Why is it then, if German and Dutch stem from the same mother-language and are quite comparable to each other, that the German level of English is so much worse or lower than that of the Dutch? Belgium ranks 13 this could be due to the fact that in the south of Belgium people speak French , France, Hence, the degree of exposure to the English language is simply a lot lower.
The cultural component playing a role here is that the countries surrounding the Netherlands all score significantly higher on a cultural dimension called Predictability. There are plenty of Dutch people who simply take Dutch words and Engli-fy them, leading to very weird sentences and expressions.
Below is a short list of how this will or can look. Not that this generates any embarrassment for the Dutch, though — as the other side will probably not know how to begin to correct them. And finally, there is the almost famous way the Dutch pronounce English. Though, to be fair, every non-native English-speaker has their distinct way of pronouncing things.
Think about the Germans and the French… Among the Dutch there is a wide spectrum of pronunciation, ranging from — on the one side — the Vice-President of the European Council, Frans Timmermans close to perfect English with a close to perfect accent and — on the other side — famous football trainer, Louis van Gaal. It is seen more as a second language in this country. The Dutch have benefited enormously from their high English proficiency. Anyone who remembers that New York was once New Amsterdam will know that the adventurous Dutch have always been a country with global ambitions.
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Home Welcome to EF. Programs See everything we do. Offices Find an office near you. About EF Who we are. Careers Join the team. News Overview Page. The Dutch have overtaken Sweden as the most proficient English speakers in the world outside the Anglosphere. The 6th annual EF English Proficiency Index which ranks countries by the English skills of its inhabitants was released this week.
For the first time, the Netherlands has come up on top after years of playing second fiddle to Nordic countries like Sweden and Denmark. Click here if you would like to know if Dutch people understand German. It also depends on which part of the Netherlands you live in. As many Dutch people who live on the border with Germany speak German very well.
Probably because they are more often in Germany for shopping for example, or the dialect they speak is very similar to the German language. There could be several reasons why more Dutch people speak better English than German.
The largest is, of course, because English is more widely spoken worldwide than German, and this language can be heard much more on television, for example. Besides, the history between the Netherlands and Germany may also have influenced the preference of many Dutch people for the English language. That is why the Dutch-German relations ran cold after the world war. Afterward, the Dutch started preferring the English and the Americans as their friends. This has resulted in many more influences from England and America coming to the Netherlands.
Think of TV programs, radio programs, movies, and music. The Dutch consume a lot of English and American pop culture. The Dutch are so invested in American shows and magazines that they are pretty famous for their American accents. This is because you automatically adopt the accent that you often listen to. The Dutch have their own spin of the English accent. Many Dutch people speak " steenkolen-engels " or in English known as Dunglish. Right now, English is the global language used both in the academic and business worlds.
The Netherlands with its high standards of education and dependence on trade took to English naturally. Now, they speak English so well, that it has become a second language to more than half of its population.
But, I hope you have also understood that learning a new language is all about having the right attitude. Fear of having a bad accent or sounding funny should not hinder anyone from learning a language. If you would like to know which other language is closely related to Dutch , please check out our following article.
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