Dear Nwc,
Here are some data from the Internet:
"Though almost 90% of the Dutch speak English, hence the attitude
'Learning Dutch is a waste of time', if you want a job, you'll almost
have to speak Dutch."
(SOURCE: "Amsterdam, The Netherlands: A Resident's Perspective",
<http://www.bootsnall.com/europetravelguides/a_dam/feb02resident.shtml>).
"'About 80 percent of the Dutch speak English,' said Paul Kleinje, area
director of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency"
(SOURCE: "Expansion Management Online",
<http://www.expansionmanagement.com/cmd/articledetail/articleid/15435/default.asp>).
"[...] the Internet boom in the Netherlands is based on good
education. 78% of the Dutch speak English as their second foreign
language, which enables them to easily surf the Web, where most of the
material is in English." (SOURCE: "DoubleClick | what's clicking
newsletter", December 2001,
<http://www.kmedia.de/news/new/DC-04-2001-en-nl.htm>).
"There was an article in the Economist about English usage in Europe.
Says that 40% of Europeans (citizens of the 15 countries of the EU)
speak English as a second language (conversational) and 16% as their
first, making English spoken by over 56% of all Europeans. When asked
if "All Europeans should be required to learn English" an average of
70% strongly agreed, even the French (62%!)! Amazing, and we wonder
why we are having a hard time learning German... everyone keeps
speaking English to us!!
The Netherlands were the most amazing, 80% of the Dutch speak English
at least conversationally (and from our experience, most are fluent!).
"
(SOURCE: "Trey's Letter", 01-Mar-01, Berryessa Family Boards,
<http://www.berryessa.org/dcforum/DCForumID2/1.shtml>).
I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarifications on this answer before you rate it. My search strategy
has been:
"of the dutch speak english" |
