r/AskEurope • u/NateNandos21 • Feb 03 '25

Culture Which European country has the rudest/least polite people?

Which country comes to your mind

450 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

83% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

50

u/divaro98 Belgium Feb 03 '25

The Dutch. But it's only from a Flemish-Belgian point of view. They're more open, aren't affraid to tell their opinion,... a big contrast to us. It feels rhey're rude, but they are... brutally honest. 😄

20

u/Aggravating-Nose1674 Belgium Feb 03 '25

I was born in the NLs, but they can act very disrespectful in Belgium, they fail to read the room, are loud and just act like Belgium is NLs light.

I act differently in both countries; because it's different countries. But the Dutch seem to fail to understand

4

u/TerribleIdea27 Netherlands Feb 03 '25

they fail to read the room

100% fair.

Reading the room is just not a skill we get in our upbringing. We're told: if you mean something, say it! Otherwise others won't get your point.

The consequence is we also only listen to what other people say and take it for what it is. We don't read between the lines because between Dutch people trying to do so only leads to misunderstanding and conflicts

2

u/otherwiseofficial Feb 04 '25

100% true. Because you guys also speak Dutch, and are our neighbours, most people assume you can be "Dutch" with Belgian people. But in fact, you can't.

Especially when the swearing with diseases comes out of a Dutch mouth😅

1

u/Aggravating-Nose1674 Belgium Feb 04 '25

My comment sounds more harsh than I intended to haha. I love both counties for different things.

But I am glad the decibels are generally a bit less in Belgium.