I'm a Dutch person and my girlfriend is German, we both can actually have a conversation in Dutch and German and both understand for the most part what we are talking about.
@@madjack7777 no, not all, in italy its the people of south tirol, austrians as a whole yes, the people of flanders in belgium, the people of the elsass and lothringen of france, no polish but the whole of skandinavia except finnland and northern sweden and half the population of the uk australia nz also the us. Its not a question of territorry but of ethnicy. Those all are germans.
@@Presbiter not germans, germanic. there is a difference. it's the difference between a russian and a slav. a russian is a slav, but . a slav isn't necessarily a russian. there was never one germanic culture, it was a collection of very different tribes both culturally and ethnically. oh, and the utrecht rebellion was 450 years ago lol... for almost half a millennium we have in no way been part of germany (other than 1940-1945). also, before we were part of the holy roman empire (which we were only a part of for 100 years) we were part of the french dynasty for 100 years.
@@Presbiter in medieval times? Franks, goths, teutons, suebi, huns, burgundians. If you want to be specific, Dutch people are a mixture of Ingvaeonic and Istvaeonic people. German national culture stems from Bavaria, which is Irminonic. Germanic and German are not synonymous. If you think otherwise, then you're just wrong. We are germans as much as Spaniards are Italians for sharing an ancestral language.
Haha nice I also sometimes watch jovies home. Since I m dutch. I m always interested how other people experience the Netherlands. But most time they are talking about Adam, but that is not the Neterlands. That s why I prefer jovies home, it s not that Adam oriented. So it is a well placed shout out.
Believe it or not, we Dutchies don't even wear a helmet when we step into the shower. Which of course is completely irresponsible because the number of victims getting into the shower or bath is much greater than accidents with a bicycle.
I'm Not joking... Maybe becouse in Germany offen are Hills/ small Mountains... When i step Out the door, sit on a Bike and Go Downhill... I can easy Resch 50km/h to the next crossing :)
Language: Today's Dutch is an evolution of Frankish Germanic - of the Franks nation. We did not go through as many big changes as today's dominant language of Germany that derives from another Germanic dialect. Today's German came from the higher (geographical) part of Germany and is hence called "high" when today's dialects of the North and part of the middle of Germany are called "low" which today seems pejorative. To a German linguistics student in the Netherlands, my language may seem anachronistic and cute, like the little country. I would counter that my language is more original and has seen less distortion over the centuries. The relatively frozen state of Dutch is likely caused by early literacy in larger parts of the population. Germany has several regions with Frankish dialects, but since "hoch Deutsch" became reference, these became dialect and generally not written as such, devolved more. Mind you, part of the Frankish nation went to France when the latter was called Gaul, where they adopted the local version of vulgar (common, ordinary) Latin, likely mutilated it a bit, put their name on the country and stayed. As you did a DNA test, you may know the "French-German" label, and this is why. Part of France are actually Germans. (And the French in the South - Midi - still were very aware of that, say 40 years ago.) The word "Dutch" ("deutsch" in German, "duits" in Dutch, "diets" in Flemish) means "common", "of the commons", "ordinary", or "folksy". The German savage nobles with aspirations to rule the Holy Roman Empire would learn a Romance language. After the (protestant) Reformation, more pride developed in speaking, writing and reading of the "common" language - i.e.not the language of clergy, nobility. If you want to test Germans for understanding the dominant language of the Netherlands, I suggest to look for those who speak a Frankish dialect, as well as part of Switzerland. And understand that hoch Deutsch may actually already be a second language for many a German, so their hearing is programmed for other sounds and melodies in language. Note that centuries of national radio and TV have harmonized the general language into everyday dominance on top of its formal status. However, now equipment needed to produce radio or TV (or TH-cam) is so affordable, you will see people to start producing content in these local dialects. The dominant language in the Netherlands, in a numeric sense, has a second in Frisian (of Friesland) that can be more like Saxon or English. If you study Anglo-Saxon linguistics, then the study of this language is imperative as the closest to Old English that still exists. Then the third one, Stellingwarfs, is a dialect of low Saxon (with Dutch influences of course) and more intelligible to Dutch people than Frisian.
Thank you for explaining that so well. I knew that there are different "language families" but didn't know all these details. I really enjoyed reading this history.
Also the Dutch first colonized South Africa, then Cape Colony, but due to Netherlands weakening naval power, the British took South Africa, and a more creole version of Dutch starting developing, now called Afrikaans literally a mix between 3 different languages, like, Xhosa, Indonesia and English with a few sentence structures stolen from various different languages. Afrikaaners can understand some spoken Dutch and excel in reading Dutch, whereas Dutch see Afrikaans just a language that is hard to comprehend. Though Dutch people can read Afrikaans with difficulty, they have a very hard time understanding people speaking Afrikaans. Afrikaans is a wonderful language, but ultimately not as many speak Afrikaans as Dutch so although I am totally a 'Afrikaaner' I am making progress in understanding spoken Dutch
I once read that someone wearing a bike helmet in the Netherlands is for sure a German tourist :) Regarding the language: It's much easier to understand Dutch if you know some Plattdeutsch (low German), so it's much harder for someone used to a Bavarian accent compared to someone from Bremen or Hamburg.
i speak plattdeutsch (eastern frisian) and there are many similarities between dutch and platt :). As Frisian you can´t understand pure dutch but throught a few words you get Intention of a sentense and what the Person wants to tell you:D
I life in the Netherlands and when I see someone on a bike for sure it is a German In the germans DNA forced the germans to but helmets on there head 🤪
A notable difference between Dutch and German people (of course only in general, there are always lots of exceptions) is their attitude towards rules and hierarchical relations. German people in general respect rules and abide by them, and will always follow directions given by persons hierarchially above them. Dutch people, quite the contrary. Any rules are always subject of discussion, are being re-interpreted to personal taste and advantage, and often disobeyed. E.g. when a Dutch policeman tells a citizen he is misbehaving, the citizen will enter a discussion with the policeman whether that is really the case, if that is reasonable, and why he is interfering with it. A German would not dare (or want) to do that at all. Also, in Germany it is quite normal to point out to a fellow citizen that they are doing something undesirable. Don't try that to (most) Dutch people, they would clearly explain to you that it is not your business to tell them anything and that they can pretty well decide for themselves what to do and what not to do.
This is very true. Ben jij Nederlands? My history teacher told me this is because Calvijn rooted in holland, where Luther rooted in germany. The main difference tween these two: Calvijn stated u could disobey the king/leaderfigure if he did not follow the right religion. Which means people can critique the corrupt. Where Luthers opinion was that the soverein would know what is best for the people, therefore the people must follow his exampleband obey. Good old protestantism!
And then there are Flemish Belgians, who place less value on rules/regulations than both Dutch and Germans, but do value obeying hierarchy over the Dutch egalitarianism. (basically in Germany and Belgium your boss is your boss, in the Netherlands your boss is your co-worker)
@@KarlSnarks this is the French influence for sure.....as french love to get their own way and question absolutly everything but at the end of the day they do respect hierarchy
Ik ben Nederlander en spreek ook Engels en Duits. I am Dutch and speak also English and German. Ich bin Niederlander und spreche auch Englisch und Deutsch. Dutch is a in between language with linguistic relations to German, English and also French.
In my opinion as a german i think dutch sounds similar to "lower germany" (plattdeutsch). On my business trips there i could understand many of what they say without realy knowing any dutch. So it doenst apply to all germans that they cant understand dutch.
My guess the closest would be dialects of the Ruhr area (cities like Krefeld, Essen, Duesseldorf etc, which are related to Limburgish) and Niederrhein (related to Gelder(n)landish). That said, during the Vienna congress William I tried to get those areas added to the Netherlands because of the relation. Plattdeutsch is Saxon in origin, while Dutch is Franconian, so I think that is more comparable sounds than direct relation. As a teenager I watched Fastenabende broadcasts in Cologne dialect, and after an hour I could follow it reasonably. That said, more Dutch have some exposure to German than the other way around, and I'm from a bordertown raised in a pre-cable period, so we watched a lot of German television
The German language is a combination of Dutch and Austrian. The appropriation of these fine and beautiful languages from these ancient and noble cultures is a modern travesty.
And our Children learn dutch here in germany, although it's a voluntary subject. But this is very special to my region (east frisia) because we are culturally and historically so tied to the northern parts of the netherlands.
I have learnt Dutch from watching a lot of Dutch TV in my youth and we spent lot of holidays in the Netherlands. I love the Dutch people, their language, culture and friendliness.
Aber nicht sehr gut. In der Schüle lernt man nur das Verstehen von Deutsch. Nicht das Sprechen oder das Schreiben. Vor einige Jahren hatte ich große Schwierigkeiten Deutsch zu sprechen, und das Schreiben ist immer noch nicht leicht. Ich konnte Deutsch und English nicht sehr gut von einander geschieden halten, und mischte mein Deutsch mit Englische Wörter. Für mich waren da nur zwei Sprachen. Holländisch, und die andere Sprache, die immer nur Englisch war. Ich habe dieses Problem gelöst. Ich lerne jetzt Deutsch von Englisch aus. Auf diese Weise zwinge ich mich Englisch und Deutsch von einander zu scheiden.
I live close to the Dutch border (Suedlimburg Region around Maastricht). There is beautiful hilly (yes!!) countryside anf forests that are fantastic for hiking....lovely friendly Dutch people...marvellous architecture...everyone speaking excellent German...and coffee beans are so cheap! I spend most weekends there and regard it as my third home 😍
Related, but they are not mutually intelligible. The reason that Dutch people can understand and speak German and English, is that they learn it in school. It is actually quite hard for Dutch people to speak and write German, understanding and reading is a bit easier.
I have relatives in Franconia (near Nürnberg) but I was born and grew up in Bremen, so I am a real Hanseat. Actually I feel closer to the dutch in Groningen than to my relatives down in the south. And the communication with dutch is - for me - easier than with my relatives. If you speak Plattdeutsch, you will understand dutch.
Dutch and German languages are in fact very simular. Dutch is also a Germanic language. The Dutch have more bikes than people. Cycling is a second nature to us. We also cycle a lot more than Germans. In fact, we cycle more than they do in any other Western country. The Dutch are also known as the the best non native speaking country in speaking English. We hate eachother when it concerns football, but in general Germans and Dutch are very close. See us as a big and a little brother, where the little brother is moer outgoing and has the better humor.😉
I've been to the Netherlands once to visit a friend there and in general, the Netherlands is quite similar to Germany. Specifically northern Germany. While I have never had any lessons in Dutch, I could navigate the country by reading the signs 90% of the time. Written Dutch is just as understandable as written German dialects. Spoken Dutch takes a bit of time to get used to and it's only understandable sometimes but since both languages are in the Germanic family and the countries right next door, they are very very similar. But the funny thing is, if you look carefully, there are these weird small differences in mentality, way of life, city architecture and so on. According to my own observations and that of the friend living there: 1. The Dutch are way less hierarchical and formal than Germans. It probably has to do with it being a small country but there isn't this feeling of a clear-cut hierarchy of authority in organizations or groups. It's more on an eye-to-eye level and a lot more flexible in groups 2. Dutch cities don't have "grand" or pompous looks like some cities in Germany or France or other big countries. Everything is neat, tiny, specific and 'kleinteilig' as Germans would say it. But it's also not done to such a degree that it looks chaotic in the big picture. Quite the opposite actually, its cities are this weird mix of "ordered and regulated individuality" 3. The Dutch are way more excessive with modern technology and more open to change in general 4. Dutch people are more pragmatic than Germans at times. Germans have a tendency to like to think about the grand scheme of things, theorize, talk about god, rules, philosophy, morality, right-and-wrong. Dutch people find that a bit over-the-top, sometimes unhelpful, they don't talk as excessively about some abstract ideology or idea, they like to see how it works in the real world and focus on problems and solutions on the ground. A lot of Dutch cities have really...interesting...ways of solving problems. 5. Dutch food culture and customs is....well. Functional lol
@@henkoosterink8744 ... en de nederlandse gasten zitten 2 dagen in Berlijn, Keulen, München ... en lullen over de duitsers ;) Greetings from an Eastern-Bavarian in Western-Switzerland
The language comprehension is a bit asymmetrical. Most native German speakers will be able to read a Dutch newspaper and understand 70 to 80 percent. Spoken Dutch is another matter. I think it's because Dutch pronunciation is quite different from the spelling which confuses the German speakers, whereas German pronunciation is close to spelling, which makes it easy to understand for Dutch speakers. People who speak Low German have an easier time though.
It is actually quite hard for Dutch people to learn German because in German there are those genders and cases that do not exist anymore in Dutch (just as in English). So to translate something from Dutch to German you need to add new information depending on the gender of the words involved. When reading or listening to German this is not a problem for the Dutch because the information is just there and can be ignored.
@@AnimalDreams86 As a kid I watched German TV in the 60's and 70's, and I live in a bordertown that also helps to understand the neighbours language. I could read and speak German before it was thaught in school.
@@AnimalDreams86 Also the older generation, living close to the german border, could receive german tv broadcasting. As a child I watched probably more german tv programs than dutch programs, hence the familiarity with the german language.
@@Kloashut I'm from the eastern part of the Netherlands. When I was young we only had four tv channels available: two Dutch TV channels and two German ones. There were only Dutch TV broadcast in the evening most of the week, so it meant we watched a lot of German TV out of necessity. That's how I learned German. Nowadays we can receive dozens upon dozens TV channels, all broadcasting 24x7. Dutch kids learn English at a young age, but not German anymore unless they stick with it at school. My generation can probably speak German OK (but not flawlessly). New generations will just speak English when they strike up a conversation with Germans.
the Netherlands is pretty nice indeed, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but that's probably because I grew up here. expect some huge prices for buying a house though, some dutch people are actually moving to Belgium because houses are really expensive here, especially if you want t live in Amsterdam.
I am Dutch I love it when the sun shines through my big window and you see everything when you look outside but we experience it as rude when people look through my window inside, if it it's not family or friends
- The reason why the dutch like to open drapes is because they like to look outside. Giving your house a more spacious feeling. And they like to have daylight coming. People understand how healthy daylight is for people and for plants. Dutch people also like to open windows to air out their house. Even in the cold of winter.
Dutch and German are quite similar, I can understand more Dutch than Swiss German Dialects, and Dutch is considered to be a own language. I normaly get the topic they are talking about if I try to listen. I am Austrian and never had intense contact over a long time with Dutch or Flemish (the Belgian Dutch). Dutch people understand german because their movies are not dubbed. They got German or English language with Dutch subtitles. I usually speak my own dialect and I am used to people pronouncing words differently, or even have a different sentence construction, grammar or words. This helps with understanding different germanic and romance languages.
Somehow Austrian German sounds a bit more intelligible to Dutch people than "high German". No idea why that is. Swiss German, on the other hand, is very difficult to understand. And of course the Dutch come to Austria by the tens of thousands to see Max Verstappen win the Austrian F1 GP wearing their orange T-shirts :-)
"Hoch Deutsch" is the youngest formal addition to the group of Germanic languages (1871). Most kids in the Netherlands study German for three years in school. That's why the understanding only goes one way ... Cyclists in the Netherlands don't need to wear a helmet: You must have noticed that they have such a fearsome reputation that all others in trafic stay at least five meters away from them.
the Dutch windows: they are/were a calvinist country, and they have these windows to show that in their house, nothing sinful happened. at least this is how it was explained to me.
peter koller Interesting, it makes sense. In addition I know that in 17th century houses, larger (wider) windows meant that the home owner was wealthier. The large windows of today don’t mean the same thing, but there might be some historical background there. Alternatively, the ‘New Style’ of the 50’s advocated lots of light, ergo large windows...
Only the bible belt is Calvinistic, Zeeland to Drenthe, the rest has always been mixed. If religion would be a factor, you would see differences in houses according the religion of who lives there, that is not the case. Because of dense population in the towns and cities, the houses are narrow and very deep, and build against each other. The only source of daylight are the narrow front and narrow back of the house, that is why the windows are large. From the late 19th century it was known that sunlight and ventilation prevent mold and with that a lot of lung and other diseases. Building regulations require sunlight and ventilation for every living space.
It has to do with the fact that the Netherlands was the first republic as a state in Europe. A whole new burger-society was established . Art and science florished in a completely new way in that time , also in architecture. A kind of equality rose up amongst the people, one didn't have to hide things while the protestants always pointed at individual responsability. This led to less social 'control' so to speak. Still a kind of 'bluntness' is not strange among the Dutch, who are very direct in their communication. Completely different to german politeness. Nice vid by the way🌹
I hate Dutch windows. I have my curtains closed all the time and yes my neighbour thought sinful things were happening in the house! He thought I was secretly growing weed lol.
I am German but I lived in the Netherlands for almost 4 years and it is absolutely my favorite country ever! I was actually also in Egmond aan Zee when I visited for the first time at 14 and I also felt right at home. I then started learning Dutch by just memorizing vocabulary and trying to form sentences but my grammar was very off :D It got a lot better when I moved there at 18 and I could practice every day. But it is true that as a German native speaker with decent English language skills, you can learn Dutch quite quickly. The most difficult thing is pronunciation I guess. Dutch people will quickly notice when you have a German accent and switch to either English or German, making it very hard to practice :D
Hey I've been here for about as long as well! My first contact was with eastern Drenthe, because I grew up within cycling-distance of the border. Needless to say I feel right at home in this country too! Can confirm the part about learning the language. It can be a challenge to find native Dutch speakers to speak Dutch with. Places with many expats often have communities for learners. They meet regularly to intentionally speak Dutch. I know of the ones in Rotterdam and Den Haag.
Haha as a Dutch native, I agree that we have the tendency to switch to English if we notice a non-native accent in your speaking. I've taught myself to keep speaking Dutch if it's only a light accent, and to ask what someone prefers if they don't speak fluently.
Dutchie here and what you say is true. Dutch isn’t difficult for Germans except getting the pronunciation right. Most Germans will always sound German. In reverse German grammar is a bitch for us Dutchies but pronunciation is very easy. If a Dutchie puts some effort into German pronunciation it‘ll usually sound German enough (Northern German though!). Getting all the cases and plurals right is a whole different matter.
From my experience, the dutch are more relaxed and open-minded than my fellow germans. They´re also not so much about making up rules for everything. I feel more at home in the netherlands than in germany but I just can´t learn to speak their language.
@@eveningglow2608 I like the politeness of Germans, but I still prefer Dutch blunt honesty in some ways though. Politeness is nice, but you always have to guess what people really feel.
I have worked with a lot of Dutch people and they are even more direct than Germans. Found this difficult to get used to ... there is no beating around the bush with Dutchies at all 🤣
I sometimes wonder if this is true and Dutchies are really that direct, because I don't notice it at all and I've been living here my entire life... but then I hear examples of our 'directness' and I'm like "oh... you mean normal conversation? Wait, how tf are you guys talking then?" Like, apparently, in Ireland it's normal to decline tea or a biscuit and then expect to get it anyway? And in the US, it's weird to talk about finances of any kind?
I am German and grew up only 5 minutes away from the Dutch border and even though I never learned Dutch at school I can understand most of it just from hearing it all the time. Also the architecture and bikes in my hometown look just like in the Netherlands ! :)
Hi. Dutch people have to learn german, french and English for 2 years when they go to high school. After the 2 years you can drop them. The Window thing. We don't care if you look in. If you live here you don't look, it's normal
I guess that depends on your high school level. I had to take English classes all through Havo and Vwo. Havo got to drop either French OR German in the fourth year, but Vwo you had to take classes in both languages. My nieces now get lessons in German, French and Spanish in the first year of high school (besides English and of course Dutch), and for their second year have to choose which two languages they will continue.
Same in Bremen, actually, we even have your row houses, in the parts of Bremen around the old town nobody has curtains. I remember when walking around with a friend from South Germany, she kept asking, are all these apartments empty? There's no curtains! We theoretically also could see what are neighbors are up to, but nobody looks. Easy.
not every dutch student learns french, I did have a German class for 1 year but I never learned it well. I was on one of the lower levels of education though because I guess I'm either not that smart or it's my lack of motivation I had for school.
I live next to the border to the Netherlands and Belgium. When I read it I can understand dutch very well, but I can't understand them talking. Netherland should be an example for bike roads. In some German citys it is still too dangerous to ride your bike.
A "Dutch window"? Never heard of it, we just call it a "window" :-D Anyway, it is all about having contact with the outside world when sitting in your living room. This desire doesn't stop when it gets dark outside! The fact that people walking by outside can look in as well is just a side-effect that we don't care too much about.
Die holländische Architektur ist keineswegs so unterschiedlich, sondern entspricht derjenigen der "germania inferior". (Bayern liegt bekanntlich "oben"). Die Sprachen sind verwandt, besonders, wenn man sich ein wenig mit der Konsonanten-Verschiebung beschäftigt, die den gesamten norddeutschen Raum betrifft. Das große Fenster dokumentiert, daß es in diesem Hause keine Sünde gibt; die Niederländer sind -bzw. waren- superstrenge Protestanten, weswegen sie sich 80Jahre lang mit dem spanischen König gefetzt haben. Beide Länder haben eine gemeinsame Geschichte, sie gehörten bis zum Ende des 30jährigen Krieges zusammen. Die genaue Grenze zu Deutschland war lange Zeit noch fließend. Das Königshaus wird von einer deutschen Familie gestellt, derer von Nassau, die aus Dillenburg / Rheinland-Pfalz stammt. Beide Tatsachen sollte man - wenn man Niederländer zu Freunden gewinnen will - nicht allzu sehr heraushängen lassen, da man diesbezüglich etwas empfindlich regiert. Ja, ich spreche niederländisch, da ich an der Grenze wohne und es für einen Akt der Höflichkeit halte, die Sprache des Nachbarn zu sprechen. Die Volkshochschule bietet zahlreiche Abendkurse an, von denen die Grenzländer auch reichlich Gebrauch machen. Als Lektüre empfehle ich die spannenden Romane von Leon de Winter.
Holländische Architektur ist insofern underschiedlich, dass man es sofort sieht wenn man die Grenze passiert. Bauweise, Materialien, Bauvorschriften, so manches ist anders. Ich wohne in einer Wohnung, die von einer deutschen Baufirma stammt. Die hat düstere Ecken, die ein holländischer Architekt vermieden hätte. Das holländische Königshaus stammt übrigens von einem deutschen Kriegsherr, den man damals angeheuert hat für den Krieg gegen Spanien. Holland hatte das Geld, Deutschland Soldaten.
I am a German expat, having lived more than 30 years in two different countries. I admire your positive attitude and enthusiasm despite some culture shock. I am a German expat, having lived now more than 3 decades in 2 different countries. Assimilation and acceptance of cultural differences has been much more difficult for me, which may have a lot to do with my own perception and adaptability. Thanks for sharing your experiences, seeing it always as a glass half full..
EXACTLY! I actually still refuse to wear them, it's just another ridiculous NWO subjugation ruse. The Dutch are the best proof bicycle helmets are wholly unnecessary.
German and English speakers have indeed trouble to understand the Dutch language in its spoken form, because how we pronouns the letter(s)(combinations) g, ch, r, eu, oe, ij, ei, etc. However, when they see a written text they do recognize a lot of words. Dutch speakers understand more the spoken form of German and English but have more trouble with the written form, due to the complexity of German grammar, and the fact that a lot of English words aren't spelled phonetically.
The letter combinations make written Dutch harder as well (if you don't know how they're pronounced). For example "mijn broer" looks like gibberish to us if you don't know how close to "mein Bruder" it really is!
Hi.. just my 2 Cents to clarify the "Curtain Tale" ;) Long time ago in a country not far from us.... Curtain tax in Holland? A German Saga... I think most of us Germans have heard the term "Dutch curtain tax" before. Did the Dutch really have to pay tax on every curtain they owned? The fairy tale about curtain tax can be described as a modern saga, which is particularly common in Germany. The background is the habit of the Dutch people not to have curtains at the window. Ideal for curious glances. This is especially for us Germans with our preferences for pleated blinds, curtains and drapes quite incomprehensible. So why no curtains? The Netherlands is a Calvinist influenced country, which therefore places great value on openness. And how is it easier to show that you have nothing to hide than by offering your fellow human beings a direct view of your home? So it is purely cultural that there are so few curtains at the windows in the Netherlands.
Ingo Patzke Dutchie here. So true. I don’t mind people taking a peak at my livingroom and waving at my neighbours passing by. If I had any curtains I would not close them. Feels like locked up in my own house. Another thing in NL is that you should not come by our houses unexpected. We hate that. Only with an appointment or with notification in advance. Only for real close friends we make an exception. :-)
@@Wielie0305 And we like to see what is going on outside... Without peeking through a split in the curtains, because that is considered very nosy and rude.
Antoinette another one of your excellent videos. I watch you and Jovie all of the time because you both provide excellent videos on many subjects and I always learn new and interesting things. If they had windows here like they have in the Netherlands they would be inviting people to rob them or even worse. Having been stationed in Germany I was always quite impressed by the cleanliness. People here in the States think the sidewalks and streets are their personal garbage containers. I remember that in Germany if you got caught littering you were subjected to a hefty fine. They have fines for littering in the states but it is rarely if ever enforced. The building that I live in has a large homeless population and constantly just throw their trash on the ground even though they are provided trash bins. I was also impressed with the way the Germans especially the older ones would ride bikes or walked rather than drive. We as Americans can learn so much from the Germans as I did when I was stationed there.
Ah the large windows. The houses where you can look all the way through to the backyard are called 'doorzonwoning', which translates to 'house where the sun shines all the way through'. My parents love walking around at night and peeking inside, which they call 'binnen blieken'. You did it the right way, by the way. You can glance as long as you keep walking. You're not meant to stare inside or point. My husband grew up in a home where only the kitchen had a tiny upper window and he absolutely hates houses with those large windows. Took us some energy finding a house without a large window looking straight into the livingroom.
I love, I really, really love Holland, the Dutch people, their culture and their language. If I had the possibility, I would live there. I have friends there and we are so close, that we could be one family
@@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands I know that Holland is a region of the Netherlands…even some Netherlander don’t know it. It’s a shame btw. I meant the whole Netherlands of course! But all Dutch guys I met say to the Netherlands Holland. Ok, than I say it too. My friends live in Brabant, exactly in Eindhoven. Ik weet dat Holland een regio van Nederland is... zelfs sommige Nederlanders weten het niet. Jammer btw. Ik bedoelde natuurlijk heel Nederland! Maar alle Nederlandse jongens die ik ontmoette, zeggen tegen Nederland Holland. Ok, dan zeg ik het ook. Mijn vrienden wonen in Brabant, precies in Eindhoven. Sorry voor mijn slechte nederlands
Hello Antoinette, I'm Dutch and I'm a follower of your and Jovi's channel and they make me always smile. I'm happy you liked it in the Netherlands. I live on the German border, my house is 400 yards from it. At the time I was in school ( I'm now 66 so it's a long time ago ) it was mandatory to learn 2 foreign languages in high school, mostly English and German or French. I'm happily did all 3 because German was easy for me. My father was Dutch and raised in Germany and we got a lot of family who stayed there. Dutch and German come both from the old West Germanic language. This video is a explanation of it. th-cam.com/video/AWVKzdyWRps/w-d-xo.html We got a dialect similar with the dialect in western Nordrhein-Westfalen.
The Dutch windows come from the merchant times. The husbands would be away on the ships trading. The windows without curtains were a way of social enforcement where the neighbours made sure the wives were not cheating.
Not a word about Zeeland, the province in the Netherlands that gave its name to your country New Zealand? did you know that? I love the Netherlands and the Dutch. More relaxed than the Germans-not so hung up on rules, and LOVE how easy it is to get around on bicycle on their dedicated cycle paths and roads. They really lead the way in the world on bicycle infrastructure.
One of the big differences between the Dutch and the Germans is the formal way Germans interact where the Dutch are much more casual, where the Dutch are using first names like the English do , the Germans are more likely to address someone with their family name and even tittles. e.g. Herr Dr. etc.
Hi Antoinette, as an English guy living in the Netherlands I came across your channel about 6 months ago and have watched and enjoyed most of your videos. I don't live too far from Egmond, and you must have passed close by on your way. Please make a part 2, I especially ejoyed this video. I recognised a lot of things that you noticed, that I now take for granted. If you ever come back, you really should visit Hoorn (yes, where I live) it really is THE most pcturesque town on the inland sea. Looking forward to all your future videos.
here's something that could be useful for visitors to the Netherlands: about those cards, you are right about the vast majority using those, BUT it's important to know that they are bankcards, not creditcards. Before coming over, check with your bank if your own bankcard will work, as you can pay with a bankcard pretty much everywhere yet creditcards are very limited. I've seen many Americans especially being caught off guard by that. Hotels etc obviously accept creditcard payment but besides them it's not that common.
Yes, this is true. 30 years ago I visited the Netherlands and I was very amused about the big windows in the houses. I thought they must be very honest people, because they have nothing to hide!😊👍
Have you been to the Netherlands and also tried patat spezial, kibbeling or cheese? I understand and speak Dutch fluently because I live in the border region with the Netherlands and also work in the Netherlands. I wanted to add that the infrastructure for bicycles in the Netherlands is better than for cars. It is often faster to get around by bike than by car.It's no wonder because the country is not that big, so it makes sense to ride a bike. A joke about Germans in the Netherlands: "How can you tell a cyclist whether he is German? On a bicycle helmet!
We don't show off. Showing off is very much not done in any way in the Netherlands. Big windows are for bringing in light in the daytime. We love that. If we want privacy, we close the curtains at night. On the other hand, there is an unwritten rule not to look from the outside in, for respect of privacy. Looking in is considered a bit rude.
Cool! True, you're not supposed to stare into windows, your feeling was right. The windows have always been that way, and it comes from an old community sense, where neighbours are considered important. In general , Dutch people will know a little bit more about neighbours, what time they come home, what they do for a living, how they are as a person,, health etc. Without curtains (don't stare!) you could greet them if they walk by, which gives a feeling of security and care. My parents always invite neighbours for birthday parties also, and neighbours would have the housekeys in case of an emergency. The flipside is that people sometimes want to move to more anonymous bigger cities because they feel different from this standard norm that's all over this country. Don't stand out too much from the crowd. About language: German language is sometimes on Dutch television, even more so in the 80s (Krimis), with subtitles; the other way around not really I believe. Also it's practical to speak a little German for holidays.
There is probably another reason, but big windows make for light rooms. In the evening when it’s dark, most people close their curtains because the windows will just be big dark squares, which aren’t “gezellig”. Some people don’t like people looking in, but there is a wide variety in to stop the view while still being able to enjoy most of the outside view. What you’d want to avoid is buying thick curtains and having them closed 24/7. Some foreigners have reported they have been visited by the police because the curtains make you look suspicious. Don’t worry, cops aren’t out to get you and having curtains isn’t illegal, it’s just not what we’re used.
Not just suspicious, it may also mean that you are seriously ill or even have died and cannot open your curtains anymore. Not nosy, people quietly look after one another.
I’m born in NRW and when you compare this part of Germany with the Netherlands, the similarities are very obvious. The cologne/rhine region dialect is very close to Dutch, with many words rooting, funny enough, in today’s English rather then „Hochdeutsch“. For example „trekken“ instead of „ziehen“, which is related with engl to treck, or some typical foods like „Kappes“ or „Spruute“ which are cabbage and (Brussel) sprouts, instead of „Kohl“ or „Rosenkohl“. Its funny how Germany is essentially a mixture of all kinds of European influences. Also the Architecture is very similar in NRW to the Netherlands. You‘ll find these typical stone houses very often in nrw and also in Norddeutschland, very different to Franconia or Bavaria.
I have five friends who married German native speakers and three of them could speak Dutch within three months, one of them flawless, accentless. Everybody was stunned. Dutch is easier than German because it does not have the inclinations of nouns and adjectives any more. After the horrors under German occupation in World War II (1940-1945) everybody had so enough of Germans and their German that it was decided to quickly modernize and simplify the Dutch language, making sure it did not resemble German too much any more, in speaking or in writing.
They are not completely different languages. Part of my family actually speaks Plattdeutsch (a German dialect). And when I was a kid we were often in vacation in areas where there were a lot of people from the Netherland. And being a native Plattdeutsch speaker I think my dad understood a lot of what they were saying. He even tried to communicate with some Dutch kids who were looking for their mother or something like that. I, in the other hand, cant understand Dutch but I can understand Plattdeutsch. And understanding Plattdeutsch helps me to understand some written Dutch. Like I read a sentence and I understand a word and then I read it again (keeping the word I understood in mind) and I understand another word etc.
I'm Dutch and I can't speak Plattdeutsch, but I can understand it when I focus and it's pretty easy for me to read ^^ Then again, my German isn't bad either, so I have help from both sides :P
Maybe you should visit Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. We also speak Dutch, but here it is called Flemish, a softer variant of the Dutch language. We also learn French , English and German at school, besides our mothertongue. German is the third language here we have a German region in Belgium to. You will find Flanders completedly different to The Netherlands and Germany, but still , you as a New Zeelander ,will shurely find a lot of similar points.
It seems for me you will also love the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland): germanic language roots (except Finland), high level of Englsh skills, and cash is not king there :-)
Nice video. I am born in Amsterdam and just Yesterday iIran a half-marathon in Egmond. Lot of familiar images. About the windows. They are huge because it is nice to have a lot of daylight in your room and if you close your windows, then you are also closing yourself off from the outside world. It is not only you that is looking inside, we are also looking outside, watching you walking by. :) And the germans are the biggest group of customers certainly in the coastal area, so it is just good commercial practise to be able to speak german.
I live close to the Dutch border in Germany, about 5km away and I do mostly understand them and I'm able to read Dutch because of our Rhine-Dialekt. It is very close to Dutch.
Nice video. I'm glad you had a good time in here The Netherlands. There are many similarities between between Dutch and German. Especially certain dialects like West Low German. The big (often curtainless) windows is one of these things I don't even think about unless I'm watching a video like this. I'm not sure why this is a thing. Some say it's a way to show that you don't have anything to hide. Some say it's to let in more sun light so we can safe on electricity for light and gas for heat. Stingy Dutch mentality. LOL We are one of the safest countries to ride a bike. There are many reasons for this and there are entire TH-cam channels devoted to this subject (e.g. Bicycle Dutch and Not Just Bikes). We don't wear helmets while riding a bike for the same reason we don't wear them while walking.
the Dutch have two types of scooters; one which has a speed up to 25 km/hr, for which you don't need a helmet and they are allowed (with a few exceptions) on the bicycle paths, and the other has a top speed of 45 km/hr. For these a helmet is mandatory and they are not allowed on bicycle paths but have to ride with the cars. They both have differently colored license plates, but that is too much detail for this simple youtube reply. It's just that the 'slow moped' is primarely used by the elderly or those who have, say, knee problems but still want to ride a 'bike' (although a lot of these people have switched to e-bikes the past five years or so). The resoning behind the 'no helmets for slow mopeds' is the same as with bicycles: if you separate bicycles from the traffic that can harm them (ie: cars) by building separate cycling infrastructure, you can only crush into other cyclists, who go too slow and are too fragile themselves to inflict much damage. Imagine a car, going 45 km/hr, ramming into a cyclist. Ouch. That is multiple fractures, at least. Imagine two cyclists bumping into each other. And I don't mean those 'racing' cyclists like in the Tour de France, but Duch cyclists, on their sturdy 'sit up and beg' bikes. They might wobble. They might fall. They might scrape a knee or fall on their sides and scrape the palm of their hand. But they will not land on their head or have their head in any way injured. And as for those slow mopeds, it's largely the same. It would be less pleasant to be 'bumped' by those as by a bike, but apart from a bruise or two, a real injury is really, really rare. Believe me; very clever people have been planning, testing and building Dutch traffic and cycling infrastructure for DECADES. This is not a matter of 'oh, don't those Dutch know about helmets?' thing but a 'the Dutch know about helmets, have very good reasons to reject them and have chosen to walk a different path that actually lead to the highest number of cyclists in the WORLD' thing. Also; the open windows ARE a display. It's the gesture of the prosperous and houseproud to show off their good taste, cleanliness and good life :)
In The Netherlands we still use cash to pay. The reason why we have big windows in our houses and apartments is simply to bring daylight in our living room or any room for that matter.
Nova Verse I agree on the windows, but I beg to differ about the cash. The times I had to pay with coins and notes in the last, say, five years, are really few. I think you _can_ still pay with cash in many places, but most restaurants, supermarkets, most shops in general, prefer cashless payments. Even paying for second hand items (on e.g. Marktplaats) is done increasingly through payment requests. I wouldn’t be surprised if in about 10 years from now we will have a hard time to get our hands on cash, let alone pay with it.
@@hansc8433 In The Netherlands in any store, you can still pay with cash, that's not a problem. In fact you can use your payment cards or use cash, both options are viable.. Because not everyone prefers Payment cards, especially the older population. I live in this country..
Dutch English and Frysian (language spoken in the North of the Netherlands province of Frysland) are actually west-germanic languages, English however has a large amount of loanwords, middle English is supposed to be a lot more like Dutch than current English is. I actually speak Dutch as a native language, English and German as "taught in school" languages. I also had French at school, but even after having 5 years of French, it is not even close to the level of which my German or English is. I am a self taught Swedish speaker, not a fluent speaker, but I can make a conversation in Swedish and explain what I want in a level that there are no big misunderstandings. I was taught English at school from age 11 and German from age 13, Both up untill I left "Highschool". The school sytem in The Netherlands is way different then in most countries, therefore highschool is not the right term to use here, however I have no other way to easily describe it, without explaining in 50 sentences how the Dutch school system works.
We are from the UK but have a brother in law in the Nederlands and have been visiting for over 25 yrs but we have an RV and spend 6 months of the year in Europe - Mainly in Germany the Low countries and Switzerland. Our impression of Nederlands is its mainly a wonderful place and some of that is just the feeling of being around in it. When we leave the UK and set foot in the Nederlands we just immediatley feel more relaxed and less stresssed. North Holland is a lovley region so for future visits we recommend visits Hoorn - pronounced Horn, ( Where the saling ships set off round the wold and named the bottom of South Africa Cape Horn and also went and discovered a place called New Zeeland , British later changed spelling to New Zealand) Enkhuizen which is a lovely town/port with real Sailing ships in the haoubour and which also has a Living Museum of the Nedelands with the actual houses and streets transported from all over the country and re sited as was in the museum. I digress sorry, whilst it is nice in the Nedelands and the people are nice and polite, we find Germany especially in the less populated regions super helpful, friendly and pleased to see you and that youve taken the trouble to visit. Even in the bigger citys help when asked for people weve come across have been so nice and if needed full of advice and tips. Ive learnt German upto Basic level 2 but its all slipping away because as soon as you try to speak German and they know you are English out comes the superb English ability and im back to speaking English LOL. We find the driving in Germany much easier - its fast but everybody knows what theyre doing and everybody takes thier turn at roadworks etc , in Holland they are also fast but they are not always concentrating lol. And yes the first time we visited the Brother in law ( Bakkum near Castricum just down the road from Egmond and Zee ) we went for a walk at night and couldnt believe the show put on by the town of EVERY house with the lights on and NO CURTAINS. We asked the brother in law if there was a thing going on and they were waiting to see it and look out of thier windows and he just said - no its Nedelands - we have no curtains and we put on the lights lol ( when ready for bed he pulled a blind down form the top. Thanks for you vid it was interesting to see the thoughts of someone else who has visited BOTH Germany and Nederlands. Cheers
When you drive to the south, there is Zeeland, the Dutch gave New Zealand the name eponymous to this province. They give Australia "New Holland" and then came the English and Indonesia was too importent to loss, so they left Australia and New Zealand and it became English. P.S. English and Dutch are also very similair. They are all 3 Germanic langages.
LOL, our lange windows are for letting in light and sun. Lots of people don't mind you looking in, I personal shut the shutters at night. Don't like to be displayed 😂
Germans respect and value the way things are, whereas Dutch always challenge the status quo and find more practical ways of doing things. A German friend of mine went from non-Dutch to fluent Dutch in seven months, so it’s quite easy to learn. But even on the highest level of fluency, Germans will always have a slight accent that will give them away as not being native speakers.
There are over 400 reactions, which I didn't read all, so maybe this has been mentioned before. In the Dutch school system kids have at least 2 years of German language at school and and a lot have German for 4 or 5 years at school. One of of the biggest differences between Germany and the Netherlands is the far more "formal" way of interaction in Germany compared to the Dutch society. In Germany you adress people with Sie and only after years you're able to say " du ", while in the Netherlands the " du " will be used almost instantly.
I am Dutch. The reason behind the open curtains is very simple. People like to show how neat, clean and arranged their home is. By showing that you show that you are a neat person. Dutch people find it important to be a neat person.Actually the same is with the garden. If your garden isn't neat and arranged than most people think that you are a lower class person. Nowadays people do have the curtains more often closed but many still keep a tiny part open. Many houses do have the kitchen on the streetside nowadays, they don't want to show their messy kitchen during cooking. My kitchen is not always neat so I close the curtain as soon it is getting dark. Dutch people care a lot of what other people think about them. I know that many old Dutch people always want to wear new underwear because it is a nighmare to them to get unexpected to the hospital and their underwear is looking old. Many of the older generation even iron their underwear. My mom kept new pyama's and underwear apart in case she had to go unexpected to the hospital.There was in the past a lot of backbiting about peoples tidyness.
I'm german and when I visited Amsterdam and listened very closely I could understand quite a bit, even more so when reading Dutch. I speak German, English and can understand a bit of French which I think helped a lot as Dutch is definitely a germanic language closely related to German and English and sometimes I feel like it has an influence of French in it as well. What I also noticed and found quite interesting was the fact that everybody I met spoke English very well. I read that except for childrens films they don't dubb any films neither in cinemas nor in tv and have the original language with subtitles which probably helps their English a lot.
Yes,i never had German as a student. But understanding and speaking German,is not a problem for a lot of us. Specialy in the 60/70 we watch a lot of German tv,because we had only 3 native Dutch tv programs.and 2 Belgium.
Elena Sachse Correct! We use English words like race, stress, timen, streamen, bluf, match, deal. German: überhaupt, fingerspitzengefühl, kelner, schmink, abseilen, an sich, and ofcourse French words like paraplu, trottoir, abonnement, charmant, etage and lots more...
This was so interesting Antoinette. My two places on my wish list are to go to Southern Germany (and Miniature Wunderland in Hamberg) and the Netherlands. My ex and her sons living in NRW always told me if you knew German and English you could with difficulty understand Dutch. I had Dutch friends in Hastings (NZ) and learned a few everyday phrases. I knew both the Germans (I was so impressed in Düsseldorf with the infrastructure geared to using bikes on the footpath) and presume the Dutch are the same. Seeing no helmets I found freaky because in NZ it's compulsory and enforced with an instant $80 fine. No helmets here in the UK either. The big windows are something that I didn't know about. Sounds like it's being displayed like a painting. Apparently the Netherlands in area is the same as Hawke's Bay a bit of useless information but something I've always found d handy when comparing country sizes. Great post thanks. As a fellow Kiwi I always find the interesting and relevant. Thanks for all the effort.
I had a similar feeling recently visiting Copenhagen in Denmark. The modern housing is made with huge windows to the street, and you do see way into their house, maybe just with a thin gauze curtain. In super tidy, well designed modern minimalistic Danish furnishing. Weird, I don't want it that way, I'm more private.
Most Germans coming from North Germany can understand a lot Dutch. I think that comes from “Plattdeutsch” which is still being spoken in Northern parts of Germany and has lots in common with Dutch.
I love sun and light and want that in my livingroom, that's why i love my big windows. It gives you energie and you saves energie, cause you don't have to use your lights. At night the light on and close the curtains and you have your privacy.
The German and Dutch language are closely related in written language, but the pronunciation is vastly different in many ways. The "g" is often more guttural in Dutch (apart from Flemish and other southern dialects), there are less "sj" sounds, the "o" is more in the front of the mouth, the words flow into eachother more (German has more space between words) etc. As a native, I never even considered our window-placing was so peculiar and different to the countries surrounding us. Nice how a foreign POV can make see little things about your own country. Now I think of it, we do have a word for an architectural trend from 70's/80's row-houses, called "doorzon woningen" (sun-through homes) where there's a big window on the front and the back of the house to let more natural light in. I've definitely noticed our preference for paying with card though, which has led to some mild frustrations when traveling abroad (Always have enough cash on hand when traveling lol).
The Dutch "g" sound is like a choking gutteral sound. This is closely related to the fact that very few schools offer swimming lessons and approximately 2% of all Dutch people at any moment are drowning in a canal. Compare for example the phrase "I can swim" or "ik kan zwim" in Dutch with "I am going to die and I don't like it much" or "ik gaan naar geoverledend en ik graag het niet wel, bel de gementelijk gezondheids dienst nu!" Notice the latter phrase, chiefly employed by drowning people, features many more Dutch throat sounds consistent with choking on canal-water filled with discarded glow sticks.
I live in Germany but very close to the Dutch border (like 15 km) So when I came back from my semester abroad in the US I landed in Amsterdam and I felt like okay I‘m home now! Not even realizing that I‘m not in my actual home country 😅 And I do understand most of the Dutch language even though I never really learned it. Probably because Plattdeutsch (a dialect that is spoken especially by the elderly in the area of Germany where I live) is close very to the Dutch language.
For a German, Dutch often sounds very funny. You know the words, but the meaning might be very different, e.g. "bellen" means "to ring" in Dutch, but "to bark" in German. "doof" means "deaf" in Dutch, "stupid" in German. How does Dutch sound for an English-speaking person?
We Germans can understand some sentences or signs in the netherlands. its very simmilar to german, but it feels like they just trippled the ammount of A, E I , O , U . and also add a -kje to every word. if i would say hello to a dutch person i would say Haaaloookjeee.... :D i bet this is 100% wrong, no offense to the dutch people, but thats how it feels hearing the language as a german :)
The '-(k)je' is like the german '-chen' madchen/meisje. It indicates a smaller version. Dutch just overuse it. Also, we feel like Germans just put consonants wherever they can.
Dutch windows ........ we dutch are very outdoor people (eg. biking), so we love every bit of sunshine and natural light in our homes. It is also perfect as we are used to having a lot of flowers and plants in our house.
I've never worn a bicycle helmet in my life. Maybe it's a generational thing... thinking back I don't think any of my friends wore them either. (I grew up in North Eastern Germany in the 90s btw)
Being a Dutchman I would say that - in general - the Germans are more disciplined. I love to visit Germany for holidays and it strikes me everytime I get there: at public transportation in Germamy everyone waits patiently in line for their turn to board a bus or train, where in The Netherlands everyone rushes at the door with everyone trying to get on board at the same time... Also - again, in general - Germany is much cleaner then The Netherlands. You've mentioned that everything in The Netherlands looks well kept and modern. The reason for that is quite simple: we are a small country with many people living in it. (Especially the west - which is the economical heart of the country - of The Netherlands is very densley populated) That means that we can't affort to waste any space. So as soon as a building is old or out of use it will be torn down within one or two years to put another building in it's place. Also, because the country is small it's easy and relatively cheap to install and maintain infrastructure. That's why we have good roads, excellent mobile Internet coverage etc. I have one suggestion for Germany: increase the length of your Autobahn-exits... ;-) Compared to The Netherlands the 'ausfahrten' are very short... You have so much space in your country, please increase the length of the exits so we don't need a breaking parachute to exit the Autobahn... ;-)
You might also adjust your speed to the road available, and bear in mind that all the older Autobahns were designed in the 1930s when cars were a lot slower. More like the 100 km/h you will soon have to get used to in NL.
Hey I'm English,been living in Germany for 52 years here and I love it,now about your question to the curtains that the Dusch don't have because they had to pay tax for that so that's why they don't have curtains on the windows,that has changed now but most of the Dusch still stick to that having no curtains. I love your you tube editorial so please keep on with it. Thank you🤗
In my experience it's somewhat easier for Germans living in Northern Germany/closer to the boarder to understand Dutch. On one hand of course it's more likely for people to visit with a higher frequency. On the other hand some still speak "Plattdeutsch" which is closely related to Dutch (and German of course) and is in some cases not even considered to be just a german dialect but an actual second language. It was very common to speak Plattdeutsch in more rural areas. Sadly it's fading. In my family e.g. my grandma still speaks "Platt", my mum can understand it but I can only understand a little and speak none. I think that would be very interesting for you but also your husband to hear someone speak Platt as it will probably sound like a very strong dialect and remind you of Dutch. :)
As a Native german speaker, it is easier to read dutch than to understand the spoken, cause in the netherlands some letter/letter combinations are spoken different. I see the same in norway, denmark and sweden. these four language are very similar to the german language, but or me all easier to read than to listen to.
I come from the Dutch border where Germans speak a dialect very similar to Dutch. In my childhood and youth we often went to Holland and my parents had no problem to communicate with the Dutch people in that German dialect. Everybody understands it.
Let my guess, you are from Limburg? My former boss in Amsterdam did not hire any people from Limburg because "they did not speak proper Dutch". Strange, because we had a lot of employees from all over the word, who also not could speak Dutch.
as a person who knows english and german and learning dutch for 3 years I will say - for me it was a mix of german and english but with harder pronunciation. Unfortunately I don't remember much: fietsen, mooie, dui dui, goede dag of course and "dit boek gaat over de economische situatie in België over de tweede wereld oorlog" or something : D dutchies please make your notes ; )
Big windows with open curtains is a way of expressing that you are not hiding something in your home, that you are not doing illegal things and that your living room is worth looking is. All is very transparant in the Netherlands.
When I was young I learned a good lot of the dutch language. When I didn't have to use it anymore I forgot many of the words that are different. So when I wanted to speak it years later I just chose the german word and pronounced it in a "dutchy" way which is terribly wrong. This happens because these languages are so close😁
Dutch is closely related to the northern german dialect of "Plattdeutsch". They can actually communicate. The netherlands were part of the Holy Roman Empire for quite some time and thus spoke german. At some point in the dark ages, the pronounciation shifted in germany, while the dutch language stayed the same. That's why they are different now. When I hear it as a german native speaker, it always sounds like an ancient dialect. They often use words, that sound really old fashioned here in germany, almost like they are telling a farytale, but those are just the modern dutch words. To me, reading dutch is definitely possible, listening is a different topic though.
The Big Dutch windows, a very good observation. Many Dutch people don't realise that's very typical for our country. It's certainly not that we want to show off. Another commenter nailed it when he said a large window means more light especially because many people have terraced houses. There is also the social security, the general equality in society, that we feel not the highest need to block the gaze inside of a casual passer-by.
as for your video. "GERMANY🇩🇪 vs NETHERLANDS🇳🇱 | Cultural differences & similarities" is a bit pretentious because as you say you spent only 3 nights, plus as a tourist. So thanks for the observation about the windows, and the litte point of cashless payments the rest was not too surprising or spot on (we learn German in school, they don't learn dutch, that's the explanation;; although the gap has gotten smaller, the English level of Dutch is still quite a bit higher than the Germans, we don't wear helmets because bikes are the standard for most our small trips to shops, work, school, friends, with so many bikes you just feel safer, and helmets are a little cumbersome).
I'm a Dutch person and my girlfriend is German, we both can actually have a conversation in Dutch and German and both understand for the most part what we are talking about.
That is because the dutch are germans, they have been officially part of the holy roman empire of german nations untill the utrecht rebellion.
@@madjack7777 no, not all, in italy its the people of south tirol, austrians as a whole yes, the people of flanders in belgium, the people of the elsass and lothringen of france, no polish but the whole of skandinavia except finnland and northern sweden and half the population of the uk australia nz also the us.
Its not a question of territorry but of ethnicy. Those all are germans.
@@Presbiter not germans, germanic. there is a difference. it's the difference between a russian and a slav. a russian is a slav, but . a slav isn't necessarily a russian. there was never one germanic culture, it was a collection of very different tribes both culturally and ethnically. oh, and the utrecht rebellion was 450 years ago lol... for almost half a millennium we have in no way been part of germany (other than 1940-1945). also, before we were part of the holy roman empire (which we were only a part of for 100 years) we were part of the french dynasty for 100 years.
@@TheBestCommenterEVERWhat were the people back then called...germanics or germans?
@@Presbiter in medieval times? Franks, goths, teutons, suebi, huns, burgundians. If you want to be specific, Dutch people are a mixture of Ingvaeonic and Istvaeonic people. German national culture stems from Bavaria, which is Irminonic. Germanic and German are not synonymous. If you think otherwise, then you're just wrong. We are germans as much as Spaniards are Italians for sharing an ancestral language.
Oh goodness, thank you for the shout out!! I wasn’t expecting that!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Jovie's Home You are so welcome! I hope some of my viewers will check out your awesome channel ❤️
Haha nice I also sometimes watch jovies home. Since I m dutch. I m always interested how other people experience the Netherlands. But most time they are talking about Adam, but that is not the Neterlands. That s why I prefer jovies home, it s not that Adam oriented. So it is a well placed shout out.
Believe it or not, we Dutchies don't even wear a helmet when we step into the shower. Which of course is completely irresponsible because the number of victims getting into the shower or bath is much greater than accidents with a bicycle.
And you even didn't mention the helmet we're wearing in bed! To protect us when we fall out of it during the night
I'm Not joking... Maybe becouse in Germany offen are Hills/ small Mountains... When i step Out the door, sit on a Bike and Go Downhill... I can easy Resch 50km/h to the next crossing :)
@@thomashering1482 That is true for the south of the netherlands where I live aswell. But still nobody above the age of seven wears a helmet.
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😂🤣
Language: Today's Dutch is an evolution of Frankish Germanic - of the Franks nation. We did not go through as many big changes as today's dominant language of Germany that derives from another Germanic dialect. Today's German came from the higher (geographical) part of Germany and is hence called "high" when today's dialects of the North and part of the middle of Germany are called "low" which today seems pejorative. To a German linguistics student in the Netherlands, my language may seem anachronistic and cute, like the little country. I would counter that my language is more original and has seen less distortion over the centuries. The relatively frozen state of Dutch is likely caused by early literacy in larger parts of the population. Germany has several regions with Frankish dialects, but since "hoch Deutsch" became reference, these became dialect and generally not written as such, devolved more.
Mind you, part of the Frankish nation went to France when the latter was called Gaul, where they adopted the local version of vulgar (common, ordinary) Latin, likely mutilated it a bit, put their name on the country and stayed. As you did a DNA test, you may know the "French-German" label, and this is why. Part of France are actually Germans. (And the French in the South - Midi - still were very aware of that, say 40 years ago.)
The word "Dutch" ("deutsch" in German, "duits" in Dutch, "diets" in Flemish) means "common", "of the commons", "ordinary", or "folksy". The German savage nobles with aspirations to rule the Holy Roman Empire would learn a Romance language. After the (protestant) Reformation, more pride developed in speaking, writing and reading of the "common" language - i.e.not the language of clergy, nobility.
If you want to test Germans for understanding the dominant language of the Netherlands, I suggest to look for those who speak a Frankish dialect, as well as part of Switzerland. And understand that hoch Deutsch may actually already be a second language for many a German, so their hearing is programmed for other sounds and melodies in language. Note that centuries of national radio and TV have harmonized the general language into everyday dominance on top of its formal status. However, now equipment needed to produce radio or TV (or TH-cam) is so affordable, you will see people to start producing content in these local dialects.
The dominant language in the Netherlands, in a numeric sense, has a second in Frisian (of Friesland) that can be more like Saxon or English. If you study Anglo-Saxon linguistics, then the study of this language is imperative as the closest to Old English that still exists. Then the third one, Stellingwarfs, is a dialect of low Saxon (with Dutch influences of course) and more intelligible to Dutch people than Frisian.
Thank you for explaining that so well. I knew that there are different "language families" but didn't know all these details. I really enjoyed reading this history.
Actually Low saxon is spoken on both sides of the border of the north east of the Netherlands...not Frankish at all..
Also the Dutch first colonized South Africa, then Cape Colony, but due to Netherlands weakening naval power, the British took South Africa, and a more creole version of Dutch starting developing, now called Afrikaans literally a mix between 3 different languages, like, Xhosa, Indonesia and English with a few sentence structures stolen from various different languages. Afrikaaners can understand some spoken Dutch and excel in reading Dutch, whereas Dutch see Afrikaans just a language that is hard to comprehend. Though Dutch people can read Afrikaans with difficulty, they have a very hard time understanding people speaking Afrikaans.
Afrikaans is a wonderful language, but ultimately not as many speak Afrikaans as Dutch so although I am totally a 'Afrikaaner' I am making progress in understanding spoken Dutch
I once read that someone wearing a bike helmet in the Netherlands is for sure a German tourist :) Regarding the language: It's much easier to understand Dutch if you know some Plattdeutsch (low German), so it's much harder for someone used to a Bavarian accent compared to someone from Bremen or Hamburg.
For people from cologne it's similar. Who speaks 'Kölsch' understands Dutch sometimes better than bavian or saxon dialects. 😁
i speak plattdeutsch (eastern frisian) and there are many similarities between dutch and platt :). As Frisian you can´t understand pure dutch but throught a few words you get Intention of a sentense and what the Person wants to tell you:D
I life in the Netherlands and when I see someone on a bike for sure it is a German In the germans DNA forced the germans to but helmets on there head 🤪
@@ChrisTenalach77777 good one :D btw u got your bike back from that german dude in zeee uniform?
@@indahooddererste you mean my grandfather bike
A notable difference between Dutch and German people (of course only in general, there are always lots of exceptions) is their attitude towards rules and hierarchical relations.
German people in general respect rules and abide by them, and will always follow directions given by persons hierarchially above them.
Dutch people, quite the contrary. Any rules are always subject of discussion, are being re-interpreted to personal taste and advantage, and often disobeyed.
E.g. when a Dutch policeman tells a citizen he is misbehaving, the citizen will enter a discussion with the policeman whether that is really the case, if that is reasonable, and why he is interfering with it.
A German would not dare (or want) to do that at all.
Also, in Germany it is quite normal to point out to a fellow citizen that they are doing something undesirable. Don't try that to (most) Dutch people, they would clearly explain to you that it is not your business to tell them anything and that they can pretty well decide for themselves what to do and what not to do.
Dutchies are German- baseline with a "latin" finishing touch :-). Extraordinary combination!
This is very true. Ben jij Nederlands? My history teacher told me this is because Calvijn rooted in holland, where Luther rooted in germany. The main difference tween these two: Calvijn stated u could disobey the king/leaderfigure if he did not follow the right religion. Which means people can critique the corrupt. Where Luthers opinion was that the soverein would know what is best for the people, therefore the people must follow his exampleband obey. Good old protestantism!
And then there are Flemish Belgians, who place less value on rules/regulations than both Dutch and Germans, but do value obeying hierarchy over the Dutch egalitarianism. (basically in Germany and Belgium your boss is your boss, in the Netherlands your boss is your co-worker)
@@KarlSnarks this is the French influence for sure.....as french love to get their own way and question absolutly everything but at the end of the day they do respect hierarchy
with this reason I have to be Dutch.
Native German speaker, I speak no Dutch and I can usually understand 1/3 - 1/2 of what is being said when I listen to Dutch.
Subtitles on movies gave us Dutch a free and easy learning advantage,on Englisch and German.
Ik ben Nederlander en spreek ook Engels en Duits. I am Dutch and speak also English and German. Ich bin Niederlander und spreche auch Englisch und Deutsch. Dutch is a in between language with linguistic relations to German, English and also French.
Dutch, German and English are all Germanic languages so they are related.
In my opinion as a german i think dutch sounds similar to "lower germany" (plattdeutsch).
On my business trips there i could understand many of what they say without realy knowing any dutch.
So it doenst apply to all germans that they cant understand dutch.
My guess the closest would be dialects of the Ruhr area (cities like Krefeld, Essen, Duesseldorf etc, which are related to Limburgish) and Niederrhein (related to Gelder(n)landish). That said, during the Vienna congress William I tried to get those areas added to the Netherlands because of the relation. Plattdeutsch is Saxon in origin, while Dutch is Franconian, so I think that is more comparable sounds than direct relation. As a teenager I watched Fastenabende broadcasts in Cologne dialect, and after an hour I could follow it reasonably. That said, more Dutch have some exposure to German than the other way around, and I'm from a bordertown raised in a pre-cable period, so we watched a lot of German television
@@marcovtjev
I live close to Gelderland and Limburg, so I understand Dutch, but I don't speak it.
@@marcoj90 Dutch comes from lower german yes.
The German language is a combination of Dutch and Austrian. The appropriation of these fine and beautiful languages from these ancient and noble cultures is a modern travesty.
We learn German at school here in the Netherlands😊
Grüße aus Hamburg..
And our Children learn dutch here in germany, although it's a voluntary subject. But this is very special to my region (east frisia) because we are culturally and historically so tied to the northern parts of the netherlands.
@@herzschlagerhoht5637 beides wird in den Schulen angeboten. Mehr als noch zu meiner Schulzeit vor 20 Jahren
I have learnt Dutch from watching a lot of Dutch TV in my youth and we spent lot of holidays in the Netherlands. I love the Dutch people, their language, culture and friendliness.
Aber nicht sehr gut.
In der Schüle lernt man nur das Verstehen von Deutsch. Nicht das Sprechen oder das Schreiben. Vor einige Jahren hatte ich große Schwierigkeiten Deutsch zu sprechen, und das Schreiben ist immer noch nicht leicht. Ich konnte Deutsch und English nicht sehr gut von einander geschieden halten, und mischte mein Deutsch mit Englische Wörter. Für mich waren da nur zwei Sprachen. Holländisch, und die andere Sprache, die immer nur Englisch war.
Ich habe dieses Problem gelöst. Ich lerne jetzt Deutsch von Englisch aus. Auf diese Weise zwinge ich mich Englisch und Deutsch von einander zu scheiden.
I live close to the Dutch border (Suedlimburg Region around Maastricht). There is beautiful hilly (yes!!) countryside anf forests that are fantastic for hiking....lovely friendly Dutch people...marvellous architecture...everyone speaking excellent German...and coffee beans are so cheap! I spend most weekends there and regard it as my third home 😍
It's not a "totally different language". They are closely related.
@@AcademicAshley They are different in the sense that both are standarized but on a dialectal level there is a continuum.
Dutch is a harsh dialect of German. It the south of the Netherlands and Flanders, it sounds pretty decent though.
@@luxembourger Dialect? don't think so...
Related, but they are not mutually intelligible.
The reason that Dutch people can understand and speak German and English, is that they learn it in school.
It is actually quite hard for Dutch people to speak and write German, understanding and reading is a bit easier.
@@ervie60 It is aways hard to draw a line between "dialect" and "language". But Dutch is definitely a kind of a "spin-off" of German.
I have relatives in Franconia (near Nürnberg) but I was born and grew up in Bremen, so I am a real Hanseat. Actually I feel closer to the dutch in Groningen than to my relatives down in the south. And the communication with dutch is - for me - easier than with my relatives.
If you speak Plattdeutsch, you will understand dutch.
Dutch and German languages are in fact very simular. Dutch is also a Germanic language. The Dutch have more bikes than people. Cycling is a second nature to us. We also cycle a lot more than Germans. In fact, we cycle more than they do in any other Western country. The Dutch are also known as the the best non native speaking country in speaking English. We hate eachother when it concerns football, but in general Germans and Dutch are very close. See us as a big and a little brother, where the little brother is moer outgoing and has the better humor.😉
Then there's the weird far off relative that is Afrikaans just standing in the corner of every room never being noticed but still there 😖
I've been to the Netherlands once to visit a friend there and in general, the Netherlands is quite similar to Germany. Specifically northern Germany. While I have never had any lessons in Dutch, I could navigate the country by reading the signs 90% of the time. Written Dutch is just as understandable as written German dialects. Spoken Dutch takes a bit of time to get used to and it's only understandable sometimes but since both languages are in the Germanic family and the countries right next door, they are very very similar.
But the funny thing is, if you look carefully, there are these weird small differences in mentality, way of life, city architecture and so on. According to my own observations and that of the friend living there:
1. The Dutch are way less hierarchical and formal than Germans. It probably has to do with it being a small country but there isn't this feeling of a clear-cut hierarchy of authority in organizations or groups. It's more on an eye-to-eye level and a lot more flexible in groups
2. Dutch cities don't have "grand" or pompous looks like some cities in Germany or France or other big countries. Everything is neat, tiny, specific and 'kleinteilig' as Germans would say it. But it's also not done to such a degree that it looks chaotic in the big picture. Quite the opposite actually, its cities are this weird mix of "ordered and regulated individuality"
3. The Dutch are way more excessive with modern technology and more open to change in general
4. Dutch people are more pragmatic than Germans at times. Germans have a tendency to like to think about the grand scheme of things, theorize, talk about god, rules, philosophy, morality, right-and-wrong. Dutch people find that a bit over-the-top, sometimes unhelpful, they don't talk as excessively about some abstract ideology or idea, they like to see how it works in the real world and focus on problems and solutions on the ground. A lot of Dutch cities have really...interesting...ways of solving problems.
5. Dutch food culture and customs is....well. Functional lol
As a Dutchman i can only say: what a cliche bla bla bla.
@@henkoosterink8744 Cliches usually contain a lot of truth. Grootste gemene deler, you know.
@@TheSynecdoche Ach schei toch uit, die gasten zitten 2 dagen in Amsterdam en dan maar lullen over DE Nederlander.
@@henkoosterink8744 ... en de nederlandse gasten zitten 2 dagen in Berlijn, Keulen, München ... en lullen over de duitsers ;)
Greetings from an Eastern-Bavarian in Western-Switzerland
nah
The language comprehension is a bit asymmetrical. Most native German speakers will be able to read a Dutch newspaper and understand 70 to 80 percent. Spoken Dutch is another matter. I think it's because Dutch pronunciation is quite different from the spelling which confuses the German speakers, whereas German pronunciation is close to spelling, which makes it easy to understand for Dutch speakers. People who speak Low German have an easier time though.
The fact that lots of Dutch people have learned some German at school, might make a difference, too ;-)
It is actually quite hard for Dutch people to learn German because in German there are those genders and cases that do not exist anymore in Dutch (just as in English).
So to translate something from Dutch to German you need to add new information depending on the gender of the words involved.
When reading or listening to German this is not a problem for the Dutch because the information is just there and can be ignored.
@@AnimalDreams86 As a kid I watched German TV in the 60's and 70's, and I live in a bordertown that also helps to understand the neighbours language.
I could read and speak German before it was thaught in school.
@@AnimalDreams86 Also the older generation, living close to the german border, could receive german tv broadcasting. As a child I watched probably more german tv programs than dutch programs, hence the familiarity with the german language.
@@Kloashut I'm from the eastern part of the Netherlands. When I was young we only had four tv channels available: two Dutch TV channels and two German ones. There were only Dutch TV broadcast in the evening most of the week, so it meant we watched a lot of German TV out of necessity. That's how I learned German. Nowadays we can receive dozens upon dozens TV channels, all broadcasting 24x7. Dutch kids learn English at a young age, but not German anymore unless they stick with it at school. My generation can probably speak German OK (but not flawlessly). New generations will just speak English when they strike up a conversation with Germans.
The Dutch are so much chill! Love The Netherlands. Can’t wait to move there.
I think, at least the nightlife is in Germany much better, I lived in both countries.
Than better don't move to Holland. The people there remind me on New Yorkers
@@hanszimmer9224 In which aspect they reminded you to New Yorkers?
@@luxembourger I assume he means they're blunt and upfront in the way they speak and act? not sure tho, I'm curious as well.
the Netherlands is pretty nice indeed, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but that's probably because I grew up here.
expect some huge prices for buying a house though, some dutch people are actually moving to Belgium because houses are really expensive here, especially if you want t live in Amsterdam.
I am Dutch I love it when the sun shines through my big window and you see everything when you look outside but we experience it as rude when people look through my window inside, if it it's not family or friends
Doorzonwoning!
- The reason why the dutch like to open drapes is because they like to look outside. Giving your house a more spacious feeling. And they like to have daylight coming. People understand how healthy daylight is for people and for plants. Dutch people also like to open windows to air out their house. Even in the cold of winter.
Dutch and German are quite similar, I can understand more Dutch than Swiss German Dialects, and Dutch is considered to be a own language. I normaly get the topic they are talking about if I try to listen. I am Austrian and never had intense contact over a long time with Dutch or Flemish (the Belgian Dutch).
Dutch people understand german because their movies are not dubbed. They got German or English language with Dutch subtitles.
I usually speak my own dialect and I am used to people pronouncing words differently, or even have a different sentence construction, grammar or words. This helps with understanding different germanic and romance languages.
Somehow Austrian German sounds a bit more intelligible to Dutch people than "high German". No idea why that is. Swiss German, on the other hand, is very difficult to understand.
And of course the Dutch come to Austria by the tens of thousands to see Max Verstappen win the Austrian F1 GP wearing their orange T-shirts :-)
"Hoch Deutsch" is the youngest formal addition to the group of Germanic languages (1871). Most kids in the Netherlands study German for three years in school. That's why the understanding only goes one way ...
Cyclists in the Netherlands don't need to wear a helmet: You must have noticed that they have such a fearsome reputation that all others in trafic stay at least five meters away from them.
the Dutch windows: they are/were a calvinist country, and they have these windows to show that in their house, nothing sinful happened. at least this is how it was explained to me.
peter koller Interesting, it makes sense. In addition I know that in 17th century houses, larger (wider) windows meant that the home owner was wealthier. The large windows of today don’t mean the same thing, but there might be some historical background there. Alternatively, the ‘New Style’ of the 50’s advocated lots of light, ergo large windows...
Only the bible belt is Calvinistic, Zeeland to Drenthe, the rest has always been mixed. If religion would be a factor, you would see differences in houses according the religion of who lives there, that is not the case.
Because of dense population in the towns and cities, the houses are narrow and very deep, and build against each other. The only source of daylight are the narrow front and narrow back of the house, that is why the windows are large.
From the late 19th century it was known that sunlight and ventilation prevent mold and with that a lot of lung and other diseases. Building regulations require sunlight and ventilation for every living space.
The windows are larger to maximise daylight in the home. You can look in... But it is considered nosey
It has to do with the fact that the Netherlands was the first republic as a state in Europe.
A whole new burger-society was established .
Art and science florished in a
completely new way in that time , also in architecture.
A kind of equality rose up amongst the people,
one didn't have to hide things while the protestants always pointed at individual responsability.
This led to less social 'control'
so to speak.
Still a kind of 'bluntness' is not strange among the Dutch, who are very direct in their communication.
Completely different to german politeness.
Nice vid by the way🌹
I hate Dutch windows. I have my curtains closed all the time and yes my neighbour thought sinful things were happening in the house! He thought I was secretly growing weed lol.
I am German but I lived in the Netherlands for almost 4 years and it is absolutely my favorite country ever! I was actually also in Egmond aan Zee when I visited for the first time at 14 and I also felt right at home. I then started learning Dutch by just memorizing vocabulary and trying to form sentences but my grammar was very off :D It got a lot better when I moved there at 18 and I could practice every day. But it is true that as a German native speaker with decent English language skills, you can learn Dutch quite quickly. The most difficult thing is pronunciation I guess. Dutch people will quickly notice when you have a German accent and switch to either English or German, making it very hard to practice :D
Hey I've been here for about as long as well! My first contact was with eastern Drenthe, because I grew up within cycling-distance of the border. Needless to say I feel right at home in this country too!
Can confirm the part about learning the language. It can be a challenge to find native Dutch speakers to speak Dutch with. Places with many expats often have communities for learners. They meet regularly to intentionally speak Dutch. I know of the ones in Rotterdam and Den Haag.
Haha as a Dutch native, I agree that we have the tendency to switch to English if we notice a non-native accent in your speaking. I've taught myself to keep speaking Dutch if it's only a light accent, and to ask what someone prefers if they don't speak fluently.
Dutchie here and what you say is true. Dutch isn’t difficult for Germans except getting the pronunciation right. Most Germans will always sound German. In reverse German grammar is a bitch for us Dutchies but pronunciation is very easy. If a Dutchie puts some effort into German pronunciation it‘ll usually sound German enough (Northern German though!). Getting all the cases and plurals right is a whole different matter.
From my experience, the dutch are more relaxed and open-minded than my fellow germans. They´re also not so much about making up rules for everything. I feel more at home in the netherlands than in germany but I just can´t learn to speak their language.
I do agree with that as a Dutch person but Germans seem to be more polite
@@eveningglow2608 I like the politeness of Germans, but I still prefer Dutch blunt honesty in some ways though. Politeness is nice, but you always have to guess what people really feel.
I have worked with a lot of Dutch people and they are even more direct than Germans. Found this difficult to get used to ... there is no beating around the bush with Dutchies at all 🤣
I sometimes wonder if this is true and Dutchies are really that direct, because I don't notice it at all and I've been living here my entire life... but then I hear examples of our 'directness' and I'm like "oh... you mean normal conversation? Wait, how tf are you guys talking then?"
Like, apparently, in Ireland it's normal to decline tea or a biscuit and then expect to get it anyway? And in the US, it's weird to talk about finances of any kind?
I am German and grew up only 5 minutes away from the Dutch border and even though I never learned Dutch at school I can understand most of it just from hearing it all the time. Also the architecture and bikes in my hometown look just like in the Netherlands ! :)
Hi. Dutch people have to learn german, french and English for 2 years when they go to high school. After the 2 years you can drop them. The Window thing. We don't care if you look in. If you live here you don't look, it's normal
I guess that depends on your high school level. I had to take English classes all through Havo and Vwo. Havo got to drop either French OR German in the fourth year, but Vwo you had to take classes in both languages.
My nieces now get lessons in German, French and Spanish in the first year of high school (besides English and of course Dutch), and for their second year have to choose which two languages they will continue.
Same in Bremen, actually, we even have your row houses, in the parts of Bremen around the old town nobody has curtains. I remember when walking around with a friend from South Germany, she kept asking, are all these apartments empty? There's no curtains!
We theoretically also could see what are neighbors are up to, but nobody looks. Easy.
@@thomaseck3210 I love Bremen, great nightlife in the "Viertel". There was nothing in Amsterdam like that, not even close.
You can't drop English though, or is that only true for havo and vwo?
not every dutch student learns french, I did have a German class for 1 year but I never learned it well. I was on one of the lower levels of education though because I guess I'm either not that smart or it's my lack of motivation I had for school.
I live next to the border to the Netherlands and Belgium. When I read it I can understand dutch very well, but I can't understand them talking. Netherland should be an example for bike roads. In some German citys it is still too dangerous to ride your bike.
A "Dutch window"? Never heard of it, we just call it a "window" :-D
Anyway, it is all about having contact with the outside world when sitting in your living room. This desire doesn't stop when it gets dark outside! The fact that people walking by outside can look in as well is just a side-effect that we don't care too much about.
Die holländische Architektur ist keineswegs so unterschiedlich, sondern entspricht derjenigen der "germania inferior". (Bayern liegt bekanntlich "oben").
Die Sprachen sind verwandt, besonders, wenn man sich ein wenig mit der Konsonanten-Verschiebung beschäftigt, die den gesamten norddeutschen Raum betrifft.
Das große Fenster dokumentiert, daß es in diesem Hause keine Sünde gibt; die Niederländer sind -bzw. waren- superstrenge Protestanten, weswegen sie sich 80Jahre lang mit dem spanischen König gefetzt haben.
Beide Länder haben eine gemeinsame Geschichte, sie gehörten bis zum Ende des 30jährigen Krieges zusammen. Die genaue Grenze zu Deutschland war lange Zeit noch fließend.
Das Königshaus wird von einer deutschen Familie gestellt, derer von Nassau, die aus Dillenburg / Rheinland-Pfalz stammt.
Beide Tatsachen sollte man - wenn man Niederländer zu Freunden gewinnen will - nicht allzu sehr heraushängen lassen, da man diesbezüglich etwas empfindlich regiert.
Ja, ich spreche niederländisch, da ich an der Grenze wohne und es für einen Akt der Höflichkeit halte, die Sprache des Nachbarn zu sprechen. Die Volkshochschule bietet zahlreiche Abendkurse an, von denen die Grenzländer auch reichlich Gebrauch machen.
Als Lektüre empfehle ich die spannenden Romane von Leon de Winter.
Holländische Architektur ist insofern underschiedlich, dass man es sofort sieht wenn man die Grenze passiert. Bauweise, Materialien, Bauvorschriften, so manches ist anders. Ich wohne in einer Wohnung, die von einer deutschen Baufirma stammt. Die hat düstere Ecken, die ein holländischer Architekt vermieden hätte. Das holländische Königshaus stammt übrigens von einem deutschen Kriegsherr, den man damals angeheuert hat für den Krieg gegen Spanien. Holland hatte das Geld, Deutschland Soldaten.
I am a German expat, having lived more than 30 years in two different countries. I admire your positive attitude and enthusiasm despite some culture shock. I am a German expat, having lived now more than 3 decades in 2 different countries. Assimilation and acceptance of cultural differences has been much more difficult for me, which may have a lot to do with my own perception and adaptability. Thanks for sharing your experiences, seeing it always as a glass half full..
35 years ago, cyclists in Germany (children included) did not wear bicycle helmets. They only became popular in the 90ies or so.
EXACTLY! I actually still refuse to wear them, it's just another ridiculous NWO subjugation ruse. The Dutch are the best proof bicycle helmets are wholly unnecessary.
@@icke11234 It's part of the NWO as much as your neighbour's dog pooping on your lawn is
@@namewarvergeben Sagen alle Helmspasten
@@icke11234 Ich trage keinen Helm, und auch sonst kaum jemand in meiner Umgebung. Aber das ist sicher auch nur ein Teil der NWO Verschwörung!
German and English speakers have indeed trouble to understand the Dutch language in its spoken form, because how we pronouns the letter(s)(combinations) g, ch, r, eu, oe, ij, ei, etc. However, when they see a written text they do recognize a lot of words. Dutch speakers understand more the spoken form of German and English but have more trouble with the written form, due to the complexity of German grammar, and the fact that a lot of English words aren't spelled phonetically.
The letter combinations make written Dutch harder as well (if you don't know how they're pronounced). For example "mijn broer" looks like gibberish to us if you don't know how close to "mein Bruder" it really is!
Hi.. just my 2 Cents to clarify the "Curtain Tale" ;)
Long time ago in a country not far from us....
Curtain tax in Holland? A German Saga...
I think most of us Germans have heard the term "Dutch curtain tax" before. Did the Dutch really have to pay tax on every curtain they owned?
The fairy tale about curtain tax can be described as a modern saga, which is particularly common in Germany.
The background is the habit of the Dutch people not to have curtains at the window. Ideal for curious glances.
This is especially for us Germans with our preferences for pleated blinds, curtains and drapes quite incomprehensible.
So why no curtains?
The Netherlands is a Calvinist influenced country, which therefore places great value on openness. And how is it easier to show that you have nothing to hide than by offering your fellow human beings a direct view of your home? So it is purely cultural that there are so few curtains at the windows in the Netherlands.
Ingo Patzke Dutchie here. So true. I don’t mind people taking a peak at my livingroom and waving at my neighbours passing by. If I had any curtains I would not close them. Feels like locked up in my own house. Another thing in NL is that you should not come by our houses unexpected. We hate that. Only with an appointment or with notification in advance. Only for real close friends we make an exception. :-)
@@Wielie0305
And we like to see what is going on outside...
Without peeking through a split in the curtains, because that is considered very nosy and rude.
As a Dutch person I think your comparison makes total sense. Including the language part which is pretty much spot on.
Just like you said I am Dutch and I can understand German. I have never learned even one German word and I can understand!
Antoinette another one of your excellent videos. I watch you and Jovie all of the time because you both provide excellent videos on many subjects and I always learn new and interesting things. If they had windows here like they have in the Netherlands they would be inviting people to rob them or even worse. Having been stationed in Germany I was always quite impressed by the cleanliness. People here in the States think the sidewalks and streets are their personal garbage containers. I remember that in Germany if you got caught littering you were subjected to a hefty fine. They have fines for littering in the states but it is rarely if ever enforced. The building that I live in has a large homeless population and constantly just throw their trash on the ground even though they are provided trash bins. I was also impressed with the way the Germans especially the older ones would ride bikes or walked rather than drive. We as Americans can learn so much from the Germans as I did when I was stationed there.
Ah the large windows. The houses where you can look all the way through to the backyard are called 'doorzonwoning', which translates to 'house where the sun shines all the way through'. My parents love walking around at night and peeking inside, which they call 'binnen blieken'. You did it the right way, by the way. You can glance as long as you keep walking. You're not meant to stare inside or point.
My husband grew up in a home where only the kitchen had a tiny upper window and he absolutely hates houses with those large windows. Took us some energy finding a house without a large window looking straight into the livingroom.
I love, I really, really love Holland, the Dutch people, their culture and their language. If I had the possibility, I would live there. I have friends there and we are so close, that we could be one family
That's awesome that you love our language :D
I hope you love the rest of the Netherlands too..Holland is the bad part by the way, with the big cities..
@@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands
I know that Holland is a region of the Netherlands…even some Netherlander don’t know it. It’s a shame btw.
I meant the whole Netherlands of course! But all Dutch guys I met say to the Netherlands Holland. Ok, than I say it too. My friends live in Brabant, exactly in Eindhoven.
Ik weet dat Holland een regio van Nederland is... zelfs sommige Nederlanders weten het niet. Jammer btw. Ik bedoelde natuurlijk heel Nederland! Maar alle Nederlandse jongens die ik ontmoette, zeggen tegen Nederland Holland. Ok, dan zeg ik het ook. Mijn vrienden wonen in Brabant, precies in Eindhoven.
Sorry voor mijn slechte nederlands
Hello Antoinette, I'm Dutch and I'm a follower of your and Jovi's channel and they make me always smile. I'm happy you liked it in the Netherlands. I live on the German border, my house is 400 yards from it. At the time I was in school ( I'm now 66 so it's a long time ago ) it was mandatory to learn 2 foreign languages in high school, mostly English and German or French. I'm happily did all 3 because German was easy for me. My father was Dutch and raised in Germany and we got a lot of family who stayed there. Dutch and German come both from the old West Germanic language. This video is a explanation of it. th-cam.com/video/AWVKzdyWRps/w-d-xo.html We got a dialect similar with the dialect in western Nordrhein-Westfalen.
dat was heelemal en gooie comment
The Dutch windows come from the merchant times. The husbands would be away on the ships trading. The windows without curtains were a way of social enforcement where the neighbours made sure the wives were not cheating.
Not a word about Zeeland, the province in the Netherlands that gave its name to your country New Zealand? did you know that?
I love the Netherlands and the Dutch. More relaxed than the Germans-not so hung up on rules, and LOVE how easy it is to get around on bicycle on their dedicated cycle paths and roads. They really lead the way in the world on bicycle infrastructure.
One of the big differences between the Dutch and the Germans is the formal way Germans interact where the Dutch are much more casual, where the Dutch are using first names like the English do , the Germans are more likely to address someone with their family name and even tittles. e.g. Herr Dr. etc.
Hi Antoinette, as an English guy living in the Netherlands I came across your channel about 6 months ago and have watched and enjoyed most of your videos. I don't live too far from Egmond, and you must have passed close by on your way. Please make a part 2, I especially ejoyed this video. I recognised a lot of things that you noticed, that I now take for granted. If you ever come back, you really should visit Hoorn (yes, where I live) it really is THE most pcturesque town on the inland sea. Looking forward to all your future videos.
here's something that could be useful for visitors to the Netherlands: about those cards, you are right about the vast majority using those, BUT it's important to know that they are bankcards, not creditcards.
Before coming over, check with your bank if your own bankcard will work, as you can pay with a bankcard pretty much everywhere yet creditcards are very limited.
I've seen many Americans especially being caught off guard by that.
Hotels etc obviously accept creditcard payment but besides them it's not that common.
Yes, this is true. 30 years ago I visited the Netherlands and I was very amused about the big windows in the houses. I thought they must be very honest people, because they have nothing to hide!😊👍
That might be the same reason they like card payment so much 😂
Have you been to the Netherlands and also tried patat spezial, kibbeling or cheese?
I understand and speak Dutch fluently because I live in the border region with the Netherlands and also work in the Netherlands.
I wanted to add that the infrastructure for bicycles in the Netherlands is better than for cars. It is often faster to get around by bike than by car.It's no wonder because the country is not that big, so it makes sense to ride a bike.
A joke about Germans in the Netherlands: "How can you tell a cyclist whether he is German? On a bicycle helmet!
No observation about a New Zealander in Old Zealand? :-)
That would be a real culture shock XD comparing those two
We don't show off. Showing off is very much not done in any way in the Netherlands. Big windows are for bringing in light in the daytime. We love that. If we want privacy, we close the curtains at night. On the other hand, there is an unwritten rule not to look from the outside in, for respect of privacy. Looking in is considered a bit rude.
Cool! True, you're not supposed to stare into windows, your feeling was right. The windows have always been that way, and it comes from an old community sense, where neighbours are considered important. In general , Dutch people will know a little bit more about neighbours, what time they come home, what they do for a living, how they are as a person,, health etc. Without curtains (don't stare!) you could greet them if they walk by, which gives a feeling of security and care. My parents always invite neighbours for birthday parties also, and neighbours would have the housekeys in case of an emergency. The flipside is that people sometimes want to move to more anonymous bigger cities because they feel different from this standard norm that's all over this country. Don't stand out too much from the crowd. About language: German language is sometimes on Dutch television, even more so in the 80s (Krimis), with subtitles; the other way around not really I believe. Also it's practical to speak a little German for holidays.
as a kid I used to watch a lot of German TV (the only daytime tv at the time :-)) so I thought it would be a breeze in highschool. Boy was I wrong
Ah, you're probably from the older generations ;)
There is probably another reason, but big windows make for light rooms. In the evening when it’s dark, most people close their curtains because the windows will just be big dark squares, which aren’t “gezellig”. Some people don’t like people looking in, but there is a wide variety in to stop the view while still being able to enjoy most of the outside view.
What you’d want to avoid is buying thick curtains and having them closed 24/7. Some foreigners have reported they have been visited by the police because the curtains make you look suspicious. Don’t worry, cops aren’t out to get you and having curtains isn’t illegal, it’s just not what we’re used.
Not just suspicious, it may also mean that you are seriously ill or even have died and cannot open your curtains anymore. Not nosy, people quietly look after one another.
Great video!! The “old school” bikes are called Oma Fiets (grandma bike) 😂. They’re very comfortable to ride :)
Glad you enjoyed your trip!!
Haha love the name. I really want one of these bikes!
Haha, I am a subscriber of both channels. Nice to see you here Jovie✌️
I’m born in NRW and when you compare this part of Germany with the Netherlands, the similarities are very obvious. The cologne/rhine region dialect is very close to Dutch, with many words rooting, funny enough, in today’s English rather then „Hochdeutsch“. For example „trekken“ instead of „ziehen“, which is related with engl to treck, or some typical foods like „Kappes“ or „Spruute“ which are cabbage and (Brussel) sprouts, instead of „Kohl“ or „Rosenkohl“. Its funny how Germany is essentially a mixture of all kinds of European influences. Also the Architecture is very similar in NRW to the Netherlands. You‘ll find these typical stone houses very often in nrw and also in Norddeutschland, very different to Franconia or Bavaria.
33merkur those words look more like Dutch than English to me
I have five friends who married German native speakers and three of them could speak Dutch within three months, one of them flawless, accentless. Everybody was stunned. Dutch is easier than German because it does not have the inclinations of nouns and adjectives any more. After the horrors under German occupation in World War II (1940-1945) everybody had so enough of Germans and their German that it was decided to quickly modernize and simplify the Dutch language, making sure it did not resemble German too much any more, in speaking or in writing.
As a Dutchie I also feel very connected to the Scandinavian countries.
They are not completely different languages. Part of my family actually speaks Plattdeutsch (a German dialect). And when I was a kid we were often in vacation in areas where there were a lot of people from the Netherland. And being a native Plattdeutsch speaker I think my dad understood a lot of what they were saying. He even tried to communicate with some Dutch kids who were looking for their mother or something like that. I, in the other hand, cant understand Dutch but I can understand Plattdeutsch. And understanding Plattdeutsch helps me to understand some written Dutch. Like I read a sentence and I understand a word and then I read it again (keeping the word I understood in mind) and I understand another word etc.
I'm Dutch and I can't speak Plattdeutsch, but I can understand it when I focus and it's pretty easy for me to read ^^
Then again, my German isn't bad either, so I have help from both sides :P
Maybe you should visit Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. We also speak Dutch, but here it is called Flemish, a softer variant of the Dutch language. We also learn French , English and German at school, besides our mothertongue. German is the third language here we have a German region in Belgium to. You will find Flanders completedly different to The Netherlands and Germany, but still , you as a New Zeelander ,will shurely find a lot of similar points.
I am a Dutch viewer and I know German and Flemish (Dutch) both. I find them quite similar.
It seems for me you will also love the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland): germanic language roots (except Finland), high level of Englsh skills, and cash is not king there :-)
I can't wait to visit these countries!
Nice video. I am born in Amsterdam and just Yesterday iIran a half-marathon in Egmond. Lot of familiar images. About the windows. They are huge because it is nice to have a lot of daylight in your room and if you close your windows, then you are also closing yourself off from the outside world. It is not only you that is looking inside, we are also looking outside, watching you walking by. :) And the germans are the biggest group of customers certainly in the coastal area, so it is just good commercial practise to be able to speak german.
I live close to the Dutch border in Germany, about 5km away and I do mostly understand them and I'm able to read Dutch because of our Rhine-Dialekt. It is very close to Dutch.
Nice video. I'm glad you had a good time in here The Netherlands.
There are many similarities between between Dutch and German. Especially certain dialects like West Low German.
The big (often curtainless) windows is one of these things I don't even think about unless I'm watching a video like this. I'm not sure why this is a thing. Some say it's a way to show that you don't have anything to hide. Some say it's to let in more sun light so we can safe on electricity for light and gas for heat. Stingy Dutch mentality. LOL
We are one of the safest countries to ride a bike. There are many reasons for this and there are entire TH-cam channels devoted to this subject (e.g. Bicycle Dutch and Not Just Bikes). We don't wear helmets while riding a bike for the same reason we don't wear them while walking.
the Dutch have two types of scooters; one which has a speed up to 25 km/hr, for which you don't need a helmet and they are allowed (with a few exceptions) on the bicycle paths, and the other has a top speed of 45 km/hr. For these a helmet is mandatory and they are not allowed on bicycle paths but have to ride with the cars. They both have differently colored license plates, but that is too much detail for this simple youtube reply. It's just that the 'slow moped' is primarely used by the elderly or those who have, say, knee problems but still want to ride a 'bike' (although a lot of these people have switched to e-bikes the past five years or so). The resoning behind the 'no helmets for slow mopeds' is the same as with bicycles: if you separate bicycles from the traffic that can harm them (ie: cars) by building separate cycling infrastructure, you can only crush into other cyclists, who go too slow and are too fragile themselves to inflict much damage. Imagine a car, going 45 km/hr, ramming into a cyclist. Ouch. That is multiple fractures, at least. Imagine two cyclists bumping into each other. And I don't mean those 'racing' cyclists like in the Tour de France, but Duch cyclists, on their sturdy 'sit up and beg' bikes. They might wobble. They might fall. They might scrape a knee or fall on their sides and scrape the palm of their hand. But they will not land on their head or have their head in any way injured. And as for those slow mopeds, it's largely the same. It would be less pleasant to be 'bumped' by those as by a bike, but apart from a bruise or two, a real injury is really, really rare. Believe me; very clever people have been planning, testing and building Dutch traffic and cycling infrastructure for DECADES. This is not a matter of 'oh, don't those Dutch know about helmets?' thing but a 'the Dutch know about helmets, have very good reasons to reject them and have chosen to walk a different path that actually lead to the highest number of cyclists in the WORLD' thing. Also; the open windows ARE a display. It's the gesture of the prosperous and houseproud to show off their good taste, cleanliness and good life :)
In The Netherlands we still use cash to pay.
The reason why we have big windows in our houses and apartments is simply to bring daylight in our living room or any room for that matter.
Nova Verse I agree on the windows, but I beg to differ about the cash. The times I had to pay with coins and notes in the last, say, five years, are really few. I think you _can_ still pay with cash in many places, but most restaurants, supermarkets, most shops in general, prefer cashless payments. Even paying for second hand items (on e.g. Marktplaats) is done increasingly through payment requests. I wouldn’t be surprised if in about 10 years from now we will have a hard time to get our hands on cash, let alone pay with it.
@@hansc8433 In The Netherlands in any store, you can still pay with cash, that's not a problem.
In fact you can use your payment cards or use cash, both options are viable..
Because not everyone prefers Payment cards, especially the older population.
I live in this country..
Dutch English and Frysian (language spoken in the North of the Netherlands province of Frysland) are actually west-germanic languages, English however has a large amount of loanwords, middle English is supposed to be a lot more like Dutch than current English is. I actually speak Dutch as a native language, English and German as "taught in school" languages. I also had French at school, but even after having 5 years of French, it is not even close to the level of which my German or English is. I am a self taught Swedish speaker, not a fluent speaker, but I can make a conversation in Swedish and explain what I want in a level that there are no big misunderstandings. I was taught English at school from age 11 and German from age 13, Both up untill I left "Highschool". The school sytem in The Netherlands is way different then in most countries, therefore highschool is not the right term to use here, however I have no other way to easily describe it, without explaining in 50 sentences how the Dutch school system works.
I learned dutch as a native arabic speaker and I can still make out some german words when I hear German people speaking
Greetings to the Netherlands from Germany! Love you guys! :)
ganz toll jawohl !
We are from the UK but have a brother in law in the Nederlands and have been visiting for over 25 yrs but we have an RV and spend 6 months of the year in Europe - Mainly in Germany the Low countries and Switzerland.
Our impression of Nederlands is its mainly a wonderful place and some of that is just the feeling of being around in it. When we leave the UK and set foot in the Nederlands we just immediatley feel more relaxed and less stresssed. North Holland is a lovley region so for future visits we recommend visits Hoorn - pronounced Horn, ( Where the saling ships set off round the wold and named the bottom of South Africa Cape Horn and also went and discovered a place called New Zeeland , British later changed spelling to New Zealand) Enkhuizen which is a lovely town/port with real Sailing ships in the haoubour and which also has a Living Museum of the Nedelands with the actual houses and streets transported from all over the country and re sited as was in the museum.
I digress sorry, whilst it is nice in the Nedelands and the people are nice and polite, we find Germany especially in the less populated regions super helpful, friendly and pleased to see you and that youve taken the trouble to visit. Even in the bigger citys help when asked for people weve come across have been so nice and if needed full of advice and tips. Ive learnt German upto Basic level 2 but its all slipping away because as soon as you try to speak German and they know you are English out comes the superb English ability and im back to speaking English LOL.
We find the driving in Germany much easier - its fast but everybody knows what theyre doing and everybody takes thier turn at roadworks etc , in Holland they are also fast but they are not always concentrating lol.
And yes the first time we visited the Brother in law ( Bakkum near Castricum just down the road from Egmond and Zee ) we went for a walk at night and couldnt believe the show put on by the town of EVERY house with the lights on and NO CURTAINS. We asked the brother in law if there was a thing going on and they were waiting to see it and look out of thier windows and he just said - no its Nedelands - we have no curtains and we put on the lights lol ( when ready for bed he pulled a blind down form the top. Thanks for you vid it was interesting to see the thoughts of someone else who has visited BOTH Germany and Nederlands. Cheers
When you drive to the south, there is Zeeland, the Dutch gave New Zealand the name eponymous to this province. They give Australia "New Holland" and then came the English and Indonesia was too importent to loss, so they left Australia and New Zealand and it became English.
P.S. English and Dutch are also very similair. They are all 3 Germanic langages.
LOL, our lange windows are for letting in light and sun. Lots of people don't mind you looking in, I personal shut the shutters at night. Don't like to be displayed 😂
it's also a means to look outside rather than inside, it's nice to be able to look outside and see what's happening there.
I thought it was a Protestant thing? Like people can look inside so that they could show that they have nothing to hide or something
Germans respect and value the way things are, whereas Dutch always challenge the status quo and find more practical ways of doing things.
A German friend of mine went from non-Dutch to fluent Dutch in seven months, so it’s quite easy to learn. But even on the highest level of fluency, Germans will always have a slight accent that will give them away as not being native speakers.
I can usually pass as Drenths or Tuckers. But I also grew up with Flat-German, which has a similar accent.
There are over 400 reactions, which I didn't read all, so maybe this has been mentioned before. In the Dutch school system kids have at least 2 years of German language at school and and a lot have German for 4 or 5 years at school. One of of the biggest differences between Germany and the Netherlands is the far more "formal" way of interaction in Germany compared to the Dutch society. In Germany you adress people with Sie and only after years you're able to say " du ", while in the Netherlands the " du " will be used almost instantly.
I am Dutch. The reason behind the open curtains is very simple. People like to show how neat, clean and arranged their home is. By showing that you show that you are a neat person. Dutch people find it important to be a neat person.Actually the same is with the garden. If your garden isn't neat and arranged than most people think that you are a lower class person. Nowadays people do have the curtains more often closed but many still keep a tiny part open. Many houses do have the kitchen on the streetside nowadays, they don't want to show their messy kitchen during cooking. My kitchen is not always neat so I close the curtain as soon it is getting dark. Dutch people care a lot of what other people think about them. I know that many old Dutch people always want to wear new underwear because it is a nighmare to them to get unexpected to the hospital and their underwear is looking old. Many of the older generation even iron their underwear. My mom kept new pyama's and underwear apart in case she had to go unexpected to the hospital.There was in the past a lot of backbiting about peoples tidyness.
I'm german and when I visited Amsterdam and listened very closely I could understand quite a bit, even more so when reading Dutch. I speak German, English and can understand a bit of French which I think helped a lot as Dutch is definitely a germanic language closely related to German and English and sometimes I feel like it has an influence of French in it as well.
What I also noticed and found quite interesting was the fact that everybody I met spoke English very well. I read that except for childrens films they don't dubb any films neither in cinemas nor in tv and have the original language with subtitles which probably helps their English a lot.
Yes,i never had German as a student.
But understanding and speaking German,is not a problem for a lot of us.
Specialy in the 60/70 we watch a lot of German tv,because we had only 3 native Dutch tv programs.and 2 Belgium.
Elena Sachse Correct! We use English words like race, stress, timen, streamen, bluf, match, deal. German: überhaupt, fingerspitzengefühl, kelner, schmink, abseilen, an sich, and ofcourse French words like paraplu, trottoir, abonnement, charmant, etage and lots more...
English is also ,,,,a Germanic language.
french people are germanic as well come from frankish tribe which is german. french speak french because romans took over.
This was so interesting Antoinette. My two places on my wish list are to go to Southern Germany (and Miniature Wunderland in Hamberg) and the Netherlands. My ex and her sons living in NRW always told me if you knew German and English you could with difficulty understand Dutch. I had Dutch friends in Hastings (NZ) and learned a few everyday phrases. I knew both the Germans (I was so impressed in Düsseldorf with the infrastructure geared to using bikes on the footpath) and presume the Dutch are the same. Seeing no helmets I found freaky because in NZ it's compulsory and enforced with an instant $80 fine. No helmets here in the UK either. The big windows are something that I didn't know about. Sounds like it's being displayed like a painting. Apparently the Netherlands in area is the same as Hawke's Bay a bit of useless information but something I've always found d handy when comparing country sizes. Great post thanks. As a fellow Kiwi I always find the interesting and relevant. Thanks for all the effort.
I had a similar feeling recently visiting Copenhagen in Denmark. The modern housing is made with huge windows to the street, and you do see way into their house, maybe just with a thin gauze curtain. In super tidy, well designed modern minimalistic Danish furnishing.
Weird, I don't want it that way, I'm more private.
Most Germans coming from North Germany can understand a lot Dutch. I think that comes from “Plattdeutsch” which is still being spoken in Northern parts of Germany and has lots in common with Dutch.
I love sun and light and want that in my livingroom, that's why i love my big windows. It gives you energie and you saves energie, cause you don't have to use your lights. At night the light on and close the curtains and you have your privacy.
The German and Dutch language are closely related in written language, but the pronunciation is vastly different in many ways. The "g" is often more guttural in Dutch (apart from Flemish and other southern dialects), there are less "sj" sounds, the "o" is more in the front of the mouth, the words flow into eachother more (German has more space between words) etc.
As a native, I never even considered our window-placing was so peculiar and different to the countries surrounding us. Nice how a foreign POV can make see little things about your own country. Now I think of it, we do have a word for an architectural trend from 70's/80's row-houses, called "doorzon woningen" (sun-through homes) where there's a big window on the front and the back of the house to let more natural light in.
I've definitely noticed our preference for paying with card though, which has led to some mild frustrations when traveling abroad (Always have enough cash on hand when traveling lol).
The Dutch "g" sound is like a choking gutteral sound. This is closely related to the fact that very few schools offer swimming lessons and approximately 2% of all Dutch people at any moment are drowning in a canal.
Compare for example the phrase "I can swim" or "ik kan zwim" in Dutch with "I am going to die and I don't like it much" or "ik gaan naar geoverledend en ik graag het niet wel, bel de gementelijk gezondheids dienst nu!"
Notice the latter phrase, chiefly employed by drowning people, features many more Dutch throat sounds consistent with choking on canal-water filled with discarded glow sticks.
"approximately 2% of all Dutch people at any moment are drowning in a canal." that would be worse than covid.
You use very bad dutch, these sentences are completely wrong
I live in Germany but very close to the Dutch border (like 15 km)
So when I came back from my semester abroad in the US I landed in Amsterdam and I felt like okay I‘m home now! Not even realizing that I‘m not in my actual home country 😅
And I do understand most of the Dutch language even though I never really learned it. Probably because Plattdeutsch (a dialect that is spoken especially by the elderly in the area of Germany where I live) is close very to the Dutch language.
For a German, Dutch often sounds very funny. You know the words, but the meaning might be very different, e.g. "bellen" means "to ring" in Dutch, but "to bark" in German. "doof" means "deaf" in Dutch, "stupid" in German. How does Dutch sound for an English-speaking person?
We Germans can understand some sentences or signs in the netherlands.
its very simmilar to german, but it feels like they just trippled the ammount of A, E I , O , U . and also add a -kje to every word.
if i would say hello to a dutch person i would say Haaaloookjeee.... :D i bet this is 100% wrong, no offense to the dutch people, but thats how it feels hearing the language as a german :)
Vooorzicht!!!
😂... the ‘kje’ is actually ‘je’ for example : dankje, boompje, biertje ...
The '-(k)je' is like the german '-chen' madchen/meisje. It indicates a smaller version. Dutch just overuse it. Also, we feel like Germans just put consonants wherever they can.
Dutch windows ........ we dutch are very outdoor people (eg. biking), so we love every bit of sunshine and natural light in our homes. It is also perfect as we are used to having a lot of flowers and plants in our house.
I've never worn a bicycle helmet in my life. Maybe it's a generational thing... thinking back I don't think any of my friends wore them either. (I grew up in North Eastern Germany in the 90s btw)
Being a Dutchman I would say that - in general - the Germans are more disciplined. I love to visit Germany for holidays and it strikes me everytime I get there: at public transportation in Germamy everyone waits patiently in line for their turn to board a bus or train, where in The Netherlands everyone rushes at the door with everyone trying to get on board at the same time... Also - again, in general - Germany is much cleaner then The Netherlands.
You've mentioned that everything in The Netherlands looks well kept and modern. The reason for that is quite simple: we are a small country with many people living in it. (Especially the west - which is the economical heart of the country - of The Netherlands is very densley populated) That means that we can't affort to waste any space. So as soon as a building is old or out of use it will be torn down within one or two years to put another building in it's place. Also, because the country is small it's easy and relatively cheap to install and maintain infrastructure. That's why we have good roads, excellent mobile Internet coverage etc.
I have one suggestion for Germany: increase the length of your Autobahn-exits... ;-) Compared to The Netherlands the 'ausfahrten' are very short... You have so much space in your country, please increase the length of the exits so we don't need a breaking parachute to exit the Autobahn... ;-)
You might also adjust your speed to the road available, and bear in mind that all the older Autobahns were designed in the 1930s when cars were a lot slower. More like the 100 km/h you will soon have to get used to in NL.
One of the reasons we speak english so good, is all tv programs have subtitles, so you learn the language while watching tv!
Watching this video next to my big window looking over my bicycle talking English to my boyfriend sooo yeah I’m Dutch😅
It's such a cute comparison... that you compare the Netherland and Germany like two cousins ^^
Hey I'm English,been living in Germany for 52 years here and I love it,now about your question to the curtains that the Dusch don't have because they had to pay tax for that so that's why they don't have curtains on the windows,that has changed now but most of the Dusch still stick to that having no curtains. I love your you tube editorial so please keep on with it. Thank you🤗
In my experience it's somewhat easier for Germans living in Northern Germany/closer to the boarder to understand Dutch. On one hand of course it's more likely for people to visit with a higher frequency. On the other hand some still speak "Plattdeutsch" which is closely related to Dutch (and German of course) and is in some cases not even considered to be just a german dialect but an actual second language. It was very common to speak Plattdeutsch in more rural areas. Sadly it's fading. In my family e.g. my grandma still speaks "Platt", my mum can understand it but I can only understand a little and speak none. I think that would be very interesting for you but also your husband to hear someone speak Platt as it will probably sound like a very strong dialect and remind you of Dutch. :)
As a Native german speaker, it is easier to read dutch than to understand the spoken, cause in the netherlands some letter/letter combinations are spoken different. I see the same in norway, denmark and sweden. these four language are very similar to the german language, but or me all easier to read than to listen to.
I come from the Dutch border where Germans speak a dialect very similar to Dutch. In my childhood and youth we often went to Holland and my parents had no problem to communicate with the Dutch people in that German dialect. Everybody understands it.
Let my guess, you are from Limburg? My former boss in Amsterdam did not hire any people from Limburg because "they did not speak proper Dutch". Strange, because we had a lot of employees from all over the word, who also not could speak Dutch.
hi, no not Limburg, Bad Bentheim. On the Dutch side are places like Oldenzaal and Enschede. I was born there but left at a very young age.
as a person who knows english and german and learning dutch for 3 years I will say - for me it was a mix of german and english but with harder pronunciation. Unfortunately I don't remember much: fietsen, mooie, dui dui, goede dag of course and "dit boek gaat over de economische situatie in België over de tweede wereld oorlog" or something : D dutchies please make your notes ; )
I cycled through the Netherlands and felt safer than I have in the half dozen other countries I've cycled in.
Big windows with open curtains is a way of expressing that you are not hiding something in your home, that you are not doing illegal things and that your living room is worth looking is. All is very transparant in the Netherlands.
Make that part two! Love your content!
When I was young I learned a good lot of the dutch language. When I didn't have to use it anymore I forgot many of the words that are different. So when I wanted to speak it years later I just chose the german word and pronounced it in a "dutchy" way which is terribly wrong. This happens because these languages are so close😁
A lot of Dutch people do the same with German or English, pronounce the Dutch word in a German or English way :-D
Dutch is closely related to the northern german dialect of "Plattdeutsch". They can actually communicate. The netherlands were part of the Holy Roman Empire for quite some time and thus spoke german. At some point in the dark ages, the pronounciation shifted in germany, while the dutch language stayed the same. That's why they are different now. When I hear it as a german native speaker, it always sounds like an ancient dialect. They often use words, that sound really old fashioned here in germany, almost like they are telling a farytale, but those are just the modern dutch words.
To me, reading dutch is definitely possible, listening is a different topic though.
The Big Dutch windows, a very good observation. Many Dutch people don't realise that's very typical for our country. It's certainly not that we want to show off. Another commenter nailed it when he said a large window means more light especially because many people have terraced houses. There is also the social security, the general equality in society, that we feel not the highest need to block the gaze inside of a casual passer-by.
as for your video. "GERMANY🇩🇪 vs NETHERLANDS🇳🇱 | Cultural differences & similarities" is a bit pretentious because as you say you spent only 3 nights, plus as a tourist. So thanks for the observation about the windows, and the litte point of cashless payments the rest was not too surprising or spot on (we learn German in school, they don't learn dutch, that's the explanation;; although the gap has gotten smaller, the English level of Dutch is still quite a bit higher than the Germans, we don't wear helmets because bikes are the standard for most our small trips to shops, work, school, friends, with so many bikes you just feel safer, and helmets are a little cumbersome).