I've been working on this one pretty much all year on and off, and it's been so interesting to discover more about the publishing world and reading taste in the country where I was born! Shout out to the wonderful booksellers and publishing professionals who shared their experiences with me. If you've got any further thoughts (Dutch reading recommendations included) or other topics around Dutch books you'd like me to go into, give me a shout! - Sanne
This is so interesting! A lot of what you says applies to my experience of reading in Germany as well. I also try to read more Germany fiction, but it's a lot harder to get good book recommendations because my whole social media life is so English, so I get tons of recommendations on English books, but never any on German books. And Scandinavian thrillers are big in Germany too (apparently not as much as historical fiction, but I think a lot of books sold in Germany are Scandinavian thrillers). And my first English book was also Harry Potter 5! There was a website (back in the days of the ancient form of the internet) where you could participate in a crowd-source German translation. I think you got assigned a page of the English book to translate and once the translation was finished, those who participated got access to the whole book in its German translation. I never read the finished version but I was soo proud to participate. :D Anyway, thanks so much for this awesome video! I would love to see this about German reading culture as well. I guess I should try to find more book content creators from Germany to follow as well.
I've recently started following a few Dutch people on Instagram who talk about contemporary Dutch lit and it's been so helpful to just get a bit of an overview of interesting new releases! Would love to know more about German reading culture too.
As a Dutch person who reads only English, my reasons are all of the above, you nailed that one :) I also started reading in English because the Dutch HP wasn't out yet, the 4th for me!
I am French but I had the same experience with reading the 7th because I didn't want to wait for the publication of the French translation! My mum did the same even though she didn't usually read in English It's fun to see similar trends in different West European countries
For me it was A song of ice and fire. Read the first one in english, then for funsies i read a few passages from the Dutch translation. Bought the rest in english. And now after YEARS of not reading a book, i'm searching for a book, but it has to be in English.....
So fun to hear all this; especially the Dutch thrillers part. Interestingly, the most recent Nicci French books (written in English) were published in Dutch months before they came out in their original language, ha. xx
Great video. One of the things in the Netherlands I really like is Nederland Leest (the Netherlands reads). It's when the library hands out a free book, the idea being that a lot of people will read the same book at the same time and then talk about it. It's such a cool idea!
Thank you for this really good and detailed introduction into Dutch literature! Someday I would really like to learn Dutch because as a child we visited the Netherlands very often because we only lived half an hour away from the German- Dutch border. I have really fond memories of the Netherlands. So thank you for giving insight into Dutch reading culture! It would be a really interesting video series to do that for other countries as well.
One of the reasons I switched to reading mostly in english instead of dutch, is that I had a hard time finding lgbt+ books and books about certain topics. The english publishing industry is way bigger. So they can publish way more books about a lot more topics and also take more risks. I also love scifi and graphic novels and that's hard to find in dutch. And I feel like the dutch publishing industry is a bit dated. It's getting better, but there still is a lack of diversity and it's hard to discover new books without going to a bookshop and reading all the blurbs. Reviews feel like they are more geared to people over 40 and are mostly written in magazines and newspapers that people under 40 don't read. And the marketing, cover designs and blurbs are not always that great or clear about what the book is about either. Another reason is that I hated almost all the books we had to read for school. So many dutch books on de lijst are depressing and quite bleak and there is so much cheating, cancer and incest and also other weird stuff. I was a teenager with depression and it made me dislike reading for years. My dad used to be a translator and he read a lot of books in english and german when we were growing up as well. So I borrowed english books from him too
I haven't really thought about te Dutch covers but you're totally right! I do pick up books more when I'm looking for not translated books. Plus I pick up more books in Dutch when they have an interesting title while books in English I tend to cover buy more. Fascinating video. I kept looking at my own shelves while watching to see where I fell on the spectrum.
Bookseller speaking here, loved to watch this video! I've noticed in the past 7-8 years how much our English section has expanded, especially the YA-section. To me it's wonderful! I haven't read a Dutch book since I finished high school bc I was forced to read Dutch 'classics' which weren't fun at all. Luckily I've heard that things are changing and they're also allowing more accessible (and even translated) novels to be read for the list. One other thing apart from the support is how much customers support their local bookshop. Especially in the covid-lockdowns. During, and after that I have had so many lovely words and happy-to-see-you-back-open-messages. Just lovely to hear. :)
This video was wildly interesting, Sanne. Thank you for putting the time and effort in it. As a Belgian reader, i recognize some points you make, but it's also interesting to see how our cultures differ in some aspects. Anyway, great video! HP 5 was my first English read too. :)
Ik moet Karina helemaal gelijk geven over de support. Ik kom zelf uit België en woon in Portugal, hier heb je dat echt niet. Gefeliciteerd trouwens met deze video! Erg compleet en accuraat. Groetjes van een Nederlandstalige auteur die naar het Engels en Frans werd vertaald 😊
Really interesting video! As far as my experience goes (I'm a bookseller and have done an internship at a large publisher in the Netherlands), most Dutch adult fantasy is published by a few smaller publishers who focus solely on fantasy and sci-fi. However, they often don't have a good connection with the bookshops, offering discounts which are too low for the booksellers to order them for their stores. Besides, a lot of fantasy readers are put off by the looks of the covers of Dutch fantasy books. The people I spoke to about those books really disliked the look of these books and wouldn't even consider reading the blurb. And if they did read the blurb, the wording did'nt intrigue them. I don't think these book are bad, but Dutch publisher do'nt always know how to write a good blurb that does the book justice. These things also don't insentivise booksellers to store these books unfortunately. I'm not sure if these are the most important reasons there isn't a lot of Dutch fantasy in stores, but these are the most important ones for the bookstore I work at.
As someone who works in publishing in the Netherlands this was so fun to watch. One note on the sci-fi/fantasy thing. It is extremely expensive to translate and produce and often the publisher just cant afford to with the sales. I also really liked your stuff about the English influence on the Dutch book market. I did some research on that myself when I did my masters (also talked to Blossom Books about this haha) and I indeed found all the same things you did! I did wonder if this would change with Brexit and the fact that it now takes longer for English books to get here and import cost would have to be added. But it doesn’t seem to have much of an impact. So cool to see you talk about this!
Love this! I'm a big advocate for reading Australian books (especially our growing community of young adult novels) so I love hearing what it's like in other countries.
This is absolutely fascinating. As a person of Dutch heritage who lives in the US, I'm really grateful for these insights! When I think of my own education, any time we focused on the Netherlands throughout history, it was always related to the history of visual arts (painting), or the historical role of the Dutch in global economics. So it is really interesting to hear your perspective and research on written "Dutch classics" or (sort of) lack thereof. Thank you for this wonderful video!
I think one of the reasons I ended up being primarily a reader of English books is my love of fantasy. Which is very represented in childrens books (though not named as such, but just pick up anything by Paul Biegel) but not in adult fiction in the Netherlands. I started reading those in Dutch translation, until I switched over to English. I remember when I was still reading translations mostly reading some books by ‘W. J. Maryson’ and thinking the Dutch was so seamless and wondering about how amazing a translator it must have, so I looked into it and it turns out Maryson was a pen name for and author named Wim Stolk! Who wrote Dutch fantasy, and a part of me is a little sad that it couldn’t have just been ‘Wim Stolk’ on the covers. My guess is that because fantasy is and English dominated genre, to be taken seriously it had to ‘fit in’ with the fantasy of it’s time and a really Dutch name like Wim Stolk would feel jarring for readers? But that is just my guess. I also think part of the reason people like me switch over to reading in English (though if it’s translated from a different language I try to find the Dutch translation) is just that English spans a much wider language area of the world, so way more writers and publishers are publishing books compared to Dutch being a relatively small language area. There is just way more on offer in English and if you lean towards genres that are more prevalent in English and easier to find… Your other reasons mentioned also strike true for me, I genuinely enjoy the English language and was very proud as a teenager that I was reading books in a different language than my own. Made me feel smart. 😏 I do feel that I’ve gotten out of touch with what’s being published in Dutch nowadays because I have been so focused on English books for the majority of my adult life. So I really enjoyed your video reminding me to check out what’s on offer next time I go to a bookshop! (Though as someone who does indeed prefer to read in the original language if I can, which for English I can, I dislike it if it’s hard to sus out the translated from the original Dutch books in shops.)
As a Spanish native I think it is very similar for us (and probably in general in non English speaking countries) that you might pick up books in your local library without paying that much attention to whether it is Spanish literature or translated from some other language. I also personally read now in English and even in German and need to make a conscious effort to keep reading Spanish authors as well. It is easier for me tho, since my own mom is a Spanish author :D P.D.: very nice video
Wow this video was so so interesting! My sister lives in Den Haag and we‘re English/German so this was all the more intriguing for it! Will have to send her a link! Thanks for investing so much time into the video x
The timing of this video was great! I'm from Ireland but my partner and I have just moved out to the Netherlands and will be here for the next 4 months and as a big reader, it was super interesting to hear your thoughts on the topic. Thanks Sanne! X
I find that extremely interesting and ... SO different from German literature and reading culture. (Here books in English were usually only considered as demanded reading for school or something the weirdo nerds might do - hi, I'm one of the weirdo nerds, so I use that term lovingly ;) - and it has only changed in recent years with people trying to read MORE English books, because German publishers tend to stick to what they know and what worked in the past while people long for more diversity and a change of pacing and tone.) So, it's really interesting to learn that such a close neighbour (I live in Lower Saxony) has such a different culture when it comes to reading. (Also sad, that our publishing world isn't like yours. I work freelance for an austrian SFF publisher - mostly selling to a German audience - that's actually rather active with their community, but ... very much alone in it. It's actually even a bit of an enemy image for some older SFF publishers, because we are more open to diversity, try to use more gender sensitive wording, ... and so we're considered the black sheep. I wish we'd be more of a big community celebrating one another, helping one another, ... I think that would help both the publishers and the readers. So .. a bit jealous of the Netherlands here :D )
As a Dutch viewer this is still so interesting! I worked in a library for a little while when I was 17/18 restocking shelves and the thriller section was definitely one of the biggest and I spent so many hours putting returned books back in that section! I also read mostly Dutch, would like to read Dutch books but going into a bookshop and not knowing what books were translation is so hard! Should look into one of the bookstores that seperate translated fiction!
Ooh super interesting and unique perspective, thanks Sanne. It's been an emotionally draining day here so I'll be popping back another day for this video but I'm commenting for the algorithm ☺️
I'm a proud adcovate of reading in Dutch over on my Dutch channel Tussen De Boeken. Yes I read in English sometimes, but I still read most of my books in Dutch :) Together with Schwob Young I have been visiting a lot of Dutch publishers and some of the group have started to read more in Dutch instead of English now they know more about the publishing industry in The Netherlands
Very interesting video :) I love to learn more and get glimpses into other cultures. It took some time before I understood that the English speaking world differentiated between translated fiction and fiction. I’m Norwegian, as the there are only around 5-6 million people who speak the language there are limits to how many books are written in the language, and yeah the thriller craze is strong here as well. So it just makes sense that all books are put together translated or not. I remember reading a lot of books when I was young that I later realised were originally German. Now that I’m fluent in English I feel like I might as well read books in the language they were written if I can. But a lot of my friends and my family do prefer reading Norwegian. But I see a lot of younger people here prefer to read English written books in English.
Really liked this video. So interesting to hear about the book week. In Sweden all schools have a holiday (one week) in the fall. When I was young this was called fall-holiday (höstlov) but now it’s called the reading holiday (läslov). I hope this becomes bigger and that we will do something similar to the Netherlands. Would be so fun to collect short stories by Swedish authors
Wow this was super cool, covered a lot of interesting points! Boekenweek sounds lovely. As a native English speaker living in England I don’t tend to go into bookshops when visiting other countries, purely because I assume they’re not meant for me, but after learning about the differences in Dutch bookshops, I might try and visit some in other countries now to spot the differences. Is there much call to translate the older classics into newer Dutch? Or do people only consider the old Dutch version the “true” classic?
Ik reageer gewoon in het Nederlands. Hoi. Supertoffe video. Ik hou zelf enorm van Nederlandse literatuur (De hemel is altijd paars, prachtig boek) en denk zelf dat veel jongeren niet weten hoeveel er is. Jongeren denken bij literatuur al snel dat het saai is, aan de leeslijst etc. Terwijl: ér is zoveel moois en het is allesbehalve saai. So I’m trying op TikTok om dit te veranderen want ik lees het zelf onwijs graag ❤
The price and availability are definitely the two biggest reasons why I buy/read in English ( becoming an English teacher and wanting to keep up to date with current English (YA) fiction also play a role in this). Sometimes the difference in price is so minimal that it doesn't bother me, but sometimes it'll save you several euros. For me, my first English book was the Twilight Saga. As a child I was massively into the children's books by Dutch authors, especially Carry Slee and Jacques Vriens. Had a quick browse of my bookshelves and I currently have 1 Dutch book written by a Dutch author; De Avond Is Ongemak (and then almost the entire series of Baantjer). All the other books in Dutch are works in translation, mainly from English, but also a couple from Spanish and Swedish. I also recognise myself in reading a lot of thrillers. That was definitely me back in secondary school and what was readily available at my local library at the time
I loved this video and a lot of what you described rings true for Luxembourg as well, where I am originally from but it can just be more confusing as our bookshops often have equal parts French, English and German books and very frequently you can find the same book in the shop in each language or you have French translations of German authors and vice versa, so it can be frustrating trying to identify the original language of the text. I have also moved to the UK 10 years ago and have almost exclusively read English literature for 15 years, but more recently I have been craving or even felt an obligation to delve back into other languages, especially German books. However, due to the same reasons you mentioned finding books originally written in German (or any languages apart from English) has been difficult at first glance when in a physical bookshop, even when in large bookshops in Germany because they often don't separate them by original language. So you spend hours scanning the back of books for mentions of translations or check the first pages inside the book to see if there is a translator mentioned unless you are familiar with the authors already and can determine the language they write in that way. Another reason why I often feel lost in a non-English language bookshop are the covers, especially for French books. They often have really uniform, understated covers which are mostly beige or white, so if you don't know the book or author, it's so hard to gage what genre or vibe the book might have without reading the whole premise of it. I definitely prefer having the more diverse covers we have in England because I am more likely to pick up something I might not have heard about as it catches my eye. Also, funnily Nicci French is super popular in Luxembourg as far as I know, so it's interesting how much bordering countries can differ in preferences.
Loved this video, was nodding along to many of your points hahah! ✨ I also wonder whether the market for Dutch fantasy/sci-fi is just too small for it to take off
This was fascinating and I learned a lot. Definitely makes me think how the language of Norwegian bookshops differ from English ones. I have two questions. Firstly, what's the name of the lovely font you're using in the video? Secondly, where did you get your phone case? It's very cool. Thanks so much for all that you do!
Really interesting video. Kinderen van Moeder Aarde & De hemel is altijd paars are so good! Most of the time, in Flanders, the books we read for school can also be translated into Dutch, so I think we make even less a distinction than the Dutch between original Dutch or translated books. And yes, comics in Belgium are huge, in both parts of the country!
I have actually been struggling to find dutch books writen by Dutch author in my book store because like you said the book store doesn’t differentiate between translation and Dutch books. My ‘reading goal’ this year is to read more dutch but I’ve genuinely been struggling really sinking my teeth into finding what I want to read.
As a Dutch person who almost only reads in English this is so relatable😹 I would like to try originallt Dutch books, but the kinds of books I like are gard to find and I don't know Dutch authors. Almost everything originally Dutch is a thriller and I don't like those😹 and Dutch books do remind me of school and the reading list where tou were only allowed to pick boring books.
I think I have only read one book by a Dutch author before. The book is called "Overstroomd" in Dutch and is written by Eva Moraal. A friend of mine is friends with the author and told me about the book back when it just came out and I ordered the German translation ( I live at the border to the Netherlands, but I only understand a very small amount of Dutch and couldn't read a whole book in Dutch). The book is a dystopia about a flood and the lives of two teenagers living on either dry or wet land. I've put "We had to remove this post" on my wish list, but the German translation. But maybe I'll buy the English book? The English edition is a few Euros less than the German. I mostly prefer reading English books especially when the original is written in English. And somehow I read way more English books than German ones. The big bookstore in my city has a good section on books in other languages. They are mostly English books and only a small section are French and Dutch books, which surprises me because the city is at the border to both the Netherlands and Belgium. But I guess people who come to visit here read more (or understand) English than French or Dutch. The small, independent bookstores sadly don't how books in other languages or, if they do, there is only a very limited number.
i study film and literature in leiden because i didnt want to pick a specific country or language to read from. i love how open minded the courses are about translation, you can just read which ever version suits you best, but we're not reading anything dutch at least in the first year. not sure if i mind that yet (my biggest beef with dutch literature is The Greats aka the old white men who oversexualize everything for no reason) but i am a lot more interested in dutch lit now than i was when i was younger. i've set out to read max havelaar soon ish and more of anna blaman's work. there's gotta be some gems we've been missing out on! ps love dat je naar donner bent gegaan, mijn favoriete plek in nederland
Mijn Nederlands is nog echt zwaak, maar u heeft me geïnspireerd om in het Nederlands te lezen verzoeken. Mijn woordenschat moet ik verbeteren, en dat lijkt zoals een goed methode! 😁 ...ik hoop u kunt begrijpen, wat ik geschreven heb. 😅
Hello, this is very interesting; especially as a Dutch person...leuk en ook onverwacht om te horen hoe positief er tegen de Nederlandse uitgeverswereld en boeken lezen wordt aangekeken. Ik dacht altijd dat er weinig aandacht was voor Nederlandse boeken en dat we te weinig lezen en boeken niet gestimuleerd worden ed, maar dat is toch niet zo simpel. Zelf ben ik vooral bekend met Nederlandse jeugdboeken idd, Nederlandse literaire klassiekers vanuit de Middelbare zoals Tim Krabbé, Mulisch, Reve, Connie Palmen *& Nederlandse poëzie, zoals Campert, Vasalis, Lucebert enzo. Vooral de poezie vind ik interessant, ook veel moderne namen weer zoals Ellen Deckwitz. Heb je er wel eens aan gedacht om iets tav Nederlandse poezie te maken/filmen? En wat zijn jou ervaringen daar mee?
Ik denk dat het heel erg afhangt van in welke leescirkels je de gesprekken voert! Er is volgens bij echt een grote splitsing tussen lezers die Engels kiezen en hoe ze over Nederlandse boeken denken vs. lezers die vooral voor boeken in het Nederlands gaan. Als je denkt dat er niks voor je tussenzit, dan besteed je er verder ook geen aandacht aan misschien. Zelf heb ik nog niet heel veel naar Nederlandse poezie gekeken, vooral omdat ik daar in het Engels nog maar net mee begonnen ben! Maar ik zou er zeker geen nee tegen zeggen om het wat meer uit te proberen. :)
@@booksandquills He Sanne, leuk om je reactie te lezen! Als ik het zo lees dan snap ik wat je bedoeld, ik denk dat ik me dat ook niet zozeer gerealiseerd had, het verschil tussen 't soort lezer! Leuk om hier meer over te leren en ik ben benieuwd naar je verdere nederlandse leeservaringen ;) als je iets tegen komt van ellen deckwitz; qua poezie vind ik haar heel goed en ze is geel grappig ook als persoon. Vadalis vind ik zelf prachtig maar dat is iets klassieker. Fijne dag
hi. do you have any recommendations for books on ancient (pre- christian) dutch history for someone with dutch ancestry who would like to learn more about her culture (me).
At imagicon a few there was a panel about 'silt punk', which has some interesting Dutch scifi books. There was also some other Dutch fantasy novels at the con, I think they were by smaller independent publishers I think. They might not be at bookshops a lot. I didn't feel like there was a lot of different kinds of fantasy or fantasy authors there though.. Didn't pick up anything there personally (did get one siltpunk book later). Some Dutch fatasy authors also write in English I think.
Probably not a major factor, but I know several people who read books in foreign languages to practice the language. Was also the reason I originally read books in English (tho I'm German).
So interesting! Thanks for this video which probably involved a lot of research. One thing i am very curious about: why are Dutch (translated) book covers sooo ugly? Just lacking in terms of conveying something about the contents of the book; very far removed from the original UK/US cover art and just not artistic at all.
I think it really depends per publisher and genre. While browsing more recently I've seen some really beautiful and more 'modern' looking covers, especially by some design agencies, so I've got hope for the future! But yes, there are quite a few ugly and outdated Dutch covers out there. Not sure if the issue is that they're being created based on 'what's done well in the past'. 😅
Translation is something I'm interested in as well, but I'm not sure if it's something I just want to _do_ rather than _study_ .... So I'd be super interested in a video about that
I studied Literatuurwetenschap in Utrecht. Wouldn’t that count as a Dutch equivalent of a degree focussed on literature? Or did you mean a degree focussed on Dutch literature specifically? Because we read books from multiple languages. Also, about 50% of the classes were taught in English and 50% in Dutch (during the bachelor’s program).
It’s more that there are not many degrees that just focus on Dutch literature/classics only! (Which would be the equivalent of an English literature degree). Literatuurwetenschap does sound really interesting though.
De wet op de vaste boekenprijs is mijn nemesis. Ik wil wel meer in het Nederlands lezen, maar als ik 2 Engelse of Franse boeken kan kopen voor de prijs van 1 Nederlands boek voelt het toch altijd erg zonde
Was we had to remove this post ook in nederland het geschenkenboekje? Ik dacht dat er alleen een Nederlandse friese en vlaamse was. Ik haal elk jaar de boekenweekgeschenkjes voor mijn moeder. Die verzamelt ze. Is we had to remove this post nog te verkrijgen?
De originele titel was: 'Wat wij zagen' en dat was het Boekenweekgeschenk in 2021. En de vertaling We Had to Remove This Post is te koop als normaal boek!
I moved to reading strictly english since it is often the original language for what I am reading. More importantly though the humour doesnt translate well in Terry Pratchett books.
Sorry but the dutch read books in the language it was ment to be as many books get lost in translation or doesnt translate well. , if they dont speak that language they get the Dutch version of that book . If you think there are no dutch fantasy books . try again and go to the local library and you will find tons . ranging from children to adult . And in particular children and teen books . written in flemish and dutch . For children books there have been dozens of movies that where made based on these books , Its just you have to know where to find them libraries are a good place to start , as most bookstores only sell quick cash books . based on popularity of what is now. .
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I've been working on this one pretty much all year on and off, and it's been so interesting to discover more about the publishing world and reading taste in the country where I was born! Shout out to the wonderful booksellers and publishing professionals who shared their experiences with me. If you've got any further thoughts (Dutch reading recommendations included) or other topics around Dutch books you'd like me to go into, give me a shout! - Sanne
This is so interesting! A lot of what you says applies to my experience of reading in Germany as well. I also try to read more Germany fiction, but it's a lot harder to get good book recommendations because my whole social media life is so English, so I get tons of recommendations on English books, but never any on German books. And Scandinavian thrillers are big in Germany too (apparently not as much as historical fiction, but I think a lot of books sold in Germany are Scandinavian thrillers). And my first English book was also Harry Potter 5! There was a website (back in the days of the ancient form of the internet) where you could participate in a crowd-source German translation. I think you got assigned a page of the English book to translate and once the translation was finished, those who participated got access to the whole book in its German translation. I never read the finished version but I was soo proud to participate. :D
Anyway, thanks so much for this awesome video! I would love to see this about German reading culture as well. I guess I should try to find more book content creators from Germany to follow as well.
I've recently started following a few Dutch people on Instagram who talk about contemporary Dutch lit and it's been so helpful to just get a bit of an overview of interesting new releases! Would love to know more about German reading culture too.
As a Dutch person who reads only English, my reasons are all of the above, you nailed that one :) I also started reading in English because the Dutch HP wasn't out yet, the 4th for me!
It must have been a gateway series for so many young Dutch readers
@@booksandquills I can concur, I alo started reading English because of HP!
I am French but I had the same experience with reading the 7th because I didn't want to wait for the publication of the French translation! My mum did the same even though she didn't usually read in English
It's fun to see similar trends in different West European countries
For me it was A song of ice and fire. Read the first one in english, then for funsies i read a few passages from the Dutch translation. Bought the rest in english. And now after YEARS of not reading a book, i'm searching for a book, but it has to be in English.....
So fun to hear all this; especially the Dutch thrillers part. Interestingly, the most recent Nicci French books (written in English) were published in Dutch months before they came out in their original language, ha. xx
Great video. One of the things in the Netherlands I really like is Nederland Leest (the Netherlands reads). It's when the library hands out a free book, the idea being that a lot of people will read the same book at the same time and then talk about it. It's such a cool idea!
Thank you for this really good and detailed introduction into Dutch literature! Someday I would really like to learn Dutch because as a child we visited the Netherlands very often because we only lived half an hour away from the German- Dutch border. I have really fond memories of the Netherlands. So thank you for giving insight into Dutch reading culture! It would be a really interesting video series to do that for other countries as well.
One of the reasons I switched to reading mostly in english instead of dutch, is that I had a hard time finding lgbt+ books and books about certain topics. The english publishing industry is way bigger. So they can publish way more books about a lot more topics and also take more risks. I also love scifi and graphic novels and that's hard to find in dutch. And I feel like the dutch publishing industry is a bit dated. It's getting better, but there still is a lack of diversity and it's hard to discover new books without going to a bookshop and reading all the blurbs. Reviews feel like they are more geared to people over 40 and are mostly written in magazines and newspapers that people under 40 don't read. And the marketing, cover designs and blurbs are not always that great or clear about what the book is about either.
Another reason is that I hated almost all the books we had to read for school. So many dutch books on de lijst are depressing and quite bleak and there is so much cheating, cancer and incest and also other weird stuff. I was a teenager with depression and it made me dislike reading for years.
My dad used to be a translator and he read a lot of books in english and german when we were growing up as well. So I borrowed english books from him too
I haven't really thought about te Dutch covers but you're totally right! I do pick up books more when I'm looking for not translated books. Plus I pick up more books in Dutch when they have an interesting title while books in English I tend to cover buy more.
Fascinating video. I kept looking at my own shelves while watching to see where I fell on the spectrum.
Bookseller speaking here, loved to watch this video! I've noticed in the past 7-8 years how much our English section has expanded, especially the YA-section. To me it's wonderful! I haven't read a Dutch book since I finished high school bc I was forced to read Dutch 'classics' which weren't fun at all. Luckily I've heard that things are changing and they're also allowing more accessible (and even translated) novels to be read for the list.
One other thing apart from the support is how much customers support their local bookshop. Especially in the covid-lockdowns. During, and after that I have had so many lovely words and happy-to-see-you-back-open-messages. Just lovely to hear. :)
do you sell dutch books in the US. they’re so hard to find. Stores dont even sell them online(Amazon, B&N, even Ebay 😵💫etc)
This video was wildly interesting, Sanne. Thank you for putting the time and effort in it. As a Belgian reader, i recognize some points you make, but it's also interesting to see how our cultures differ in some aspects. Anyway, great video! HP 5 was my first English read too. :)
Ik moet Karina helemaal gelijk geven over de support. Ik kom zelf uit België en woon in Portugal, hier heb je dat echt niet. Gefeliciteerd trouwens met deze video! Erg compleet en accuraat. Groetjes van een Nederlandstalige auteur die naar het Engels en Frans werd vertaald 😊
Really interesting video! As far as my experience goes (I'm a bookseller and have done an internship at a large publisher in the Netherlands), most Dutch adult fantasy is published by a few smaller publishers who focus solely on fantasy and sci-fi. However, they often don't have a good connection with the bookshops, offering discounts which are too low for the booksellers to order them for their stores. Besides, a lot of fantasy readers are put off by the looks of the covers of Dutch fantasy books. The people I spoke to about those books really disliked the look of these books and wouldn't even consider reading the blurb. And if they did read the blurb, the wording did'nt intrigue them. I don't think these book are bad, but Dutch publisher do'nt always know how to write a good blurb that does the book justice. These things also don't insentivise booksellers to store these books unfortunately. I'm not sure if these are the most important reasons there isn't a lot of Dutch fantasy in stores, but these are the most important ones for the bookstore I work at.
Boekenweek sounds so cool! The facts about how things are/aren't translated into Dutch are so interesting. Great video! 💗📚📖
Leuke video, ik hoop dat we snel weer met de trein kunnen met het boekenweekgeschenk. Dat deden we anders altijd en is echt leuk!
As someone who works in publishing in the Netherlands this was so fun to watch. One note on the sci-fi/fantasy thing. It is extremely expensive to translate and produce and often the publisher just cant afford to with the sales. I also really liked your stuff about the English influence on the Dutch book market. I did some research on that myself when I did my masters (also talked to Blossom Books about this haha) and I indeed found all the same things you did! I did wonder if this would change with Brexit and the fact that it now takes longer for English books to get here and import cost would have to be added. But it doesn’t seem to have much of an impact. So cool to see you talk about this!
Love this! I'm a big advocate for reading Australian books (especially our growing community of young adult novels) so I love hearing what it's like in other countries.
This is absolutely fascinating. As a person of Dutch heritage who lives in the US, I'm really grateful for these insights! When I think of my own education, any time we focused on the Netherlands throughout history, it was always related to the history of visual arts (painting), or the historical role of the Dutch in global economics. So it is really interesting to hear your perspective and research on written "Dutch classics" or (sort of) lack thereof. Thank you for this wonderful video!
I think one of the reasons I ended up being primarily a reader of English books is my love of fantasy. Which is very represented in childrens books (though not named as such, but just pick up anything by Paul Biegel) but not in adult fiction in the Netherlands. I started reading those in Dutch translation, until I switched over to English. I remember when I was still reading translations mostly reading some books by ‘W. J. Maryson’ and thinking the Dutch was so seamless and wondering about how amazing a translator it must have, so I looked into it and it turns out Maryson was a pen name for and author named Wim Stolk! Who wrote Dutch fantasy, and a part of me is a little sad that it couldn’t have just been ‘Wim Stolk’ on the covers. My guess is that because fantasy is and English dominated genre, to be taken seriously it had to ‘fit in’ with the fantasy of it’s time and a really Dutch name like Wim Stolk would feel jarring for readers? But that is just my guess.
I also think part of the reason people like me switch over to reading in English (though if it’s translated from a different language I try to find the Dutch translation) is just that English spans a much wider language area of the world, so way more writers and publishers are publishing books compared to Dutch being a relatively small language area. There is just way more on offer in English and if you lean towards genres that are more prevalent in English and easier to find… Your other reasons mentioned also strike true for me, I genuinely enjoy the English language and was very proud as a teenager that I was reading books in a different language than my own. Made me feel smart. 😏
I do feel that I’ve gotten out of touch with what’s being published in Dutch nowadays because I have been so focused on English books for the majority of my adult life. So I really enjoyed your video reminding me to check out what’s on offer next time I go to a bookshop! (Though as someone who does indeed prefer to read in the original language if I can, which for English I can, I dislike it if it’s hard to sus out the translated from the original Dutch books in shops.)
As a Spanish native I think it is very similar for us (and probably in general in non English speaking countries) that you might pick up books in your local library without paying that much attention to whether it is Spanish literature or translated from some other language. I also personally read now in English and even in German and need to make a conscious effort to keep reading Spanish authors as well. It is easier for me tho, since my own mom is a Spanish author :D
P.D.: very nice video
Wow this video was so so interesting! My sister lives in Den Haag and we‘re English/German so this was all the more intriguing for it! Will have to send her a link! Thanks for investing so much time into the video x
The timing of this video was great! I'm from Ireland but my partner and I have just moved out to the Netherlands and will be here for the next 4 months and as a big reader, it was super interesting to hear your thoughts on the topic. Thanks Sanne! X
I find that extremely interesting and ... SO different from German literature and reading culture. (Here books in English were usually only considered as demanded reading for school or something the weirdo nerds might do - hi, I'm one of the weirdo nerds, so I use that term lovingly ;) - and it has only changed in recent years with people trying to read MORE English books, because German publishers tend to stick to what they know and what worked in the past while people long for more diversity and a change of pacing and tone.) So, it's really interesting to learn that such a close neighbour (I live in Lower Saxony) has such a different culture when it comes to reading.
(Also sad, that our publishing world isn't like yours. I work freelance for an austrian SFF publisher - mostly selling to a German audience - that's actually rather active with their community, but ... very much alone in it. It's actually even a bit of an enemy image for some older SFF publishers, because we are more open to diversity, try to use more gender sensitive wording, ... and so we're considered the black sheep. I wish we'd be more of a big community celebrating one another, helping one another, ... I think that would help both the publishers and the readers. So .. a bit jealous of the Netherlands here :D )
As a Dutch viewer this is still so interesting! I worked in a library for a little while when I was 17/18 restocking shelves and the thriller section was definitely one of the biggest and I spent so many hours putting returned books back in that section!
I also read mostly Dutch, would like to read Dutch books but going into a bookshop and not knowing what books were translation is so hard! Should look into one of the bookstores that seperate translated fiction!
Very interesting video! It makes me wonder about the book/reading culture of other countries, too.
One of my best friend is a bookworm and she is from Friesland! That will be a nice video to talk about with her ❤
Ooh super interesting and unique perspective, thanks Sanne. It's been an emotionally draining day here so I'll be popping back another day for this video but I'm commenting for the algorithm ☺️
Dit is zo goed! Super informatief, wist zoveel nog niet!
I'm a proud adcovate of reading in Dutch over on my Dutch channel Tussen De Boeken. Yes I read in English sometimes, but I still read most of my books in Dutch :) Together with Schwob Young I have been visiting a lot of Dutch publishers and some of the group have started to read more in Dutch instead of English now they know more about the publishing industry in The Netherlands
This was so great to watch, and I feel honoured to take part in it 🥰
Dankjewel voor een heel interessant minicollege 🥰🥰
Very interesting video :) I love to learn more and get glimpses into other cultures. It took some time before I understood that the English speaking world differentiated between translated fiction and fiction. I’m Norwegian, as the there are only around 5-6 million people who speak the language there are limits to how many books are written in the language, and yeah the thriller craze is strong here as well. So it just makes sense that all books are put together translated or not. I remember reading a lot of books when I was young that I later realised were originally German. Now that I’m fluent in English I feel like I might as well read books in the language they were written if I can. But a lot of my friends and my family do prefer reading Norwegian. But I see a lot of younger people here prefer to read English written books in English.
Really liked this video. So interesting to hear about the book week. In Sweden all schools have a holiday (one week) in the fall. When I was young this was called fall-holiday (höstlov) but now it’s called the reading holiday (läslov). I hope this becomes bigger and that we will do something similar to the Netherlands. Would be so fun to collect short stories by Swedish authors
Ahh that does sound lovely!
This was fascinating. Very good analysis that makes you think. Thanks!
I love all your videos about the NL and Dutch aspects! ❤
Wow this was very eye opening.
Super interesting video! Thanks for sharing these insights :)
Wow this was super cool, covered a lot of interesting points! Boekenweek sounds lovely. As a native English speaker living in England I don’t tend to go into bookshops when visiting other countries, purely because I assume they’re not meant for me, but after learning about the differences in Dutch bookshops, I might try and visit some in other countries now to spot the differences. Is there much call to translate the older classics into newer Dutch? Or do people only consider the old Dutch version the “true” classic?
I love hearing more about the publishing insights, very interesting! :D
Ik reageer gewoon in het Nederlands. Hoi. Supertoffe video. Ik hou zelf enorm van Nederlandse literatuur (De hemel is altijd paars, prachtig boek) en denk zelf dat veel jongeren niet weten hoeveel er is. Jongeren denken bij literatuur al snel dat het saai is, aan de leeslijst etc. Terwijl: ér is zoveel moois en het is allesbehalve saai. So I’m trying op TikTok om dit te veranderen want ik lees het zelf onwijs graag ❤
En m’n favoriete klassieker is De Avonden - Gerard Reve & De wetten - Connie Palmen ❤
Wat ook echt een groot ding is zijn leesclubs. Daar zijn er echt ongelofelijk veel van in Nederland.
Such a great video. Thank you for sharing so much with us. ❤
The price and availability are definitely the two biggest reasons why I buy/read in English ( becoming an English teacher and wanting to keep up to date with current English (YA) fiction also play a role in this). Sometimes the difference in price is so minimal that it doesn't bother me, but sometimes it'll save you several euros. For me, my first English book was the Twilight Saga. As a child I was massively into the children's books by Dutch authors, especially Carry Slee and Jacques Vriens.
Had a quick browse of my bookshelves and I currently have 1 Dutch book written by a Dutch author; De Avond Is Ongemak (and then almost the entire series of Baantjer). All the other books in Dutch are works in translation, mainly from English, but also a couple from Spanish and Swedish. I also recognise myself in reading a lot of thrillers. That was definitely me back in secondary school and what was readily available at my local library at the time
I loved this video and a lot of what you described rings true for Luxembourg as well, where I am originally from but it can just be more confusing as our bookshops often have equal parts French, English and German books and very frequently you can find the same book in the shop in each language or you have French translations of German authors and vice versa, so it can be frustrating trying to identify the original language of the text. I have also moved to the UK 10 years ago and have almost exclusively read English literature for 15 years, but more recently I have been craving or even felt an obligation to delve back into other languages, especially German books. However, due to the same reasons you mentioned finding books originally written in German (or any languages apart from English) has been difficult at first glance when in a physical bookshop, even when in large bookshops in Germany because they often don't separate them by original language. So you spend hours scanning the back of books for mentions of translations or check the first pages inside the book to see if there is a translator mentioned unless you are familiar with the authors already and can determine the language they write in that way.
Another reason why I often feel lost in a non-English language bookshop are the covers, especially for French books. They often have really uniform, understated covers which are mostly beige or white, so if you don't know the book or author, it's so hard to gage what genre or vibe the book might have without reading the whole premise of it. I definitely prefer having the more diverse covers we have in England because I am more likely to pick up something I might not have heard about as it catches my eye.
Also, funnily Nicci French is super popular in Luxembourg as far as I know, so it's interesting how much bordering countries can differ in preferences.
That’s so much more complex, thanks for sharing! It was really interesting seeing the French book cover look when I was in Paris recently.
Loved this video, was nodding along to many of your points hahah! ✨ I also wonder whether the market for Dutch fantasy/sci-fi is just too small for it to take off
Thank you! :) I'm very curious if there are any small countries that do have a thriving fantasy/sci-fi market!
Such a thorough and interesting video, really enjoyed it!
This was such a fascinating video!
This was so interesting!! Thank you!
Thank you for a very interesting insight into the Dutch reading culture.
This was fascinating and I learned a lot. Definitely makes me think how the language of Norwegian bookshops differ from English ones. I have two questions. Firstly, what's the name of the lovely font you're using in the video? Secondly, where did you get your phone case? It's very cool. Thanks so much for all that you do!
Really interesting video. Kinderen van Moeder Aarde & De hemel is altijd paars are so good! Most of the time, in Flanders, the books we read for school can also be translated into Dutch, so I think we make even less a distinction than the Dutch between original Dutch or translated books. And yes, comics in Belgium are huge, in both parts of the country!
I have actually been struggling to find dutch books writen by Dutch author in my book store because like you said the book store doesn’t differentiate between translation and Dutch books.
My ‘reading goal’ this year is to read more dutch but I’ve genuinely been struggling really sinking my teeth into finding what I want to read.
As a Dutch person who almost only reads in English this is so relatable😹 I would like to try originallt Dutch books, but the kinds of books I like are gard to find and I don't know Dutch authors. Almost everything originally Dutch is a thriller and I don't like those😹 and Dutch books do remind me of school and the reading list where tou were only allowed to pick boring books.
I think I have only read one book by a Dutch author before. The book is called "Overstroomd" in Dutch and is written by Eva Moraal. A friend of mine is friends with the author and told me about the book back when it just came out and I ordered the German translation ( I live at the border to the Netherlands, but I only understand a very small amount of Dutch and couldn't read a whole book in Dutch). The book is a dystopia about a flood and the lives of two teenagers living on either dry or wet land.
I've put "We had to remove this post" on my wish list, but the German translation. But maybe I'll buy the English book? The English edition is a few Euros less than the German. I mostly prefer reading English books especially when the original is written in English. And somehow I read way more English books than German ones.
The big bookstore in my city has a good section on books in other languages. They are mostly English books and only a small section are French and Dutch books, which surprises me because the city is at the border to both the Netherlands and Belgium. But I guess people who come to visit here read more (or understand) English than French or Dutch. The small, independent bookstores sadly don't how books in other languages or, if they do, there is only a very limited number.
i study film and literature in leiden because i didnt want to pick a specific country or language to read from. i love how open minded the courses are about translation, you can just read which ever version suits you best, but we're not reading anything dutch at least in the first year. not sure if i mind that yet (my biggest beef with dutch literature is The Greats aka the old white men who oversexualize everything for no reason) but i am a lot more interested in dutch lit now than i was when i was younger. i've set out to read max havelaar soon ish and more of anna blaman's work. there's gotta be some gems we've been missing out on!
ps love dat je naar donner bent gegaan, mijn favoriete plek in nederland
This is a really interesting video!
Mijn Nederlands is nog echt zwaak, maar u heeft me geïnspireerd om in het Nederlands te lezen verzoeken. Mijn woordenschat moet ik verbeteren, en dat lijkt zoals een goed methode! 😁 ...ik hoop u kunt begrijpen, wat ik geschreven heb. 😅
Zeker! En bedankt voor je comment. :) Toen ik voor het eerst boeken in het Engels ging lezen is mijn Engels zo snel beter geworden. Veel plezier!
Love this video! But our libraries still aren't free 🤔 which doesn't make sense.
I always forget about that, because I only used them when I was a child/teenager (before I moved)!
Hello, this is very interesting; especially as a Dutch person...leuk en ook onverwacht om te horen hoe positief er tegen de Nederlandse uitgeverswereld en boeken lezen wordt aangekeken. Ik dacht altijd dat er weinig aandacht was voor Nederlandse boeken en dat we te weinig lezen en boeken niet gestimuleerd worden ed, maar dat is toch niet zo simpel. Zelf ben ik vooral bekend met Nederlandse jeugdboeken idd, Nederlandse literaire klassiekers vanuit de Middelbare zoals Tim Krabbé, Mulisch, Reve, Connie Palmen *& Nederlandse poëzie, zoals Campert, Vasalis, Lucebert enzo. Vooral de poezie vind ik interessant, ook veel moderne namen weer zoals Ellen Deckwitz. Heb je er wel eens aan gedacht om iets tav Nederlandse poezie te maken/filmen? En wat zijn jou ervaringen daar mee?
Ik denk dat het heel erg afhangt van in welke leescirkels je de gesprekken voert! Er is volgens bij echt een grote splitsing tussen lezers die Engels kiezen en hoe ze over Nederlandse boeken denken vs. lezers die vooral voor boeken in het Nederlands gaan. Als je denkt dat er niks voor je tussenzit, dan besteed je er verder ook geen aandacht aan misschien.
Zelf heb ik nog niet heel veel naar Nederlandse poezie gekeken, vooral omdat ik daar in het Engels nog maar net mee begonnen ben! Maar ik zou er zeker geen nee tegen zeggen om het wat meer uit te proberen. :)
@@booksandquills He Sanne, leuk om je reactie te lezen! Als ik het zo lees dan snap ik wat je bedoeld, ik denk dat ik me dat ook niet zozeer gerealiseerd had, het verschil tussen 't soort lezer! Leuk om hier meer over te leren en ik ben benieuwd naar je verdere nederlandse leeservaringen ;) als je iets tegen komt van ellen deckwitz; qua poezie vind ik haar heel goed en ze is geel grappig ook als persoon. Vadalis vind ik zelf prachtig maar dat is iets klassieker.
Fijne dag
Super interessant / super interesting!!
hi. do you have any recommendations for books on ancient (pre- christian) dutch history for someone with dutch ancestry who would like to learn more about her culture (me).
At imagicon a few there was a panel about 'silt punk', which has some interesting Dutch scifi books. There was also some other Dutch fantasy novels at the con, I think they were by smaller independent publishers I think. They might not be at bookshops a lot. I didn't feel like there was a lot of different kinds of fantasy or fantasy authors there though.. Didn't pick up anything there personally (did get one siltpunk book later). Some Dutch fatasy authors also write in English I think.
I really wanna read more Dutch (originally Dutch) books! But I find it hard to know what to read.
@@Evanna11LilyLuna i dont know any dutch fantasy book either. Thats why i read english books😅
Probably not a major factor, but I know several people who read books in foreign languages to practice the language. Was also the reason I originally read books in English (tho I'm German).
So interesting! Thanks for this video which probably involved a lot of research. One thing i am very curious about: why are Dutch (translated) book covers sooo ugly? Just lacking in terms of conveying something about the contents of the book; very far removed from the original UK/US cover art and just not artistic at all.
I think it really depends per publisher and genre. While browsing more recently I've seen some really beautiful and more 'modern' looking covers, especially by some design agencies, so I've got hope for the future! But yes, there are quite a few ugly and outdated Dutch covers out there. Not sure if the issue is that they're being created based on 'what's done well in the past'. 😅
Super interesting
Translation is something I'm interested in as well, but I'm not sure if it's something I just want to _do_ rather than _study_ ....
So I'd be super interested in a video about that
I have a full video about my Translation MA (from a few years ago) and some interviews with translators, so those might be of interest!
And there are also more practical courses out there if that’s more something that you’re looking for.
@@booksandquills Thank you! I'll check them out
I personally know a Dutch guy who wrote a fantasy book :)
I studied Literatuurwetenschap in Utrecht. Wouldn’t that count as a Dutch equivalent of a degree focussed on literature? Or did you mean a degree focussed on Dutch literature specifically? Because we read books from multiple languages. Also, about 50% of the classes were taught in English and 50% in Dutch (during the bachelor’s program).
It’s more that there are not many degrees that just focus on Dutch literature/classics only! (Which would be the equivalent of an English literature degree). Literatuurwetenschap does sound really interesting though.
Ah, I understand. Yes that’s true, I don’t know of any of such degrees
thanks 💜💜💜🎥🎥🎥🎥
De wet op de vaste boekenprijs is mijn nemesis. Ik wil wel meer in het Nederlands lezen, maar als ik 2 Engelse of Franse boeken kan kopen voor de prijs van 1 Nederlands boek voelt het toch altijd erg zonde
One other thing why I didn’t read fantasy, sci-fi books in Dutch is because the names are translated 😅
i'm just thinking. Is Carry Slee translated in to english?
I've never come across any of her books in English! But sometimes things are translated a while ago and then go out of print, so I'm not sure.
Was we had to remove this post ook in nederland het geschenkenboekje?
Ik dacht dat er alleen een Nederlandse friese en vlaamse was.
Ik haal elk jaar de boekenweekgeschenkjes voor mijn moeder. Die verzamelt ze.
Is we had to remove this post nog te verkrijgen?
De originele titel was: 'Wat wij zagen' en dat was het Boekenweekgeschenk in 2021. En de vertaling We Had to Remove This Post is te koop als normaal boek!
I moved to reading strictly english since it is often the original language for what I am reading.
More importantly though the humour doesnt translate well in Terry Pratchett books.
this video makes me wish I could read Dutch 🤣
Sorry but the dutch read books in the language it was ment to be as many books get lost in translation or doesnt translate well. , if they dont speak that language they get the Dutch version of that book .
If you think there are no dutch fantasy books . try again and go to the local library and you will find tons . ranging from children to adult .
And in particular children and teen books . written in flemish and dutch .
For children books there have been dozens of movies that where made based on these books ,
Its just you have to know where to find them libraries are a good place to start , as most bookstores only sell quick cash books . based on popularity of what is now. .