13 useless but fascinating facts about The Netherlands that may surprise you
What is the most interesting fact about Netherlands?
7x fun facts about the Netherlands In the Netherlands, there are no less than 37,000 kilometres of cycle paths. Almost a third of the Netherlands is below sea level. The Dutch are the tallest people in the world. More sheep than people live on the Wadden Island of Texel.
What makes Netherlands unique?
The Netherlands (or Holland) may be a small country, but it's packed with world famous icons. Discover our bulb fields, windmills, cheese markets, wooden shoes, canals of Amsterdam, masterpieces of Old Masters, Delft Blue earthenware, innovative water-management and millions of bicycles.
What do you call someone from the Netherlands?
the Dutch
Are Dutch people tall?
Dutch people are the world's tallest, with an average height of 175.62cm (5 feet 7.96 inches.) Dutch men are an average 182.53cm (5 feet 11.86 inches) tall. Dutch women are an average 168.72cm (5 feet 6.42 inches) tall.
German and Dutch belong to the West Germanic language family, a family that also includes English, Afrikaans, Yiddish, Frisian amongst others.
Why is a person from Holland called Dutch?
Over time, English-speaking people used the word Dutch to describe people from both the Netherlands and Germany, and now just the Netherlands today. The word Holland literally meant “wood-land” in Old English and originally referred to people from the northern region of the Netherlands.
Is Dutch closer to English or German?
For the same reasons Dutch is the closest language to English, German is also a close language, and another one that many English speakers may find easier to learn. Dutch is commonly mentioned as the language nestled between English and German.
Can English speakers read Dutch?
English speakers can understand some words in dutch, as simple as “thank you” and “you're welcome”. The average english speaker doesn't understand much more than that. We can't. I can read Dutch up to a point, but that's because I know German and Old Norse.
Can you live in the Netherlands without speaking Dutch?
Question: Do I have to learn Dutch to live in the Netherlands? Answer: No, not if you live in a multinational city like Amsterdam. In general, everyone speaks pretty good English so you can get around just fine without knowing a word of Dutch.
How is V pronounced in Dutch?
In the west of The Netherlands (Amsterdam), v (in standard Dutch /v/) is usually pronounced as /f/, z (in standard Dutch /z/) is usually pronounced as /s/, and g (in standard Dutch /ɣ/) is usually pronounced as /x/.
How is J pronounced in German?
The German consonant ‘j' is almost always pronounced in the same manner as the English ‘y' sound that in words such as ‘yes', ‘yellow' or ‘yard'.
How easy is it to learn Dutch?
Dutch is probably the easiest language to learn for English speakers as it positions itself somewhere between German and English. het, but it doesn't have all the grammatical cases like German. However, de and het are quite possibly the hardest part to learn, as you have to memorise which article each noun takes.
