Many expats who move to Amsterdam get so fed up with the Dutch tendency towards directness that they pack up and leave again within a year. That’s the finding of an organisation set up to make sure international workers feel more welcome and are offered the services they need.
Listen to an interview with Jack Steijn, from the Amsterdam Region Business Association
There are currently more than 1,800 international organisations based in the Amsterdam metropolitan area, employing a total of 135,000 people. Together they spend a yearly average of four million euros - per capita that's ten percent more than the average Amsterdammer.
Cash cows
The financial benefits these international workers bring has prompted the council to launch the Amsterdam International Crossings project, which will focus on ways of attracting foreign workers as well as keeping them here.
Jack Steijn, director of ORAM, the Amsterdam Region Business Association, says some expats find certain Dutch cultural habits hard to swallow:
“We found that lots of them already leave within a year, or two years, and of course we tried to find out why they were leaving. And one of the most important answers is that it’s quite difficult to integrate socially into Amsterdam society.”
Forewarned is forearmed
But it’s not about blaming the Dutch for their (sometimes brutal) honesty, or asking them to be nicer to newcomers, says Mr Steijn. People moving here have a responsibility to find out what they’re letting themselves in for, but the city council should also provide them with better assistance:
“Indeed you have to learn something about the region you’re going to. And if there’s a culture of directness, like we have in the Netherlands, this is not going to change, so you have to take that into account… Of course you can be prepared. And if you understand why people are direct you’re taking less offence than you would otherwise do.”
Complaints received by the ORAM from migrant workers included a lack of English language telephone helplines, and a complicated tax system. One American journalist at RNW agrees: “I’ve lived here for six years and even though I speak the language it’s annoying that when I have a problem, for instance with the television, that I call up and not only do I have to deal with an automated voice, but one that’s in Dutch as well.”
Double Dutch
Mr Steijn says the council needs to invest more money in bilingual signs, and ensure people are better informed about basic services on offer in Amsterdam. In the past the council has been too complacent, he says:
“Until now, things were happening quite automatically, people came to Amsterdam anyway, and we now find out that it is important for our regional economy to have internationals coming to Amsterdam, working in Amsterdam… so we have to do something to attract those people, and keep them here indeed. And we see other cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Munich – they are being very active at the moment and they are more successful than we are at attracting internationals.”
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I was a student and now working in amsterdam. I came here 3 1/2 years ago from greece and i'm now looking for another job in a friendlier country. Dutch people live in a "secluded" society that has been a direct consequence of the medieval one. Their belief in "the system" is unthinkable and if you tell somebody what you actually think is wrong with their country he's not gonna speak to you again. People are programmed to block any process of free thinking since they've been brought up by the system all their lives. Dutch "directness" is a dark,inferior way of telling you you're not welcome here. (this doesnt go for all nationalities) If you have the nerve to be direct against them you'll be met with indiferrence and the person you speak to will be your enemy from now on. I can't blame them for being two dimensional but their peristence of blocking anything new cannot possible benefit a human being. In amsterdam there's a building with a sign (in english) "Homo sapiens doesn't urinate against the wind" ...It all comes down to this... fear.
[I have 3 or 4 good Dutch friends and met a lot of interesting characters all these years. What i'm saying is supposed to be a crash course on the bad side of Dutch society. Especially if you're not blonde and with very white skin]
Cheers
I was a student and now working in amsterdam. I came here 3 1/2 years ago from greece and i'm now looking for another job in a friendlier country. Dutch people live in a "secluded" society that has been a direct consequence of the medieval one. Their belief in "the system" is unthinkable and if you tell somebody what you actually think is wrong with their country he's not gonna speak to you again. People are programmed to block any process of free thinking since they've been brought up by the system all their lives. Dutch "directness" is a dark,inferior way of telling you you're not welcome here. (this doesnt go for all nationalities) If you have the nerve to be direct against them you'll be met with indiferrence and the person you speak to will be your enemy from now on. I can't blame them for being two dimensional but their peristence of blocking anything new cannot possible benefit a human being. In amsterdam there's a building with a sign (in english) "Homo sapiens doesn't urinate against the wind" ...It all comes down to this... fear.
[I have 3 or 4 good Dutch friends and met a lot of interesting characters all these years. What i'm saying is supposed to be a crash course on the bad side of Dutch society. Especially if you're not blonde and with very white skin]
Cheers
Just to remind you: there are 16 million Dutch people and they don't all live in Amsterdam. Try some other cities and you will find out that they are lot friendlier.
Reading your story makes me wonder why foreign people are so offended by the fact that "we" want them to learn our language. When I go to France I speak French, when I go to Germany I speak German. It's just good manners. But when you move to the Netherlands (not Holland, I don't live in Noord-Holland or Zuid-Holland - provinces) you don't have to bother learning the language. Really strange....
You mean people didn't count on having to learn Dutch before they packed their bags??? No sympathy here...
I have been in Amsterdam for about 2 months now and the main issue I have encountered so far is related to language barrier and the not-so-internationally friendly environment. I am here as PhD student but I have found at school that information in English is very limited and that almost all email communication (either group or some personal ones) are in Dutch, which I don't read, write or speak. I had then to use google/translate to get all of these translated into "broken" English. Another day, we were invited to a faculty meeting, in which all of the introduction, presentations and speeches were in Dutch. I felt so ignorant and in a way, offended by the invitation. The language barriers include many websites, signs and other public information that are in dutch. Very frustrating at times!!! I wish I could learn dutch but my project also puts too much pressure and time loads on me. Did i choose the wrong pace to be???
'Offended' by an invitation in the native language of the country you choose to live in! Who do you think you are? If you don't have time to learn Dutch, then do your project somewhere else, and while you are at it grow up and learn some respect.
i am also a PhD student in the Netherlands and have to say that your rude comment offended me much more than Dutch language invitations which I also have to deal with. Serena, international students are the ones who, among other things, make your (Dutch, english) economy thrive through money they have to pay for various things. For the money we invest in ourselves(and your countries) we would certainly like to be able (at least) to understand emails. Hence, I think you are the one who needs to learn some respect and manners.
@ Cato78; what a non sense, this Dutch rudeness. Probably those expats you know only stay within their own expats community. Do they speak Dutch? or tried to speak Dutch? You are mixing up rudeness wicht clarity.
Dave: you are completely right!
@ Anonymous
7 July 2010 - 8:01am; you are talking bullshit and are shortsighted, ask an average American to point out Holland on a World map, guess what..ummmmh....; thats direct, isnt it.
Come on over to Amsterdam and see for yourself
A Dutch guy
As an amsterderdammer in Munich I had my share of 'culture shock' and I can tell you there is a difference beween rude and direct, namely the intention. Nevertheless Munich and me have grown closer over the years. My advice to anyone moving from one place to another is to focus on the things and people you like in the new place, for the place you left also had its share of dung. As you know your 'Pappenheimers' you were just more apte in avoiding adversities at home. By the way the national language in the Netherlands is Dutch, speaking English is a courtesy.
I am a French expat living in Belgium after many years spent in USA and Japan. I can see many similarities with the Dutch culture and the Flanders in Belgium where Dutch language is spoken. In most of Flemish speaking communities people won't speak to you in French even if they know it and would rather speak to you in English. The difference between Netherlands and Belgium is the presence of a large community of English speaking people working for the EU and NATO organizations based in Brussels. There are quite a lot of English speaking companies so a lot of resources are in English. You find great international schools such as ISB, American and British schools. Most people living in Brussels speak English and French. Dutch are very direct and may be perceived as aggressive, even rude but don't take it personally, just smile and make some nice comments about their work. In the U.S. it is very easy to make friends and usually customer service is great. In Northern Europe, people think American are nice but very superficial too. In Europe you need time and efforts from your side to understand and appreciate cultural differences before making friends but people will help you if you ask nicely.
Amsterdam is much much better than more provincial locations. . . . but even here it's not easy to get under the skin of the society. . . . I'm very lucky as my partner is Dutch and she agrees with me that it is hard work to settle here for a non-Dutch couple.
We're here for two or three years before going abroad again -- I've taken the decision not to bother learning Dutch!!! which after the usual initial heavy Dutch reaction, is normally greeted with a smile and agreement that i've taken a very sensible decision. . .
The country has so much to offer to intelligent foreigners -- Amsterdam in particular is a wonderful place to live. . . it just needs to open up and be more welcoming for those of us staying for more than a week or two; and making English-speakers feel more involved would be a very good way to start
It is not Dutch directness that irks me. Rather, it is hypocrisy and saying one thing to a person and something else behind the person's back. The other problem is Dutch conformism. Even if the group is "liberal", every group in NL has strict values. Dare to put your head above the dike and it gets cut off. Another problem is arrogance and downright lying about who the Dutch are. The country puts Anne Frank on a pedestal and yet sent almost the highest percentages of its Jewish population to the gas chambers of any country in Europe. The same attitudes prevail today. Witness Wilders. When will they ever learn?
I couldn't agre with you more
My girlfriend and I are Americans who are planning a move to Holland. We have indeed been warned about Dutch " rudeness " from expats there. Though I have met many Dutch people online and most seem quite kind.
I moved to Amsterdam from San Francisco in 2001. I have been here now almost ten years. My advice to anyone planning to move to this country is to learn the language and to be serious about it. Dutch is national language of this country and if you want to integrate and be accepted, you must learn the language of the people. There is no way around this fact. Plain and simple—I am being DIRECT here. Also, you should be aware of the culture. The Dutch are not superficial, and when they make friends with you, they are real friends. The Dutch do not label people "friends" if they are not really friends: people who share your life on the same tier or the next one down from family. The definition of "friend" here is not as loose as it is in the Anglosphere. The Dutch make a stronger distinction between acquaintance and friend. I believe Anglo-Saxons do not make such a strong distinction and will tend to quickly call almost any acquaintance a "friend". Not so here.
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