What are the unique characteristics of Dutch society?

Ask Daddy

 · 

Follow

Answered by 

Anna Sebastian

 Wed

What are the unique characteristics of Dutch society?

1. Very friendly. I love the scene in Spider-Man: Far from Home where Peter Parker lands in the Netherlands. He asks a man to lend him his phone and gets it right away. In the phone call, Peter says that the Dutch people are really nice.
2. Be blunt. We call it ' bespreekbaar ' which means you have to be able to speak up . Not because we like to hurt other people's feelings, but because we don't want you to get hurt later.
3. English speakers. Yes, we are famous for our good English skills. Wherever you go, you can communicate in English. Which is basically everywhere in the country. Children start learning English at around 10 years old.
4. We are considered stingy. In fact, we just like to bargain and don't like to buy cheap things that we don't really need. We are just being rational.
5. Get organized. Going to visit friends? Better make sure you have an appointment because our schedule is tight. We don't have much free time so everything has to be scheduled.
6. Good infrastructure. Good roads, and good street lighting. You won't find many places in the Netherlands where it's difficult to drive. Not to mention the bike paths everywhere. So it's very easy to explore the country by bike.
7. Bad food. Uhm, yeah, this is a bit embarrassing. But Dutch food is not known for being delicious.

Addition:

• Trade. We all know the VOC. Throughout history, our region has always depended on trade. In fact, today our economy is heavily dependent on exports. The Port of Rotterdam was the busiest port in the world from 1964 to 2004.

• Say cheese ! Who doesn't like cheese? We really do! And the Netherlands is quite famous for its cheese because our cheese is very delicious.

• Meises. This food often makes people wonder: "why is there no such thing in my country?" after they try it. Meises is very popular among children.

(translator's note: fortunately Indonesia has it, thanks to the colonizers ^^)

• Irrigation engineers. We are very good at water and engineering. We have to be like that. Because if we don't, we will drown. Probably the most famous is ' afsluitduik '.

• Beer boxes . Maybe not something that is really Dutch. But we Dutch usually buy beer in boxes. You won't find many households that don't have a box of this golden liquid. Some people build castles, and other things, with these boxes.

'biertje?' , the Dutch term for "Would you like a beer?"