Speaking to people in Amsterdam

[formerfiend]

I'm going to Amsterdam in a little over one year, needless to say im excited already. I was just wondering about when in amsterdam would i be better understood in french or english, as i speak both.do most of the dutch speak english?Even outside of the tourist areas and coffeeshops? I've been to aruba before with my family and as i understand it, aruba is an autonomous provence of the Netherlands, so my question is how different are the two places? Marijuana isnt tolerated in Aruba as it is in The Netherlands and the grass is of poor quality there. Are the dutch people more liberal and tolerant of drugs in The netherlands or does only the law permit such things?

[BlueMystic]

Many if not most dutch people speak english. You'll have absolutely no problem getting by speaking english. Especially in larger cities (Amsterdam, Groinigen, Rotterdam, Haarlem, etc.)The percentag of english speaking dutch gets a little lower in small towns/villages, but you still won't have that hard of a time speaking english. If anything. Just look for twenty-somethings. They usually know english at least enough to make some conversation. Have fun!!!! =)

[Nature Boy]

I just got back from Amsterdam two days ago. I was located near Central Station, which is a very big tourist spot, and every single Dutch person I talked to had some English. Truth is, most of these people speak better English than the English themselves.