Life in Europe's country of all possibilities

Being a foreigner in the Netherlands

It's not that hard to get along with natives in Netherlands, because more than 90% of the population speaks English. However, this does not mean that everything they do is in English or that everywhere you go you will encounter no problem because you can rely on speaking and understanding English. One good example for that is the job market: if you try to find a job in Netherlands, the major condition is to speak Dutch; otherwise, you will probably not get any of the jobs you want


By ROXANA CIUPARIU
from Bucharest, ROMANIA


When moving to another country, whatever the reason behind this move might be, there is always a problem of adapting, and one can either succeed or not. In this whole process, one is not alone, because it is important how the people in that country see you. They can either like the idea of immigrants or they can dislike it, up to the point of hating it. If they know you are studying here, they can cope up with the idea of a foreigner being in their country for a while, up to the extent of becoming almost unaware of your existence.

Europe's version of USA: Netherlands

Netherlands is considered by many as the European version of U.S.A.: the country of all possibilities, with Amsterdam being Heaven on Earth, the place where you can go and be as wild as you can and nobody will pay attention to you.

Netherlands is indeed the country where you can walk on the street dressed as extravagant as you want, or you can wear the shortest skirt when you go to the library and nobody will blame you, nobody will look at you as if you are in the wrong place. It is the place to be if you learned not to look around at strange people and you enjoy the fact that nobody will pay attention if your shoes and your dress do not match. People here have learned that some things do not deserve the attention others given them; they have learned the most important rule, which is: judge yourself up to the point of caring or not about the way you are, and, only afterwards you can think about judging others.

However, this is tricky: if one gets that drunk that he or she is close to fall in the canal, or another's bike breaks in the middle of the street, one will rarely find someone to help. It's mostly "each man for itself" kind of thinking and sometimes it does not serve good.

Spreek je... - Do you speak...

It's not that hard to get along with natives in Netherlands, because more than 90% of the population speaks English. Children are taught since they are little to speak English; practically, this is like their second language and thus applies all over the country. However, this is just one aspect of the problem: speaking English does not mean that everything they do is in English or that everywhere you go in Netherlands you will encounter no problem because you can rely on speaking and understanding English.

One good example for that is the job market: if you try to find a job in Netherlands, the major condition is to speak Dutch; otherwise, you will probably not get any of the jobs you want. There are two exceptions - or, maybe three, depending on how you look at things - the first one is that you try to find something in the science area, where you basically have to work in a laboratory, which does not require knowledge of Dutch language, but a very good knowledge of the Latin scientific names and, of course, to know the procedures that apply for to work in a laboratory.

The second exception is that you reside in Netherlands while working for an international institution/organisation or for your country's embassy. Noone can deny you the right to be there and noone can complain about your lack of knowledge of Dutch language, since you were hired by a different body than a Dutch one.

The - potential - third exception will be that you work for the University, either as a full-time professor, or as a PhD student and assistant. In this case you were selected because of your importance, so nobody can deny you the right to be here, since universities are renowned for searching for the best students.

Either way, you will still have language problems, such as small museum tours which are in Dutch although you specified that you don't speak the language, numerous conferences and concerts which you cannot attend because there is no single explanation of the event in English and other similar language-related issues.

Nevertheless, the situation is different when we refer to citizens from countries that were former colonies, such as Indonesia and Suriname. Different job positions and scholarships are provided especially for them. And, although many characterise Netherlands as the country which will sink because of countless mosque built here (need to mention that Indonesia is the country with the largest Muslim community in the world), citizens from former colonies are coming in huge numbers to Netherlands and they are prone to learn Dutch, stay here, study and even settle here. Marriages between Indonesians and Dutch are quite common and nobody thinks that they are strange. Could this mean that a barrier is already been broken or just that the status of colony means more than the status of outsider?

Natives vs. Foreigners in daily life and on the political arena

Most of the Dutch people are quite friendly when you asked them something. They will smile, but not too much, answer your question politely if they know and if not, maybe you'll get some information about who might know the answer, but that is all. They will rarely offer you a hand of help, they will mostly continue with whatever it was they were doing when you interrupted them.

You can befriend Dutch people, but one foreigner will mostly get along with other foreigners as well. It's all because one which is away from home can understand you better since you are both in the same situation.

Nonetheless, future does not seem so bright now, especially since a certain politician from the Populist Party got a lot of attention. His hatred is mostly oriented towards Muslim people, but, recently, his horizons extended, including new member countries of the European Union. His ambitions are for his party to gain as much votes as possible to be able to get into the Parliament and spin things as he pleases. His ideas and ambitions, as well as his speeches where he does not hide his intentions and his hatred, all this scare both Dutch people and foreigners. There will be no surprise for everyone if in 2-3 years Europe along with the rest of the world will witness a movement of Dutch people from Netherlands to Belgium or to some of their former colonies, as well as a return of many immigrants to their countries of origin, all due to one person's presence in the Dutch Parliament.

However, until then, foreigners in Netherlands can still enjoy what the "land of all possibilities" has to offer them.


(Published: 20.06.2009.)