Comment by jarvischrist on 28/07/2021 at 18:05 UTC

173 upvotes, 5 direct replies (showing 5)

View submission: It’s Eastern European discrimination awareness month. Here are some stories of Eastern European’s facing racism/xenophobia, discrimination in the west.

I live in The Netherlands and speak Dutch. Whenever people find out my background they switch to English as if I'm an idiot. It's frustrating.

Replies

Comment by [deleted] at 28/07/2021 at 20:33 UTC

43 upvotes, 1 direct replies

It doesn't have to be because of prejudice. It often happens with foreigners in other countries too.

Comment by [deleted] at 28/07/2021 at 22:16 UTC

6 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Ooo, ik zie een andere pool dat spreekt Nederland. Veel leuk.

Comment by Kowaldo at 29/07/2021 at 08:42 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

That's actually really funny cause for some reason the clerk at the information desk at Amsterdam airport couldn't mutter a word in english :p

Comment by [deleted] at 29/07/2021 at 08:48 UTC

1 upvotes, 2 direct replies

Sorry, this is bs.

I live in NL myself and I can 100% guarantee that switching to English is always out of politeness rather than racism. It is frustrating especially when u'd just like to practice your skills, but just politely ask 'wil je in het nederlands spreken?'. Always works like a charm.

And don't get me wrong, Dutch ppl, especially low educated, can be really terrible. I herd stories. Oh man, stories you wouldn't believe. Me myself, I've herd harmless jokes, but I've never faced a real xenophobic behavior.

Comment by mikaszowka at 29/07/2021 at 13:51 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Meanwhile I (Pole speaking no Dutch, but I speak some German) was on a business meeting early this month in Amsterdam and the Dutch spoke English for the first 66% of it. Then they switched to full Dutch and occasionally part of it was in English (like 1 minute, then they returned to Dutch). I literally didn't catch anything because I was completely out of the loop. I unfortunately had to take notes from this for myself.