[petesergeant]

> there is the cultural issue of speaking directly in English versus trying a very basic "Parlez vous Anglais?" as initial question

In my experience in the Netherlands you should definitely just start speaking English to people, as asking someone if they speak English is a bit like asking if they can read

[Scarblac]

Yes, we much prefer speaking English over having to endure slow, broken Dutch.

[WJW]

Yes we do, but there's a bit of nuance to it. Most Dutch people will happily oblige to speak slowly (within reason) if you preface any conversation with a quick "I'm trying to learn Dutch properly", and will appreciate the effort.

Knowing the language will definitely help people fit in better as many conversations amongst the Dutch will still be in Dutch and also most signage and other written texts will obviously also be in Dutch.

[pjmlp]

As mentioned, it is a cultural thing.

[diggan]

Very much so. We get a lot of tourists where I live (Spain) yet consistently the only tourists that come here and assume we speak their language (yes) are people speaking French. Everyone else seems to ask if I speak English before engaging, or they try to speak Spanish directly, while French-speaking people just start speaking French with you, seemingly assuming you also speak French, even though we're both in Spain...