Living and working in Netherlands

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

You don't have to speak Dutch to live in Holland.  That said, I'll tell you a story that happened to me many years ago.  We moved to Holland from Germany, my wife still had a job in Germany, so for the first couple of months, I was living there alone with the kids.  One day I woke up and had a toothache.  I knew we had a dentist, I knew where it was, I also knew that when we went to register, my wife warned me he didn't speak English except from what he'd picked up watching the A-Team on TV, but it didn't matter because I was learning Dutch and had good dental health anyway.

So 3 days later, there I was on his doorstep, pointing to my mouth and saying "Owe"; it did not help one bit that he did not understand a word I said (except maybe owe), probably more down to the fact that my mouth was swollen and my cockney accent wasn't helping much and I was in a lot of pain that probably would have been shorter had I been able to properly explain what had happened.

I could also tell you about the time I went to the Post Office to buy a stamp but walked out with a lottery ticket.

The moral of the story; life around you is in Dutch, all the posters around you, the bus-timetable ................ everything is in Dutch.  The Dutch, in general, will do their utmost to help you, but you really should learn their language when you live in their country .... it isn't hard - I did it.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Do Spanish speak English when foreigners want to live in Spain??? Mostly don't.
Like Cynic said: you can live without the Dutch language but not for long as literally everything is in Dutch.

Primadonna, I see what you mean but let me say it´s not exactly the same.

In Spain, the level of English is really low and that´s something you see at school because almost nobody wants to learn English. Don´t expect to ask a question in English on the street and being answered in that language because the probability for that to happen is very close to 0. In Spain, you are lost if you don´t speak Spanish. Don't think you can go to the GP or the town hall and be received in English. It´s not I haven´t seen one but I can´t imagine a working office with people speaking only English. Spanish comes from latin and English is a Germanic language so they are really different. It´s a big effort for any Spanish to learn English, specially pronunciation. There are phonemes I simply can´t say.

In Netherlands, I think things are much different. I´m pretty sure English is closer to Dutch than to Spanish. If I am spoken in Dutch I expect to say them to speak English so that I can understand something. I think learning English for a native Dutch speaker is much easier than for me. It´s something similar to if I try to learn, let´s say, Italian. My brother did it in six months. What could be my expected Dutch level after that period? Very likely, useless.

Well, it looks like your mind is already made up.  I wish you the best of luck in your endeavour.

The only thing I can think of that you should consider is that should Brexit end in no deal, then you will have no right to return to the UK should things not work out.  But never mind, they speak Spanish in Spain.

HomerJ wrote:

In Netherlands, I think things are much different. I´m pretty sure English is closer to Dutch than to Spanish. If I am spoken in Dutch I expect to say them to speak English so that I can understand something. I think learning English for a native Dutch speaker is much easier than for me. It´s something similar to if I try to learn, let´s say, Italian. My brother did it in six months. What could be my expected Dutch level after that period? Very likely, useless.

Well as an Dutch national I think you are not getting it, you can't expect that my fellow countrymen must speak English to you.

You are coming to our country, so at least try to adapt.

HomerJ wrote:

Primadonna, I see what you mean but let me say it´s not exactly the same.

In Spain, the level of English is really low and that´s something you see at school because almost nobody wants to learn English. Don´t expect to ask a question in English on the street and being answered in that language because the probability for that to happen is very close to 0. In Spain, you are lost if you don´t speak Spanish. Don't think you can go to the GP or the town hall and be received in English. It´s not I haven´t seen one but I can´t imagine a working office with people speaking only English. Spanish comes from latin and English is a Germanic language so they are really different. It´s a big effort for any Spanish to learn English, specially pronunciation. There are phonemes I simply can´t say.

In Netherlands, I think things are much different. I´m pretty sure English is closer to Dutch than to Spanish. If I am spoken in Dutch I expect to say them to speak English so that I can understand something. I think learning English for a native Dutch speaker is much easier than for me. It´s something similar to if I try to learn, let´s say, Italian. My brother did it in six months. What could be my expected Dutch level after that period? Very likely, useless.

Your post is quite ignorant but let me react on some of your statements:

You are able to communicate in English and as you said that English is similar to Dutch then you must have no problems to learn it. With a bit of effort you'll be surprised how far you have become. It's not Chinese or Arabic you need to learn.

Don't expect that your environment must bow to you instead vice versa. Dutch are nice and friendly people and more than willing to help out but you can't force them to communicate in English. Although the majority must be able to speak but it doesn't mean they're willing to. Its a form of respect to your host country that at least you try to learn.
Don't give me the crap that Spanish people have difficulty to learn English due pronouncing or other issues.  You are just trying to avoid it.