Seeking for answers from Dutch :(

3POSTS

8 years ago

Hello there or "ahoj!" As we slovak's say . I'm en EU citizen of small country called "Slovakia " and seeking for another country to move on and start from scratch . As I speak Slovak Czech and English I was thinking about Ireland , UK ( which brexit kind of limit ) and Netherlands . Alto I'm studied in IT and looking to do own bussines as fitness trainer and similiar services around beside job . Which is biggest question for me as it is even possible to do fitness trainer ( training and looking for my own clients , building my dream bussines ) without speaking Dutch language ? I'm very social too so I kinda of like to meet new people , night life and socialize. As most people reffer that it's easy to get by with English ( and Dutch are willing to teach you some Dutch words ) . If some Dutch would find a minute to answer me I would be more then glad about it.
PS: I know how it's sounds learn language of country which you want to live , but honestly I'm learning german already.

Thanks so much 😊

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Cynic UK/Netherlands Expert

8186POSTS

8 years ago

My daughter was going to do something similar when she first moved back to Holland; it never worked out for her. Basically, there is no shortage of Gyms or licensed Personal Trainers in Holland; so it's probably not a good idea to move to another country where you don't speak the native language, with this as the cornerstone of your life.

What qualifications do you have as a fitness trainer? Without a recognised diploma, you will find it very difficult being taken on by any gym in the UK.

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Marieke_Amsterdam New member

7POSTS

8 years ago

Hi! Good to hear that you are thinking about coming to Holland. Here is your requested answer from a Dutchie :-). My opinion: in the bigger cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague) it wouldn't be a problem if you only speak English. Especially in Amsterdam, where there are a lot of expats & international start-up community. Also, a lot of companies are looking for IT staff, so if the fitness doesn't work out you can always do that! Good luck!

PrettyAF Member

3POSTS

8 years ago

Hello again

thanks for replies , you are amazing guys ! I've realized I've forgot to mention my question was about Amsterdam as most international city

to make things clear I've just fall in love with Dutch culture and want to slowly learn to speak Dutch language, but as this may take a while I was curious if there is a real chance to do personal trainer ( mostly as my own bussines , looking for clients alone and using gym to train them, also doing pc repair and other services ) as an English speaking person for time I do learn to speak Dutch to be confident enought

also if there is social life with other expats and dutchies ( and of course night life

while only speaking English language . As I was living a year in Germany and for English speaking person therefore was life very hard as most of the people in bussines or personal life was not interested to speak with me because of my lack of Deutsch

thank you guys again for reply, you helped me more then I was expecting

SimCityAT Expert

14207POSTS

8 years ago

Gyms from my knowledge use their own trainers so I guess they wouldn't want someone else treading on their toes so to speak. It would be better if you found a gym that did not have their own program. But I guess that would be hard to find unless you contacted every Gym.

annebelledb Member

3POSTS

8 years ago

In my gym there’s a personal trainer working independently and he doesn’t speak dutch either so that shouldn’t be a problem. There a lot of competition though.
As for a IT: you can always combine that. I think OGD ict diensten hires expats.

Angelika333 Active member

37POSTS

8 years ago

Hi there! Just being curious: which aspects of Dutch culture did you actually fall in love with?

Gdezeeuw New member

5POSTS

8 years ago

Hi PrettyAF,

Yes no problem at all to work in a gym and not speak Dutch (In Amsterdam). Outside Amsterdam it is a big deal, but here no problem.

Let me know how serious you are, can point you some gyms which even have owners which don't speak Dutch.

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