Learn top five things you need to know about Dutch society
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| Mies: Welcome back to DutchPod101.com. All About Lesson 8, Top 5 Things You Need to Know About Dutch Society! I'm Mies! |
| Jacob: Hallo Ik heet Jacob |
| Mies: In this lesson, we're going to tell you more about life in the Netherlands. |
| Jacob : Yes, and we are very qualified for that. |
| Mies: Yes, we have our Dutch expert, Jacob, here, and our pseudo-Dutch expert, me! |
| Jacob: Now the Netherlands is such a diverse country, so there are many aspects to society. |
| Mies Yes, so it's difficult to know where to begin. |
| Jacob: So why don't we start with city life, Mies? |
| Mies: Yes, after all, most of what you and I know is life in the big city. |
| Jacob: Dutch cities are not too different from your average European city. |
| Mies: Other than its own culture, food, and personality! |
| Jacob: Well, let's start with my hometown Amsterdam, a city I love! |
| Mies: Yes, Amsterdam! |
| Jacob: Beautiful Amsterdam, and it used to be a small fishing village back in the 12Th century. |
| Mies: Yes, the name Amsterdam is derived from the city’s location. |
| Jacob: A dam in the river Amstel. |
| Mies: Yeah and having a port was the reason that the city was doing very well in the Golden Age. |
| Mies: Nowadays it is the largest city in the Netherlands in terms of population. |
| Jacob: The population of Amsterdam is 783,365 |
| Mies: Haha, wow you know your numbers ! |
| Jacob: Amsterdam is located in in the province called “North Holland,” it's the west side of the country. |
| Mies: Yes, and North-Holland is one of the 12 provinces the Netherlands counts. |
| Jacob: Amsterdam attracts a lot of tourist – 3.6 million annually. |
| Mies: Yes, because there are many tourist attractions. |
| Jacob: Yeah, like the red light district and the coffee shops? |
| Mies: Uh well yeah but there is lots and lots more, like the 17Th centuries canals. Anne Frank’s House… |
| Jacob: And the Van Gogh museum, which of course houses the artist’s work |
| Mies: Yeah, or the Rijksmuseum or Stedelijk museum |
| Jacob: A lot of culture there for you to experience! |
| Mies: Let's move on to the next city! |
| Jacob: Okay, well we can't leave out Rotterdam. |
| Mies: Yes, Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands, and it's the capital of the province South-Holland |
| Jacob: And also a very multicultural city. |
| Mies: Yes, Rotterdam has the highest percentage of foreigners from non-industrialized nations |
| Jacob: I heard 46% of the population is of non-Dutch origins or has at least one parent born outside the country |
| Mies: Yes, there are 80,000 muslims, 13% of the population of Rotterdam. The mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb, is of Moroccan descent and is a practicing muslim. |
| Jacob: How about the name of the city – do you know where it comes from? |
| Mies: Well that actually is not too difficult to figure out…I think even you can do this! |
| Jacob: Huh? You think so? |
| Mies: Well just like Amsterdam being a dam in the Amstel, Rotterdam is a dam in the… |
| Jacob: Rotte !!! |
| Mies: See I knew you knew! |
| Jacob: Lets move on to something else. |
| Mies: Okay, the second aspect of Dutch society we want to talk about is… |
| Jacob:..family life. |
| Mies: Sure. You grew up in the Netherlands right? So you are the expert here. |
| Jacob: Haha, yeah, I guess so. |
| Mies: Tell me something about your family, how many brothers and sisters do you have? |
| Jacob: I have one older sister who lives and works in Groningen. |
| Mies: Is she married? |
| Jacob; No she lives together with her partner and they have 2 children, two cute little boys, I love them. |
| Mies: Nice, yeah, I hear Dutch families tend to be small, often only two children |
| Jacob: Yeah that's right and also often couples decide not to get married but go for The Registered Partnership. |
| Mies: And it’s possible in the Netherlands for gay people to get married. |
| Jacob: Indeed, in 2001, the Netherlands became the first nation in the world to grant same-sex marriages. |
| Mies: You were saying that your sister is working in Groningen. That gets us to the third aspect of the Dutch society: work. What is it like to work in the Netherlands? |
| Jacob: Well, we are fast!! |
| Mies: All like supermen and women? |
| Jacob: Exactly, we prefer to get down to business quickly and cut out the small talk. |
| Mies: seems to me you don’t have any problem with the small talk. |
| Jacob: Hey you are being very Dutch there…. being this direct. |
| Mies: Yeah I prefer people being direct but I often hear people say they think the Dutch can be a bit blunt. |
| Jacob: Aaah, I don’t think it’s too bad. |
| Mies: Now lets move on to the fourth aspect of the Dutch society. |
| Jacob: Politics. |
| Mies: So who is your prime minister these days, Balkenende? |
| Jacob: No that was our previous prime minister. The current prime minister is Mark Rutte. |
| Mies: And what is up with this Orange family you have ? |
| Jacob: Ah you mean the Queen. |
| Mies: Yeah, Queen Beatrix, she seems to be a nice person |
| Jacob: Yeah most people in the Netherlands are quite fond of her. |
| Mies: “Lang leve de koningin”, long live the queen. |
| Jacob: Yeah as long as she keeps riding her bicycle. |
| Mies: Riding a bicycle is something for all generations |
| Jacob: That brings us to the fifth aspect of the Dutch society: Generational trends |
| Mies: Well cycling is basically for all generations in Holland |
| Jacob: Though you see differences in every generation. |
| Mies: Indeed, students ride very very old and often decorated bicycles. |
| Jacob: Very different from the bicycles people ride when they are 65. |
| Mies: Yes, my parents just bought electrical bicycles. |
| Jacob: So did mine! |
| Mies: It seems like the whole retired generation of Holland is racing around on their electric bicycles. |
| Jacob; Haha yeah…watch out! |
| Mies: Well it’s not a bad way to travel, that is for sure. |
| Jacob: I love it! |
| Mies: Well that was our glimpse into the Netherlands of today. |
| Jacob: We hope you know us a little better now! |
| Mies: Yes, and get to know more on the next "All About Dutch" series at DutchPod101.com. |
| Jacob: See you next time. |
| Mies: Bye! |
| Jacob: Dag! |
Comments
HideHello listeners, what do you think is the most interesting of the topics they talked about in the lesson?
Hoi Lynn,
Thank you as always for commenting and great Dutch there.
Ik vind het leuk dat Nederland een heeft geregistreerd partnerschap. --> Ik vind het leuk dat Nederland een geregistreerd
partnerschap heeft.
Ik wou dat de Verenigde Staten dat deden. --> Ik wou dat de Verenigde Staten dat had.
Jacob,
Team DutchPod101.com
Ik vind het leuk dat Nederland een heeft geregistreerd partnerschap. Ik wou dat de Verenigde Staten dat deden.
I like that the Netherlands has a Registered Partnership. I wish that the United States did.
Hey Philip,
Ofcourse there are always exceptions:mrgreen: Just be careful, it's that time of the year again.
Hahaha and yes, don't break it 'wanneer je op het ijs schaatst'
Succes!
Jacob,
Team Dutchpod101.com
Hand shaking is a nice custom, except in cold and flu season! That my greeting might break the ice, I hope so! Unless I am on de 'ijs schaats' ! :wink:
Hoi Philip,
Hope you will have a great Queens Day..eh Kings Day :mrgreen: I sure miss that :sad: I also grew up with that custom of shaking everybody's hand and so I still do that when I go to a birthday party. I think it's a nice custom. Maybe a bit formal but at least everybody knows who you are. The same goes for the waiting room; people enjoy that kind friendliness in a hospital or at the dentist. Haha, try your own greeting! it will break the ice in no time!:mrgreen:
Jacob,
Team Dutchpod101.com
Most of this I was familiar with already. Strong coffee and being blunt don't phase me one bit, it's just the same as here, I'll fit right in, lol. I thought it was Queen Juliana that was the fiets rider. You'll have to update this by May2013. You'll have a new king.
One thing I would have liked covered is hand-shaking. I read the custom was that when in a group you had to go shake everyone's hand and then when you left you had to go shake everyone's hand again. If you made a group farewell like 'Dag alle'maal' it would be considered rude. I also read that when you enter a room like a waiting room you had to greet the room, we used to do that here but it's a dying custom. I wonder if 'howdy y'all' would go over well in that situation.