English in the Netherlands, according to research, can be spoken by 90% to 93% of the Dutch population. According to some, the main reasons for the high degree of English speakers is the country's small size, dependency on international trade, and the use of subtitles for foreign languages on television, rather than audio dubbing. Dutch's genealogical proximity to English is also noted as a significant factor since both languages are closely related West Germanic languages. Occupations that require a complex knowledge of English, such as those in aviation and the sciences, are also abundant in the Netherlands. Furthermore, it is an official and the majority language in the Caribbean municipalities of Saba and Sint Eustatius.
History
Various explanations contribute to the popularity of English in the Netherlands. The small size and population of the Netherlands and it hundreds of years of having a trade and commerce economy, particularly between Continental Europe and the United Kingdom, the Dutch put strong emphasis on learning English and other foreign languages, especially German. In the following decades, with American-dominated globalization, English gradually increased in importance as a lingua franca, at the expense of both German and French, which lost popularity as second languages in the latter half of the 20th century. That is in spite of German being linguistically much closer to Dutch than English and Germany being the most important trade partner of the Netherlands. Nevertheless, knowledge of more than one foreign language is still more widespread than in other member states of the European Union. In Amsterdam, in particular, visitors may get the impression that it is possible to live in the Netherlands for a long time without learning Dutch. A substantial number of the inhabitants of Amsterdam have English as their native language, mostly British and North American immigrants but most of them make an effort to learn at least some Dutch. Nevertheless, in and around Amsterdam, one may find announcements, traffic signs and advertisements in both Dutch and English or even in English only, as in Schiphol Airport. Amsterdam, however, already has had an English-speaking community for hundreds of years. A church worshipping in English, the English Reformed Church was reopened for worship in 1607. Most important scholarly and scientific publications in the Netherlands are now in English with the exception of government and legal publications.
Pupils learn Received Pronunciation, or the Queen's English. Since secondary schools in the Netherlands have different levels of education, a test from the elementary school and the advice of the teacher determines the level that a pupil will attend. The first teaches a pupil enough English to have simple conversations. The second is focused on achieving the ability to speak formally and in a professional setting. The third is focused on understanding the more difficult texts and communicating on a university/scientific level, which is a bit more than a master in English needed for British universities demands but without the proverbs and or sayings.
Around 100 schools offer bilingual education. The concept was first introduced in several secondary schools, but it has found its way to elementary schools. The aim of bilingual education is for the students to obtain the same level of English as the native speakers in Britain.
Most universitymaster's degrees are in English, and an increasing number of bachelor's degrees are as well, and even the first degrees of community college given in English have made their way into existence. In addition, many degrees that are taught in Dutch use English-language materials and names.
Students are often taught to perform Internet searches in English, whose results allow far more kinds and amounts of information than in Dutch.
English-language television in the Netherlands
In addition to the availability of the British channels BBC One, Two and World News, the AmericanCNN and the English edition of Al Jazeera, many programmes broadcast on Dutch channels are broadcast in English with Dutch subtitles. English language children's programmes, however, are usually dubbed. Dubbed commercials, films and television programmes, apart from animations and cartoons, have often come to be disliked by the Dutch public. People very much prefer them to be broadcast with subtitles or even with no form of translation at all. There are also a few television stations broadcasting in English, which target the English-speaking community of the Netherlands, such as AF-TV, or dedicate large portions of airtime to programming in English, such as RTV7 and Amsterdam local TV channel Salto 1.
Dunglish
Dunglish is a portmanteau of Dutch and English and a term often used pejoratively to refer to the mistakes native Dutch speakers make when speaking English.
