Learn top five things you need to know about Dutch society
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| Mies: Welcome back to DutchPod101.com. All About Lesson 8, Top 5 Things You Need to Know About Dutch Society! I'm Mies! |
| Jacob: Hallo Ik heet Jacob |
| Mies: In this lesson, we're going to tell you more about life in the Netherlands. |
| Jacob : Yes, and we are very qualified for that. |
| Mies: Yes, we have our Dutch expert, Jacob, here, and our pseudo-Dutch expert, me! |
| Jacob: Now the Netherlands is such a diverse country, so there are many aspects to society. |
| Mies Yes, so it's difficult to know where to begin. |
| Jacob: So why don't we start with city life, Mies? |
| Mies: Yes, after all, most of what you and I know is life in the big city. |
| Jacob: Dutch cities are not too different from your average European city. |
| Mies: Other than its own culture, food, and personality! |
| Jacob: Well, let's start with my hometown Amsterdam, a city I love! |
| Mies: Yes, Amsterdam! |
| Jacob: Beautiful Amsterdam, and it used to be a small fishing village back in the 12Th century. |
| Mies: Yes, the name Amsterdam is derived from the city’s location. |
| Jacob: A dam in the river Amstel. |
| Mies: Yeah and having a port was the reason that the city was doing very well in the Golden Age. |
| Mies: Nowadays it is the largest city in the Netherlands in terms of population. |
| Jacob: The population of Amsterdam is 783,365 |
| Mies: Haha, wow you know your numbers ! |
| Jacob: Amsterdam is located in in the province called “North Holland,” it's the west side of the country. |
| Mies: Yes, and North-Holland is one of the 12 provinces the Netherlands counts. |
| Jacob: Amsterdam attracts a lot of tourist – 3.6 million annually. |
| Mies: Yes, because there are many tourist attractions. |
| Jacob: Yeah, like the red light district and the coffee shops? |
| Mies: Uh well yeah but there is lots and lots more, like the 17Th centuries canals. Anne Frank’s House… |
| Jacob: And the Van Gogh museum, which of course houses the artist’s work |
| Mies: Yeah, or the Rijksmuseum or Stedelijk museum |
| Jacob: A lot of culture there for you to experience! |
| Mies: Let's move on to the next city! |
| Jacob: Okay, well we can't leave out Rotterdam. |
| Mies: Yes, Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands, and it's the capital of the province South-Holland |
| Jacob: And also a very multicultural city. |
| Mies: Yes, Rotterdam has the highest percentage of foreigners from non-industrialized nations |
| Jacob: I heard 46% of the population is of non-Dutch origins or has at least one parent born outside the country |
| Mies: Yes, there are 80,000 muslims, 13% of the population of Rotterdam. The mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb, is of Moroccan descent and is a practicing muslim. |
| Jacob: How about the name of the city – do you know where it comes from? |
| Mies: Well that actually is not too difficult to figure out…I think even you can do this! |
| Jacob: Huh? You think so? |
| Mies: Well just like Amsterdam being a dam in the Amstel, Rotterdam is a dam in the… |
| Jacob: Rotte !!! |
| Mies: See I knew you knew! |
| Jacob: Lets move on to something else. |
| Mies: Okay, the second aspect of Dutch society we want to talk about is… |
| Jacob:..family life. |
| Mies: Sure. You grew up in the Netherlands right? So you are the expert here. |
| Jacob: Haha, yeah, I guess so. |
| Mies: Tell me something about your family, how many brothers and sisters do you have? |
| Jacob: I have one older sister who lives and works in Groningen. |
| Mies: Is she married? |
| Jacob; No she lives together with her partner and they have 2 children, two cute little boys, I love them. |
| Mies: Nice, yeah, I hear Dutch families tend to be small, often only two children |
| Jacob: Yeah that's right and also often couples decide not to get married but go for The Registered Partnership. |
| Mies: And it’s possible in the Netherlands for gay people to get married. |
| Jacob: Indeed, in 2001, the Netherlands became the first nation in the world to grant same-sex marriages. |
| Mies: You were saying that your sister is working in Groningen. That gets us to the third aspect of the Dutch society: work. What is it like to work in the Netherlands? |
| Jacob: Well, we are fast!! |
| Mies: All like supermen and women? |
| Jacob: Exactly, we prefer to get down to business quickly and cut out the small talk. |
| Mies: seems to me you don’t have any problem with the small talk. |
| Jacob: Hey you are being very Dutch there…. being this direct. |
| Mies: Yeah I prefer people being direct but I often hear people say they think the Dutch can be a bit blunt. |
| Jacob: Aaah, I don’t think it’s too bad. |
| Mies: Now lets move on to the fourth aspect of the Dutch society. |
| Jacob: Politics. |
| Mies: So who is your prime minister these days, Balkenende? |
| Jacob: No that was our previous prime minister. The current prime minister is Mark Rutte. |
| Mies: And what is up with this Orange family you have ? |
| Jacob: Ah you mean the Queen. |
| Mies: Yeah, Queen Beatrix, she seems to be a nice person |
| Jacob: Yeah most people in the Netherlands are quite fond of her. |
| Mies: “Lang leve de koningin”, long live the queen. |
| Jacob: Yeah as long as she keeps riding her bicycle. |
| Mies: Riding a bicycle is something for all generations |
| Jacob: That brings us to the fifth aspect of the Dutch society: Generational trends |
| Mies: Well cycling is basically for all generations in Holland |
| Jacob: Though you see differences in every generation. |
| Mies: Indeed, students ride very very old and often decorated bicycles. |
| Jacob: Very different from the bicycles people ride when they are 65. |
| Mies: Yes, my parents just bought electrical bicycles. |
| Jacob: So did mine! |
| Mies: It seems like the whole retired generation of Holland is racing around on their electric bicycles. |
| Jacob; Haha yeah…watch out! |
| Mies: Well it’s not a bad way to travel, that is for sure. |
| Jacob: I love it! |
| Mies: Well that was our glimpse into the Netherlands of today. |
| Jacob: We hope you know us a little better now! |
| Mies: Yes, and get to know more on the next "All About Dutch" series at DutchPod101.com. |
| Jacob: See you next time. |
| Mies: Bye! |
| Jacob: Dag! |
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