- Time for a boat ride.
See in the background?
Amsterdam.
This is where I wanna go.
Van Gogh Museum.
(upbeat rock music)
And the three EES Amsterdam special lessons are done.
Filming in this room has
I have to say been somewhat of a challenge.
Probably not supposed to do this,
but in this cupboard
I found
this blanket.
So I chucked that on the floor
just to absorb some of the sound
that is hitting the ceiling and bouncing down
and hitting the floor
and then was bouncing back up
and creating that horrible echo.
That helped considerably,
as did the t-shirts on the wall.
Originally, I'd planned to film the three EES,
kind of Amsterdam special lessons back in Japan,
I was gonna film all the b-roll
and all the footage here
and then actually film the lessons back home.
But although it's much easier
to make a very polished lesson like that
in my studio which is all,
it's been sound treated
and I've got better equipment, et cetera, et cetera.
I don't know it's just a shame.
It's a shame to come all the way to Amsterdam,
do an Amsterdam special
but actually film it somewhere else.
Even if, even if it's hard to do,
if the production quality suffers a little bit,
I figured it would be more interesting
to film the lessons here in the thick of it.
(upbeat music)
Today I have no plan,
other than to just walk around, taking video,
see what I can see
and go wherever I fancy at that particular moment in time.
Oh, it is so windy today.
I'm a little bit worried about
whether my flight's gonna be able
to leave on time tomorrow.
I've heard that a lot of flights to Cork
have been delayed because of the weather.
And looking at this wind,
a bit worried that that might be the case for me too.
(upbeat music)
Time for lunch.
Apparently this is a new Heineken Beer, H41.
Never heard of it before but let's try it.
It's good.
(smooth music)
I don't know if you've ever heard of something
called the English EF Proficiency Index
but basically it's a scale
that compares and ranks 72 countries
based on their English proficiency.
And guess what, Holland got number one last year.
Incidentally, number two was Denmark
and number three Sweden.
Which I think is quite telling,
all countries in the same part of the world.
But the question for you is why,
why are the Dutch so good at English?
Well I think it definitely helps
that English and Dutch are quite similar
as far as two languages are concerned.
English changed quite a lot after it mixed with French
after the Norman invasion in 1066,
the Battle of Hastings and all of that.
But the two languages, English and Dutch,
do share the same Germanic root.
So that definitely makes English easier
for Dutch people to learn
but that in and of itself
is certainly not enough to account for
just how good the Dutch are in English.
(smooth music)
One of the main things of course
is that Dutch films
and TV are not dubbed into Dutch.
They're all in English with Dutch subtitles
which means Dutch people are exposed to English
from a very very early age
and as a Swedish friend of mine says,
kids are basically lazy
and they just don't bother to read the subtitles,
meaning they get used to understanding English
in English right from the word.
Which of course really helps when it comes to,
problems like translating in your head.
People who have learned English at school
tend to and started learning English at school
tend to translate everything in their head
because they've never had any practice
with thinking in English.
Whereas here in Holland,
kids basically start doing that
from a really really young age.
And of course there is the socio-economic position
that Holland finds itself in.
It's a tiny country surrounded by
much bigger countries in Europe.
And Holland has always relied on international trade,
doing business overseas,
bringing in money from other countries.
So for the Dutch, using English as a lingua franca
to do business and to bring in money from overseas.
It's just what's done in this country.
There's no like,
"Oh my god, we've got to use English to do business."
It's just like, "Well, we do business overseas,
"English is the international language,
"we do English, it's a given."
(smooth music)
Guess it's like I always say,
mindset is everything.
If you are in a position where just using
and speaking English in business, everyday life,
wherever you need to speak it,
is it's just a given.
Then well, you get really bloody good at the language,
really really quickly.
(smooth music)
Well the rain has started to subside
but you know what,
it is getting bloody cold out here.
So I think it's time for me to call it a day.
(upbeat music)
I didn't meet a single person in Holland
whose English wasn't absolutely bloody amazing.
The question is, however,
is your English absolutely bloody amazing?
Because if it's not,
you my friend,
need to get your hands on a copy of my book,
Master English Fast:
An Uncommon Guide to Speaking Extraordinary English.
This hunk of papery goodness will take you by the hand
and walk you through the English improvement process
step by simple step,
and show you everything that you need to know
to master the English language
as an intermediate to advanced English learner.
To get your hands on a copy
or to download the first chapter for free,
just head over to MasterEnglishFast.com.