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.
Replies
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