[orange_tee]

No, it has nothing to do with that. It's policy driven. The Dutch realized they can get in on what the UK was getting if they swallowed their pride and started speaking more English and allowing English as a language of business.

Germans are too proud and expect the world to start speaking German instead.

I lived in both countries, Germans have equally good English, but you would struggle to use English in official capacity in Germany. Whereas in the Netherlands they are very accommodating, and not because they are kinder. They do this on purpose, cause they know they can (and did in fact) attract a lot of foreign money that way.

[Tarsul]

If you were using the same arguments about the French instead of the Germans, I'd agree. However, for (us) Germans I wouldn't say it's so much proudness as it is about having a huge market by itself (like GP said) and also its industries are very strong, meaning Germany doesn't have to rely on being a tax haven or its financial services as much as other countries. I do agree that Germans have a certain proudness but arguably since WW2 we are also more humbled than we probably were before and it still shows (also because of how much we are being humbled by our education and also by our media culture. Not as much as the Japanese, though :)).

[m00dy]

I spent considerable amount of time in both countries and I can clearly say that Germans are not even close to Dutch in their english or willingness to learn english. I don't even want to talk about technology adoption in Germany. That is another discussion.

Top best english speakers are either Dutch or Swedish in mainland Europe.

[Symbiote]

It's actually the Danes, without question, but they seem to rate themselves poorly in the self-surveys that produce these "No. 1 in English" rankings.

Office-job professionals in all three countries are very good, but for the best chance of the bus driver, kiosk owner, refuse collector, window cleaner, passing pensioner and drunk punk to speak English, head to Denmark.

[m00dy]

I live in Copenhagen at this moment :)

[sebmellen]

Hmmm, I haven't found it to be true that Germans and Dutch people speak English equally well. There really is a pronounced difference, especially in the older generations, but also in younger generations. I speak German when in Germany, so of course I have some bias, but there is evidence to back this up [1].

As for how intentional it is, your theory seems plausible. That said, I don't know of any real evidence for it — even if it is an organized conspiracy, most normal Dutch citizens aren't aware of it.

[1]: https://www.wittenborg.eu/netherlands-top-english-speaking-c...

[netsharc]

I have a feeling there was no swallowing of pride or anything like that, but it was all Hollywood and market size: US movies/TV series shown in Germany get dubbed with German voices because there's a huge German/Austrian/Swiss market (in terms of population), while for smaller markets like Dutch and the Nordic countries, it was/is a lot more economical to just put local language subtitles on them.

France also has a lot of eyeballs, and they also get dubbed entertainment products.

[Udik]

Whatever it is, they have been doing it for a long time: ladies in their 70s, in the street or at the supermarket, switch seamlessly to English when they realise I don't speak Dutch.

[arkitaip]

The quality of spoken English in Germany is mediocre at best and often non-existing or terrible with adults. At least it was two years ago when I visited.

[Fnoord]

Dutch language is relatively close to English.

Dutch people learn English at young age. British English at school.

Tech industry practically has English as main language. It is not like that in Germany or French.

Dutch people are used to focus on trade with foreign countries. Helps if you speak the language. Youth learn Dutch, English, French and German at school.

Finally, Allies liberated us from the Germans. We remained on friendly terms with each other, though NL is not part of FVEY.

Contrast to French and Germsn, which are both still important languages in both Europe and the World; Dutch is irrelevant...