minded and accepting. They deeply believe that whatever they do and say is the exact right thing and they never hesitate to tell you what they think about you or give you "advice". Never ask any one of them an opinion about something you are wearing....you will throw it out for good. And they really hate Americans........or is it jealousy.....but haha Americans don't even think about them. I am Canadian so it is no skin off my back. The Dutch do have some good points. I do love my husband and he is very honest with high morals and there are a few Dutch people who are friends but many who are really stuck-up.

And by the way, while I am venting......Amsterdam is a beautiful city-----with great art galleries, the Anne Frank house, beautiful flowers, etc. But mention Amsterdam anywhere in the world and people think only the whore section and drugs. That is a shame.

Dutch people sucks... All they think about is money, or how to f.ck you up with something. They are extremely material, cold and arrogant people.I am a foreigner in Holland and i live and work very closely with dutch people. For 3 years i haven't meen anyone who would have a positive intention, doesn't matter who,a guy who sells in Albert Hein or a director of a big company.. You suck Dutchies!!

Hello to all!!! I am neither Dutch nor American but I am learning Dutch and have been twice to the Netherlands and also have some friends there. My experience with the Dutch has been pleasing, I have found them kind and ready to help and chat in any language you come up with - well .. uhm .... apart from my language which they profess to love but do not speak at all, i.e. Italian. I have felt at home in the Netherlands and I must admit I am chuckling now as much of what you say of the Dutch would perfectly apply to Italians as well: noisy, skip queues, have long discussions at work, etc. I hope the Dutch who read this won't feel insulted by this comparison to us, Italians. I only meant to point out that people say Italians are nice and fun while the Dutch are rude ..... how comes if we share the above mentioned behaviours?

Hello everybody, I'm a native Dutch which has seen quite a lot from the world and lived in in other countries as well.

I like the fact that everyone is nagging on the Dutch, if you'd be really happy, you're out there having fun with your new Dutch friends instead of complaining on the internet.

There are different kind of people here on this topic, you see the people that spend their holidays here or visited the Netherlands a few time. They're gernerally talking in a good sense about the Dutch, why wouldn't they? They are on holidays and everything is nice.

And I hear a lot of people that moved to the Netherlands for a few years and during this journey they figured; they're not as nice as I thought they'd be.

Just remember that there is not a country in the world that is paradise. And when you start living and working here... you have to adapt, like in every other country. and everyone that says that we are rude, maybe so in your opinion. but we are straight to the point and honest as well. This is what you won't find in many other cultures and it's a behavior we own. If you can't handle the truth, you're going to have a bad time.

While doing business; business is busines, nothing personal. keep that in mind. we're not looking for friends whenever we're working.

About making friends in the Netherlands, I am sure that it's hard. Knowing myself and I have quite a few international friends, it's hard. We're kind towards them and we do speak English, butttt... not to offend anyone. We already have our own friends. it's really hard to get closer to somebody, because with the limited time we have nowadays we want to spend our time with friends that we've for many years/decades.

So you make Dutch friends, but mostly not for a very long time. You have to keep inviting them for dinner or something to make it really work, because I believe we Dutch people are really lazy at that.

Conclusion: We Dutch are stubborn, but honest. Foreigners living in the Netherlands have to adept to the Dutch standards if you want to "survive" because we would adept if we would migrate to your country. ( keep that in mind ).

Furthermore, I hope everyone enjoys their stay in the Netherlands and if you do live in Utrecht, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague... come down to Noord-Brabant, check out Breda, 's-Hetogenbosch and Eindhoven. people are different here

Houdoe!

Thats one of the points of Dutch being rude. They call everybody outside the 'Randstad' talking 'funny' or 'stupid' because they grew up in Belgium, the south, North or East of the Netherlands. Dutch isnt a world language at all some dialects even come closer to other languages like Tweants to German(Low Saxon) Often stigmatized as 'farmers' or 'provincial people' only because they speaking slighty or more different than Standard Dutch or ABN which is really a very ugh ugh UGLY language ( I think many agree). Standard Dutch also adopted an sort of really irritating r sound called the 'Gooise r' which actually gives the speaker some 'status''(they think). Its a very unnatural sounding r like we in the East of the Netherands dont have an ending r at all (nonrothic dialect). I am from Enschede a bigger city in the East and people in this region Twente also have many problems with this Dutch attitude (expecially those from outside the city) (thats the people from the 'West as they call it) altrough I self can respect their honesty and like their proffesial and open attitude in general which over here some people really miss to my irritation. You can call Dutch according to them only spoken 'correctly' by a couple of million people in the Randstad' a German dialect itself, but they prefer calling everybody outside the Randstad having a accent thats how narrowminded and stupid they really are. Oh en about Dutch being rude, most people mean actually 'Hollanders' or the Randstad people. People in the rest of the country and Belgium are really nice and respectful.

Peeps, i am thinking of moving, after reading all the comments.
I am a born Dutch 18 year old and feel exactly opposite like you all say the Dutch are.
Outside of my group of friends en family the people are mostly rude, never possitive about anyhting that is not "normal" and they are always afraid of not fitting in the society.
Good looking girls are arrogant most of the times.
Everything outsiders posted here is true, everything.
I am going to Colorado, USA for a 3 month internship and i am really excited to meet a lot of cool people.
Here everyone has an oppinion on everyone and it is really hard to just have a good time with people you don't see that often because they are being suppressed by the social pressure.
There are good people here for sure, but the overall mentality is fcked up.
Having another kind of humor doesn't work here, everyone is afraid to not fit.

i would like to respond if it matters because the date of this thread is 2 years ago but i agree a lot with TheGates OfDawn because im confronted on a daily basis with the overall manupilated citizens that are not eager to look for anwsers themselves, there is indeed in my opinion a social structure that is highly influenced by the sickening mainstream media that is generating a controlled way of thinking with the principle that thinking outside the figurative square that our government has drawn (being a free-minded individual) is deviant behaviour. the problem is not the people of our country but its the thought that a government is there for making the lives of citizens better. it is not. it is there for only their behalve.

De bitch

In WW2 many were shot for sheltering shot-down Allied airmen, so in my book that makes them alright..
(Belgians were also shot so they're alright too)

As a Dutch person myself I can elaborate on some things. First of all our dislike of germans nowadays it isnt about wwII anymore but mostly a sort extremely childish of jealosy because of our collective trauma of losing the world cup final to Germany in 74.

The Dutch can be a bit distant or cold. Thats not because we hate you but iys a kind of part of our culture we only really open up to friends and family.

The being loud part isnt true for all dutch people its specificaly something you find in the Randstad. I guess its because it really crowded and people and to be heard anyway so they start overshouting each other.


It is true that Dutch people like to complain. I dont know why but I find it odly relaxing myself to complain about the stupidest things sometimes.

As for the speaking Dutch Dutch to each other I find it quite hypocritical that some people on this forum refuse to learn the language of the country they are studying in (because Dutch is such an insignificant language) but they expect the natives to always speak English while those natives are possibly not comfortable speaking English (and why would it be rude to speak your native language when you are in your home country). But maybe that's just me being condecending.