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comment by winston

Perhaps what you are experiencing is that English speakers are less likely to criticize than Dutch. Could it be that simple?





Sparsile  ·  4456 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I would say it's a bit more complicated than that. Many English speakers I come into contact with aren't actually English, they may be from just about anywhere. English is just the language that (I dare to say) most people on the internet understand and use to communicate with others from different nationalities. So these people are English speakers from a whole lot of different countries, including Dutch.

My guess would be that on the internet, you have much more control over which people you interact with, who you talk to, who you share your ideas and opinions with etc, generally leading to less conflicting conversations and less immediate feedback of disapproval (e.g. weird looks). Outside the internet we still have control over who we interact with, but definitely not always (think school, which has a major influence on our personal development).

Perhaps because of this (being criticized less online, generally more offline/face to face) and because the language I use on the internet is English while the language I use in daily life is Dutch, I've come to feel much more at ease when speaking English. This is just my personal experience though, I bet it's completely different for other people! And of course there could be plenty of other reasons for it, like maybe the language itself, but I believe this (maybe we could even call it subtle "conditioning") might be a big factor too. However I do wonder if there are others who can relate with this in particular.

ochotona  ·  4456 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Eh, there could be something to say for that! We Dutch do have the reputation of being so direct it often turns blunt or even insulting. My experience of the Brits is that they are painfully keen on avoiding confrontation. And I think the Americans are also less likely to utter a provocative opinion than the Dutch. Dear! And on top of that: the Dutch are very proud of their language skills. So maybe we are sometimes too keen on pointing out imperfections in somebody else's speech. Although my experience is that we are way more keen in showing off our English than to bother listening to some non-native speaker speak Dutch... What do you think, Sparsile?

winston  ·  4453 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I didn't mean to paint the Dutch in a negative light. I've only ever had good interactions with your countrymen.

    the Dutch are very proud of their language skills
there is nothing wrong with this, more people should take pride in such things.
Sparsile  ·  4456 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Oh, I didn't see your reply until I finished mine above!

Hah yes the Dutch do have such a reputation! I however, am not really Dutch, I'm Belgian :p but I do speak Dutch (well, Flemish to be exact). Belgians aren't as direct as the Dutch, we are much more reserved and cautious, so I doubt this has to do with the Dutch's reputation! (see my reply above for some additional thoughts)