‘Dutch humour can be quite rude’
Dutch students do not always seem to know when a joke about nationality goes too far. What do international students in Nijmegen think about the Dutch’ infamous humour?
During orientation, international students get a workshop called ‘Dealing with the Dutch’. They learn that Dutch people fry a lot of food, that the structure of the kingdom is pretty complicated, and they use a lot of weird words. But one of the most important things the students learn, is that Dutch Directness can be quite confronting sometimes.
In Groningen, international students know all about that. University magazine Universiteitskrant conducted a survey there amongst 300 of them. The results show that 42 percent of all respondents has experience with jokes about their nationality and stereotypes of that nationality. National newspaper NRC also interviewed a group of international students, who confirm that a Dutch joke can sometimes hit you like a rock.
Caricatures
But what about the international students in Nijmegen? Around campus, many students recognise the stories from Groningen. Three British students, who want to react anonymously, say: ‘Yes, the humour can be quite harsh. But when I think about it, I don’t have any examples.’ One of them adds: ‘Maybe it is our stereotype of them, because we were warned that the Dutch are direct. And we make fun of others as well.’
A Spanish student who walks by, says he has encountered some examples of offensive Dutch humour. ‘My teacher once joked about Spain in class, about it being a poor country. I found that quite offensive. I can understand jokes about the weather, but not about our nation’, he says.
In front of the Erasmus Building, American Studies teacher Markha Valenta is talking to one of her students. ‘He is from Limburg, so you might want to ask him about these jokes as well’, she says with a smile. She adds, more seriously: ‘I have heard students joke about other students’ accents. There is a general habit in the Netherlands of using certain racial and ethnic caricatures that, here, are understood to be funny, whereas for many people from outside the Netherlands can be deeply offensive.’ Valenta says this Dutch habit has been very slow to change. ‘Too slow if you are also trying to be international.’
Dominique wrote on 13 april 2018 at 12:02
Our directness makes us unique. Of course it’s good to just hold your tongue sometimes and consider who you’re talking to, but I don’t think the habit has to change to fit in internationally. It also does a lot of good to just be able to say things as they are and not beat around the bush. And we’re good at that for sure!
Kate wrote on 16 april 2018 at 10:31
Your directness does not make you unique. It makes you rude.
Johannes fakeronson wrote on 17 april 2018 at 14:23
Hey Kate, you are being very direct there, how rude of you.
Constantijn Blondel wrote on 5 juli 2019 at 13:12
Hello Kate … sorry, you’re quite wrong 🙂
My personal view: Dutchies, in a way, accept the fact that when there’s different bands of monkeys living together in close proximity, there’ll be tribal angst and aggression.
One solution is to grab the nearest blunt object and start bashing each others’ skulls in.
Another solution is to channel the aggro through laughter, by making blunt jokes.
I, for one, know which variant I find more healthy 🙂
Caroline Noot wrote on 5 februari 2020 at 17:30
I have seen several comments by expatriates about the lack of Dutch humour. All of which seem to be pretty stereotype. Obviously there are some bad comedians, usually actors trying to be funny in a French sort of way getting far too much airtime. But, if you fully understand the language, you will find out that the Dutch have an incredible amount of talented comedians, with a superb sense of timing and an in-debth knowledge of the language, often combining music and poetic skills. Yes, the jokes can be rude at first sight, but usually there is a second layer underneath the joke, which can be quite difficult for foreigners to understand. For one, the language is not the easiest to apprehend but also, Dutch humour often requires a good understanding of the Dutch society as the Dutch like to be confronted with the little ‘cracks’ hidden amongst themselves – In general, the Dutch feel that everybody should posses an healthy amount of “zelf-spot” and if you don’t, in their view you simply take yourself too seriously and you will never understand their humour.
Some reviews state that the Dutch had never understood Monty Python. My answer would be that the people who posted such reviews probably have not met a lot of Dutch people or have the wrong friends, as most the the people I know, know the Monty Python movies and Falt Towers by heart (which is equally the case for the Young Ones etc.). If you were to check past interviews with the Monty Python team, they confirmed many times that they were immensely populair in The Netherlands. Same for Mash and Seinfeld, back in the days.
If you want to find out about Dutch humour, I suggest that you buy tickets for Dutch ‘cabaret’ at one of the specialised theaters, as this type of theater has evolved into a very special genre. Most of the times it is really funny… if only you could understand…