The Story
WaterMensen – The Story Behind the Name
A name rooted in Dutch culture, the Dutch relationship with water, and the flow of language itself.
The Name
My family name is van de Water. ‘Mensen’ means people, persons, folk in Dutch. The Dutch are sometimes called ‘WaterMensen’ (water people) – a nation shaped by its eternal relationship with water.
As an online Dutch language school, WaterMensen embodies this connection: fluid, adaptable, and deeply Dutch.
The Song
One of the Netherlands’ most famous bands wrote a song about the water people
Dutch (Original)
Onbedwingbaar is de woede
En het vloeibare geweld
Je zal vechten, je zal bloeden
Watermens, mijn heldLaat het water mij maar dreigen
Laat het me grijpen naar de keelAlleen voor ons wij watermensen,
wordt het water nooit teveelEn als het water ons zal krijgen
Heeft ’t lang genoeg geduurd
Dan worden wij die watermensen
naar een hoger plan gestuurd
English (Translation)
The anger is irrepressible
And the liquid violence
You will fight, you will bleed
Water man, my heroLet the water threaten me
Let it grab me by the throatOnly for us water people,
the water never becomes too muchAnd when the water will get us
It took long enough
Then we those water people
are sent to a higher level
About Water and the Dutch
The Dutch have a profound, ambivalent relationship with water. Water threatens our safety – and yet it is the very force that shaped who we are. Just as the Dutch learned to live with and master water, learning Dutch as a second language requires the same adaptability and persistence.
The Netherlands is the land of hydraulic engineers and water management expertise. Our geography gave us an extraordinary culture of cooperation, innovation, and resilience – qualities that define the Dutch spirit and the Dutch language. At WaterMensen, we bring this same spirit to Dutch for expats education.
People are like water, literally and figuratively. We are mostly made of water. And just like water, we always find our way. When you learn Dutch, you learn to flow with the language – and that’s exactly what our NT2 cursus approach teaches you.
Language is Like Water
A language, too, is exactly like water. Over centuries it flows in a certain direction – shaping, changing, adapting.
A language is not a narrow stream, but a wide, deep river. Slowly and permanently it flows toward the sea. Look a little longer, and you will see how it changes direction, influenced by the times, its people, its culture – just like water in a delta.
At one level down, there are more detailed shifts pulling in many directions simultaneously. In some eras, one form becomes dominant; in others, an entirely different current takes over. The Dutch language is alive and ever-changing.
And at the most granular level, in everyday spoken Dutch, everything moves in three dimensions. A new word appears, is embraced, becomes standard or fades away. This is the Dutch that expats experience daily – vibrant, surprising, sometimes challenging.
A living language must be given space to move and breathe. Just like Water. Just like us, Mensen.
And oh yeah, on top of that, I’m an Aquarius and I love to swim in the ocean 😉
Start Your Dutch Journey
Join the WaterMensen and discover how quickly you can learn Dutch with personal, professional guidance.