Yeah, I think you are confusing the German with the Dutch. (Which happens a lot…)
Dutch generally speak several languages. Germans in general speak only German and rudimentary English (if you’re lucky).
(A common Dutch gripe with visiting German tourists is that Germans just assume the Dutch speak German (which they mostly do, so okay, they’ve got a point, but still) and just start speaking German without asking first)
In my experience living in The Netherlands, that’s usually Dutch, English and German, but strangelly not French (or at least nowhere as good as the other ones).
That said it’s the place were I’ve met the most natives who could actually speak some more unusual to learn language (like Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin and so on) - from my sample (and I lived and worked there almost a decade) the average Dutch person doesn’t know that many languages but there are a lot of Dutch people (more than what I’ve noticed in other countries) with a real interest in learning languages beyond what they’re taught at school, just for fun rather than out of need.
Yeah, I think you are confusing the German with the Dutch. (Which happens a lot…)
Dutch generally speak several languages. Germans in general speak only German and rudimentary English (if you’re lucky).
(A common Dutch gripe with visiting German tourists is that Germans just assume the Dutch speak German (which they mostly do, so okay, they’ve got a point, but still) and just start speaking German without asking first)
In my experience living in The Netherlands, that’s usually Dutch, English and German, but strangelly not French (or at least nowhere as good as the other ones).
That said it’s the place were I’ve met the most natives who could actually speak some more unusual to learn language (like Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin and so on) - from my sample (and I lived and worked there almost a decade) the average Dutch person doesn’t know that many languages but there are a lot of Dutch people (more than what I’ve noticed in other countries) with a real interest in learning languages beyond what they’re taught at school, just for fun rather than out of need.
Being Dutch learning more languages is actually somewhat of a necessity since everyone around us expects us to speak them somewhat at least.