Dank u wel - We love Nederland

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Cyril Haearn
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Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by Cyril Haearn »

An encouraging result in the first major election after 23.6

The coalition will have to comprise four or five parties, that will force them to cooperate

Another reason I love "Holland" - we do business there, it is necessary to speak Dutch OR English OR German. Seems like most of the Nederlander can speak all three, probably French and Flemish too :wink:

Two more reasons: Hondekoop trains, Piet Moeskops, Joop Zoetemelk, Madurodam
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pwa
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by pwa »

I thought the Dutch PM handled the Turkey nonsense in a good spirit.
blackbike
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by blackbike »

Wilders' party went from 12 to 20 seats.

Things are only moving one way in the EU.
pwa
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by pwa »

blackbike wrote:Wilders' party went from 12 to 20 seats.

Things are only moving one way in the EU.


But not so quickly that something cannot be done about it.
Ben@Forest
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by Ben@Forest »

Cyril Haearn wrote:An encouraging result in the first major election after 23.6

The coalition will have to comprise four or five parties, that will force them to cooperate

Another reason I love "Holland" - we do business there, it is necessary to speak Dutch OR English OR German. Seems like most of the Nederlander can speak all three, probably French and Flemish too


When you say 'we do business there' I'm not sure if you're quoting from direct experience but in my very, very limited experience it is only necessary to speak English. Dutch people will also not speak German if there's any chance of speaking English. From a slightly broader experience Dutch people are are not quad-lingual (i.e. the vast majority do not speak Dutch, English, German and French). The below is from an article written in 2014:

Instead, his research shows that the stereotype of the multilingual Dutch person isn't entirely accurate. The Dutch aren't amazing at languages generally; they just speak particularly good English.In fact, things really aren't all that rosy for other languages in the Netherlands. The numbers of students taking French and German are in decline. University departments teaching other European languages are struggling to survive. Teaching minority languages such as Turkish and Arabic is no longer allowed during school hours.
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661-Pete
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by 661-Pete »

Whereas the Green party went from 4 to 14 seats. :)
If this is "only moving one way" we'd like to know which way that is?
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
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661-Pete
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by 661-Pete »

Ben@Forest wrote:The Dutch aren't amazing at languages generally; they just speak particularly good English.In fact, things really aren't all that rosy for other languages in the Netherlands.
I've met several Dutch people who are pretty fluent in French. I suppose that may be because they were business colleagues who needed to spend a lot of their time in Belgium, so maybe not representative of the population as a whole.
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
Ben@Forest
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by Ben@Forest »

661-Pete wrote:
Ben@Forest wrote:The Dutch aren't amazing at languages generally; they just speak particularly good English.In fact, things really aren't all that rosy for other languages in the Netherlands.
I've met several Dutch people who are pretty fluent in French. I suppose that may be because they were business colleagues who needed to spend a lot of their time in Belgium, so maybe not representative of the population as a whole.


I'm pretty fluent in German and speak passable French but I'm certainly not representative of the UK population as a whole! Plus of course people you meet in the tourism industry are not representative of countries' abilities to speak foreign languages.
Psamathe
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by Psamathe »

Ben@Forest wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:An encouraging result in the first major election after 23.6

The coalition will have to comprise four or five parties, that will force them to cooperate

Another reason I love "Holland" - we do business there, it is necessary to speak Dutch OR English OR German. Seems like most of the Nederlander can speak all three, probably French and Flemish too


When you say 'we do business there' I'm not sure if you're quoting from direct experience but in my very, very limited experience it is only necessary to speak English. Dutch people will also not speak German if there's any chance of speaking English. From a slightly broader experience Dutch people are are not quad-lingual (i.e. the vast majority do not speak Dutch, English, German and French). The below is from an article written in 2014:

Instead, his research shows that the stereotype of the multilingual Dutch person isn't entirely accurate. The Dutch aren't amazing at languages generally; they just speak particularly good English.In fact, things really aren't all that rosy for other languages in the Netherlands. The numbers of students taking French and German are in decline. University departments teaching other European languages are struggling to survive. Teaching minority languages such as Turkish and Arabic is no longer allowed during school hours.

When I worked in Netherlands (quite a few years ago now) I was shocked at how well the Dutch spoke English. I joined my local scuba diving club and used to go diving and one dive I buddied with a self-employed plumber. Plumber not progressed their education as much as many, no reason be able to speak English but he spoke english fluently without problems. I asked him how and he said watching TV - US/British films which (then) the dutch TV broadcast with sub-titles (whereas the German TV we got was dubbed).

And the Dutch were very ready to start speaking English. I was taking dutch classes and used my dutch (outside work) and I'd often end-up with mad conversations with e.g. supermarket checkout staff where I'd be (trying) to speak dutch and they'd be replying in english and I'd answer in (my terrible) dutch, etc. - and I "hung-on-in-there" only using my abysmal dutch skills.

Ian
blackbike
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by blackbike »

pwa wrote:
blackbike wrote:Wilders' party went from 12 to 20 seats.

Things are only moving one way in the EU.


But not so quickly that something cannot be done about it.


Some people tell us they want to remain EU citizens or emigrate to the EU.

Given the continued rise of the far right there l don't see the appeal myself.
Ben@Forest
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by Ben@Forest »

Psamathe wrote:And the Dutch were very ready to start speaking English. I was taking dutch classes and used my dutch (outside work) and I'd often end-up with mad conversations with e.g. supermarket checkout staff where I'd be (trying) to speak dutch and they'd be replying in english and I'd answer in (my terrible) dutch, etc. - and I "hung-on-in-there" only using my abysmal dutch skills.



This sounds very familiar. I had a German girlfriend who was an English student while I wanted to improve my German, so we had conversations in which she spoke in English and I replied in German. I know sometimes it sounded odd to other people!
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by Cyril Haearn »

I am under 60 but was brought up on Dad's Army, Colditz etc

The war is so distant in time now, many people know little about it

At plenty of places on the borders (Aachen, Trier, Flensburg, Frankfurt/Oder) the people really are mixing, growing together
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Ben@Forest
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by Ben@Forest »

Cyril Haearn wrote:I am under 60 but was brought up on Dad's Army, Colditz etc

The war is so distant in time now, many people know little about it



I love the idea that Dad's Army somehow taught you about the war. Oddly l'd say that people know more about that period of history than any other, the number of books published about the Third Reich and WW2 every year is huge. Plus of course Dad's Army is still on repeat!
pete75
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by pete75 »

blackbike wrote:Some people tell us they want to remain EU citizens or emigrate to the EU.

Given the continued rise of the far right there l don't see the appeal myself.


Said very much tongue in cheek? Would have thought the rise of the far right would be very appealing to yourself.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Dank u wel - We love Nederland

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Ben@Forest wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:I am under 60 but was brought up on Dad's Army, Colditz etc

The war is so distant in time now, many people know little about it



I love the idea that Dad's Army somehow taught you about the war. Oddly l'd say that people know more about that period of history than any other, the number of books published about the Third Reich and WW2 every year is huge. Plus of course Dad's Army is still on repeat!


There was a new Dad's Army film last year, 2016

*What is your name?* asked the German spy
*Don't tell him, Pike!* said Captain Mainwaring

Colditz was better than DA but less popular. The Nazis were so stupid, they put all the determined escapers together to create a centre of excellence
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Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott
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