Are Dutch People Really that Rude?

On this week's episode of Dutch Mythbusters, it's time to debunk a stereotype that international students in the Netherlands might have about Dutch people: are Dutch people rude, or are they just direct? Let's watch and see what our students think!
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[@gavinsimms1909]

"There are only two things I can't stand in this world: People who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch"

[@rohandigvijay7150]

I was an expat there for around 5 years . Here is my take - The Dutch are by far some of the nastiest people, I have ever encountered in Europe. They pride themselves in their so called "Dutch Directness", which they feel, makes the entitled to - be rude for no reason whatsoever (Except when you are a tourist with money). Bad upbringing I guess. They claim to be extremely openminded, when in fact the reality is quite far from it, as there is quite a high level of xenophobic tendencies among the people. They seem to have a derogatory outlook to anything non - Dutch, except when it's German. I think the Dutch get too many underserving positive stereotypes, particularly by tourists who wear a cap and walk around Amsterdam, thinking they have got to know an entire country within a span of 3 - 4 days.

[@sinocam]

Agree

[@nicazzo]

I lived in NL for more than 10 years as well and I can relate a lot to what you say. Also, my sister got married with a Dutch guy and she still lives there. Even though her husband is a cool guy, he is still rude sometimes, I just ignore it, I think he just cannot help it. He thinks he is being direct but it’s just plain rude, especially when he is here visiting me as a guest, and still complains saying things are better in the Netherlands. Thankfully, he does that occasionally, and is not like other Dutch people I’ve met that are constantly doing that. The worst part for me is their arrogance, they really think they are best, and couple with their “directness” it just makes for a really rude experience.

[@solce5720]

I lived there for almost 2 years because of work i noticed that it is very very hard to make friends there

[@PolaOpposite]

I'm a New Yorker, I went to the Netherlands and I was told I was being rude. Seems to me the Dutch want it both ways.

[@gloriascientiae7435]

Well, what it might be is that americans always think their opinions matters more than anybody elses. _If_ something pisses me of about americans, it is usually that. Don't get me wrong, I play videogames online with americans, I see them on youtube, but sometimes americans try to have this whole moral highground to them. The Dutchies give opinions straight to your face, but the difference is that no opinion is really worth more than another, and everyone can freely choose how to reflect on ideas. So for example, americans can start bitching about our humour is offensive, even our bike lanes are racist, but we're going to have to accept that they seem to think, because they do everything better. And they don't, they don't even understand us.

[@user-eu1rh2nm8j]

You're an American, so prob.not very much liked 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@A.Musa76]

NYC peeps are kind of rude. Other's think I'm same way and I'm from Wash D.C. It's just our nature always on the move (fast pace) not like the Cali folks where they are all laid back and chilling.

[@chetyoubetya8565]

No one expects you to make up a story but interacting with a person should not be the same way a person acts when the were a 5 yrs old.Children in most culture are the ones that have no filter.Adults choose the ways they are. The whole it's our culture is just the justifier and rubbish.

[@clovetea]

They are rude, point blank.

[@val-schaeffer1117]

DIRECT is the polite way of calling RUDE.

[@hunchbackaudio]

POLITE is the really long and winding, sugarcoated version of NO

[@ronnie9187]

I wouldn't say it is the Dutch vs the rest of the world. You have countries that are more indirect like England, Belgien or Switzerland (where I live) but there are other countries as well that are as direct as the Dutch like Israel or many parts of Germany (in Berlin are very direct) or russians. Somethimes I think it is very good to be direct like in business situations but on other occassions a polite more indirect approach is better like in private sensitive situations where compassion is more requested than you ventilating your opinion.

[@A.Musa76]

Never had an issue when I was there back in the late 90s. But I just encounter one on social media he was like 15years maybe 20 years younger then me. very disrespectful attacking me for no reason when something that I disagree with. Im sorry but you never attack verbal with someone allot older then you. Have some respect.

[@johnroekoek9864]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard in Suriname it's very polite to order like this: Coffee. When a Dutch waitress says hi in order to serve you, the answers are mostly like: I would like a cup of coffee. When we would just say "coffee, than we would think it's rude.

[@tye81]

Rude and arrogant. Shame because it’s quite a beautiful place. I’m never going back

[@boxie001]

most of the people that are old now invented that way of talking to old people :)

[@glenda917]

The Dutch are the Dutch, I lived there, you get used to their ways. If your sensitive like I was you can take them as rude , but they are not.

[@maartjewaterman1193]

My parents were on a camping trip in Luxembourg and as a luxery for them in these days they took a big piece of cheese with them. Every morning when they were about to have breakfast the same German lady came along, took a knife and cut off a big chunk, and before putting it in her mouth saying: "Ah, Dutch cheese, ever so tasty". I don't know but now that's what I call being rude. As a student I worked in a shop in Amsterdam and the English costumers always started with: "Excuse me, do you speak English? Germans in the other hand just started babbling in German. As for me, European rudest people are the Germans.

[@solce5720]

Germans overall have more of a service attitude towards other ppl when u have are in a bar restaurant and such also gemutlicher and more open in Germany u can make friends and talk to strangers try this in the Netherlands...

[@MrRealAmericanvalues]

Yes. Dutch are rude. They write constant articles and pat themselves on the back about directness. It’s exhausting, they’ve created a whole sub category of rude as a cultural aptitude and it’s so lame. Most countries and cultures do not do this.

[@mariadebake5483]

Well thanks for the compliment to be sure.

[@Yochemm]

Germany, Scandanavia and Middle Europe incl. Russia are all the same on them own way. Also France... It's a gameplay which fit in America, but not in Europe. Most people don't like the fake talks and smiles. Workers of MC Donalds don't even not the whole day with a smile, they are who they are.

[@SatumangoTheGreat]

As a Dutchman I can only partially agree. It is true that Dutch people value directness, however that doesn't mean that you should be insulting. And I agree with you that some people use the excuse "that's just Dutch directness" while they are in fact rude. There is a channel here on KZbin by a well traveled American called Mark Wolters (if I remember correctly, the channels name is 'Wolters World') where he gave the example of people asking him: "Hey dude, why are you so fat?" and according to him that was just the way we are in the Netherlands. No, we're not, that's just plain rude. On the other hand, the Dutch don't tend to sugarcoat things, so if you are in the Netherlands and ask people outright if they think you are fat, you might get an honest answer. Or if you want to order a drink, the servers might seem business-like or even rude to some foreigners, but it's considered normal in the Netherlands. I've never encountered a server that was rude to me, according to Dutch standards. Cultural differences I guess. But yes, we also have our share of plain rude people, some of them hide behind 'Dutch directness'.

[@Yochemm]

@@SatumangoTheGreat Het ligt aan de taal, soms zijn wij kortaf en er zijn ook voorbeelden dat Engelstalige grof en kortaf zijn, waar wij weer vriendelijker. Bijvoorbeeld: Wij gebruiken"Gaat U zitten, of Ga lekker zitten" en zij zeggen "Sit down". "Ga Zitten" zou bij ons weer onbeleefd overkomen. En zo zijn er tig voorbeelden over en weer.

[@TijmenZwaan]

@@Yochemm It's more usual to say "Have a seat" than "Sit down".

[@TheEvertw]

Whether an action is rude or not is determined by culture and customs. It is VERY rude of tourists to the Netherlands to think the Dutch are rude, just because they do not understand our culture. OTOH, if a Dutch person abroad offends somebody for the same reason, he/she is definitely not rude. Rudeness says something about upbringing, not whether a person likes to offend. Rude: from the latin Rudis, meaning uncultured, unpolished, etc. It would be very Dutch of me to say here that most English speakers do not understand this word correctly.

[@isabelcastaneda1466]

and maybe is a bit too arrogant from you to expect from outsiders to know your culture when they visit for the first time....just a thought...Anyways to be rude seems to be only understood and accepted for some dutch people as normal behaviour, or directness, lmao!!

[@TheEvertw]

​@@isabelcastaneda1466 The point is that it is very arrogant for visitors to label the natives as "rude". Only natives or people who know local customs well can judge whether another native was being rude or not.

[@isabelcastaneda1466]

@@TheEvertw I think everybody is free to express their opinions weather you like it or not, you can just disagree...but well, you should know about that already. So next time you are planning a trip outside of NL remember, what you consider as direct in most of countries is considered rude.