Dutch and Swiss German Difference in Attitude

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
61
Well said. And don't speak german and ask for directions in holland, or else we will send you in the wrong direction... (immer gerade aus...)

62
1)- Swiss people finding out that one person in the group is a foreigner will change to French or English (which they had to learn in school)

2) While speaking Standard German, people will continue to use dialects in between

63
lol, I have some highly educated friends that use it regularily...

Btw. it is still legal.

@ kimberleyj: Indeed, and that is too a historical thing (just like bicycles etc.)

64
[QUOTE=Inessa;1306039]

I have lived in Holland for almost a year. When I came to Switzerland I would compare the two cultures a lot. The Dutch people are more often than not

- this is a phillosophical judgment. And a matter of taste. Many people here regard the Dutch not as lively but as rude

- this is not a difference but a commonality of the two countries as most Swiss are extremely interested to meet foreigners

- in the farthest countriyside of the NL you are closer to the U.K.-coast than you are in many parts of CH to Stuttgart or Lyon

- a win in points to the Dutch for sure

- to rip you off may occur in CH but for sure is not worse here than in most other countries.

************************************************** **********************************

well, people moving into the central continent from a country right on the seaside, a country of sea-transport specialists if there ever were such people to a land-locked country in the midst of the continent, simply ought to be aware of the inevitable differences. Otherwise, the world is full of soul-doctors

************************************************** ****************************

65
Amazingly you might be closer to the point in regard to Switzerland, but FAR off the point in regard to the Netherlands. Before you try to understand "the" Swiss, an assembly of anti-German South-Germans and anti-French East-French and anti-Italian North-Italians you should have understand what the Dutch are all about

- Germanic people, mostly Protestant, who had to live under Spanish rule for ages

- Germanic people who early were linked to the Hanse-cities of Germany

- people who right for survival went into the seafreight business, and excelled and still are second-to-none in this business

you now might translate this into practice. If you have a consignment to overseas of 800kgs in CH, the clear way is AIRfreight as the transport to the nearest seaport costs as much to make SEAfreight too expensive, but if you have a consignment of 250kgs in Amsterdam to overseas, SEAfreight will be the option.

66
please abstain from making advertisments for a business tycoon on the ZH Ghana

67
I might agree with you in regard to CH, but NLers smiling ? You must be joking. Neither them here nor them there were/are smiling

As much as I at times appreciated the dry sense of humour of the Dutch

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

QUOTE=Wakers;1306454]

The Dutch do learn English well. And they love it when the get the opportunity to use it, however I have noticed a few times that they think they are better than they actually are - be it accent or lack of vacab.

.[/QUOTE]

Quite correct. As much as many pre-1960-born Dutch still detest German, I on visits to Amsterdam offered Stndard-German and English to the NLers and they very very often chose German.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

68
Amazing is to see to what extent people who even have lived in the NL do mis-interpret the NL mentality. The NLers for ages had to live and to do business with the uncertainities of the sea. A ship from Batavia arriving three days later always was something people in the NL had to live with, and to find solutions in the practical sense and excuses for the inland-continental customers.

In transport, you are used to improvisations, as it is part of your business, but very essential is how you communicate. My instructor right at the beginning of airfreight was a Dutch. Very direct, very straight, very brutal in his language, but I liked him nevertheless !

************************************************** *****************

CH people already in the 60ies leant 3 years of French and 1 year of English in school, and in professional school ( 2 lessons per week each ) French and English. Nowadays, people have English and French up from the 4th class of primary-school up to the 6th and the 3 classes of secondary-school French and English.

However, the NLers having been sailors for ages gave them what NLers stand for, which means being rather "direct" (a bit rude ), clear, and fairly open-minded, and really communicative.

I never had too much respect for the linguistic abilititeis of your countrymen but a lot of respect for the abilities of your countrymen in the field (MY field) of the transport business, and in a way in regard to entertainment and communicative skills (clearly 50% above the CH-average

************************************************** ******************************

69
One comment. There's a much bigger incentive for the Dutch to learn other languages than the Swiss---they're a small country and they know not many people outside Holland know Dutch. But all three of the Swiss national languages (I'm not counting Rumansch) are big languages spoken widely in Europe. A Swiss on vacation in Europe can travel pretty far speaking only his native language. (And I am counting "hochdeutsch" as a native language.) A Dutchman will need to resort to French, German, or English.

70
Yes, and on holidays, CHers sit together with Germans and Austrians, and all before-mentioned differences are forgotten

71
Is interesting, this one in my area used to be called 'patatje oorlog' (french fries war)

There's more, we didn't have 'gehaktstaaf' (meat-stick) but where I'm from it was called 'berelul' (bear's dick)

72
Little Dutch folk? Never seen any of those. Race of giants in my experience (and I believe officially the tallest people on Earth on average).

73
Tallest in Europe. Could be globally if you decide to not include the Massai as a separate "group".

Personally, I've always believed that this is a kind of Darwinian thing - because most of the land is under sea level, in case of floods, they'd be able to keep their heads above water. Either that or the gravitational pull isn't as strong that close to the earth's centre...

Before anyone tells me that this neither physiologically nor physically possible, it was a joke.

74
Frietje speciaal met berelul.

Sometimes I really miss The Netherlands.

75
I have simple tastes, and my fav has always been patat met en crocketen ... handy as there's a Dutch food van every week at the SBB where I can get my fill if I'm missing it... The patat are a little thin, but the "met" is authentic as are the crocketen.

If I have time, my first stop on arriving in Schiphol is to the chippie in the main entrance hall.

76
dutch is "annoying"...you understand it but you don't...

77
Tallest nation is what I've read.

78
Why are you comparing Swiss to Dutch people... just because the language sounds similar?

If you would compare Swiss Germans (or Dutch!) to German, English, Spanish, Chinese or American people you would also find a lot of differences... it's normal.

79

That's what I said.

80
Ask any Dutchman who is old enough to remember the war (or whose parents were) and he'll have some story about how he sent a German the wrong way when asking for directions. It must have been a national sport.

Another one is asking Germans to give them back their bicycle (during the war all bicycles were requisitioned).