First of all: if you speak English, how would they know you understand Hochdeutsch better than Swiss German? Did you ask them to speak High German or did you simply expect them to do so because your mother-tongue isn't German / Swiss German?
and secondly: there's a difference between a Dutch person speaking English with you and a Swiss having to speak Hochdeutsch. For the Dutch, Englisch is a foreign language. Switching to a foreign language in order to speak with a foreigner is a relatively natural matter.
For the Swiss, High German isn't a foreign language, it's the formal part of their mother tongue; much as it is for most Germans who speak dialect at home and use High German in some more formal environments. For the Swiss, speaking High German has the same formality to it - it destroys the social closeness a group-chat among friends carries. You should see this positively: they have accepted you as their peer. However, if you don't understand what they're saying, let them know and I'm sure they'll switch to English or High German without making any fuss.
I think we had this topic here some twenty times and one thing always remains the same: You cannot be serious comparing the city dwellers of one of the most dense populated areas of Europe - the Randstad (that's Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague) - with an as rural place as Zug.
I happen to have lived in a rural part of the Netherlands and found all the stereotypes you have against Swiss true there as well:
- People had a fairly negative attitude towards foreigners, especially ones that looked differently.
- There were many and clear rules how the fairly conservative society expects you to behave. Simple example: Cannabis was legal, but only tourists, foreigners and scum would use it.
- People can speak English as well as Standard German, but only if they really want to...
And to give you a very simple example that they were not as open as you happen to witness on your short trip: When I looked for a shared flat, easily one third to half of the ads had one line in them: "We speak Dutch" - meaning: We do not want exchange students that only speak English living with us.
Overall did I prefer the attitude and many specific parts of the Dutch culture to many aspects in Switzerland, but the overly positive stereotypes I hear are frankly rubbish - just because the waiters in Amsterdams coffee shops are fluent in English does that not mean that the Netherlands are an easier place for expats.
In general we don't think it is that difficult but that is what most people tell us....
Twice now I have encountered that as some kind of weird award two Swiss (customs guy and someone from the kanton of Schaffhausen) spoke English to me at the end of our conversation (in Hoch Deutch)
Most of the Netherlands is only just above sea level and some of the areas (like Schiphol) are actually below the ocean's surface. This means that the Dutch are great at speed skating and growing tulips. Switzerland on the other hand varies from around 400 meters above sea level to certain mountainous peaks over 4'000 meters high. Therefore, we can conclude that the Swiss are able to perform with less oxygen at higher altitudes and that the Dutch are a bunch of oxygen hogging folk.
Oh bugger, you asked about attitudes...
Well, if you ever need any info about altitudes, you'll have a head start
I agree on the English knowledge in rural *and even not so rural areas, mz in laws learnt English because mz husband's brother married a Canadian! But funny enough they speak German LOL
Not really anything "funny". Dutch is 99% "old low German" - the dialects of my Northern German Friesian friends were basically identical to the language accross the border except of some vocabulary (say "patat").
Within one year in which I was actually studying in English and mainly around English speaking people did I as a German speaker learn enough Dutch to be able to read the most complex newspapers or follow even stand-up comedy on TV. (And I am not exactly talented with foreign languages.) It's simply easy vice-versa.
And since they live on a so low altitude do they of course have a much better oxygen supply for their brains which surely means they can learn languages better than for example Swiss...
The Netherlands used to be known for their tolerance in many aspects. Foreigners, pot gay rights etc. The last few years the Dutch people are paying a price for it. Less jobs, higher social security payments, higher crime rate among immigrants etc etc. Extremely Right wing political parties popped up.
So no, the Netherlands is not that cute tolerant country anymore. Gays are being attacked again, the legal pot smoking brought on a stream of french and belgium "tourists" in the weekends and tolerance towards the immigrants went downhill. It is sad really. I was always proud that "we" were known as a friendly country where everyone could be his or herself, regardless of race, skin color or sexual preference.
Sorry you were quicker than me. I realized I misunderstood and deleted as quickly as I could. But you were just reading.
Patat is not used in German at all, the low-German speakers in Eastern Frisland won't use it whereas the Dutch speaking the same dialect will. This is how I understood Treverus' message.
- In the NL, Friesian is a different language, Friesian like in Friesian language branch. They are Frisians talking west-Frisian in Westfriesland (capital Leeuwarden/Ljouwert). This is the one you can't understand, fair enough, don't let it go on your self esteem.
- In Germany, Eastern Friesland speaks a kind of low-German (Plattdüütsch) that is not linguistically Friesian but just low-German like the Drents and Gronings dialects in the NL.
- The only Friesians in Germany speaking a Friesian language are northern Friesians (islands up north and a couple of them on the continent) and a community in Saterland (a little bit off the coast in Eastern Friesland Germany).
what i really liked about the dutch is their practicality/improvisation. when something goes wrong, they'll come up with a way to get things running even if it means (and i think they do this deliberately) breaking every rule and control to get it done.
it seems the swiss way is to forward plan and over-engineer so that nothing goes wrong in the first place.