It's a defense mechanism. You're welcome in our country, but we won't let you into our Dutch-speaking society.
Replies
Often the use of English limits communication to the bare minimum. In areas with a lot of tourism, I can understand why people would want to do that.
sep 2, 2025, 10:40 am • 0 0 • view
That's not it. Every Dutch person under 65 is fluent in English, happy and able to talk with any foreigner about anything their heart desires. But when we want to talk about our stuff, we switch to Dutch to exclude outsiders.
sep 2, 2025, 10:47 am • 0 0 • view
The practical effect of high levels of English in Northern European countries is limitation of access to society and culture, but I’d never considered it deliberate, more a side effect.
sep 2, 2025, 1:35 pm • 0 0 • view
Most Dutch people are embarrassed when I point out that this is what we do.
sep 2, 2025, 2:05 pm • 1 0 • view