In an international team, you usually use English as the shared working language, supplemented with Dutch where necessary for customer contact, legislation, safety, and local processes. The best choice depends on who is on the team, what tasks you do, and what information everyone truly needs to understand in order to work well.
For Highly Skilled Migrants, a clear language strategy is especially helpful: it prevents important information from passing someone by and keeps collaboration fast and equitable. At the same time, Dutch remains relevant for integration and for situations where local precision matters.
Below you’ll find practical answers to the most frequently asked questions about working language, language agreements, misunderstandings, and inclusive communication in international teams.
What is the working language in an international team?
The working language in an international team is the language you typically use for meetings, documentation, chat, and recording decisions so that everyone can follow the same information. In the Netherlands, that is often English—especially in tech and in teams with Highly Skilled Migrants—but Dutch is still regularly needed for external communication and local obligations.
A working language goes beyond just speaking. Also consider:
- Written communication such as email, Slack, or Teams
- Documentation such as procedures, tickets, handbooks, and meeting minutes
- Decision-making such as action items, deadlines, and responsibilities
- Informal alignment at the coffee machine or during stand-ups
If you don’t explicitly agree on a working language, an invisible split often emerges: one group that gets everything immediately and another group that has to guess or follow up afterward.
When do you choose English, Dutch, or a mix?
You choose English, Dutch, or a mix based on clarity, risk, and audience. English works well as a shared language in an international team, Dutch fits local customers and regulations, and a mix works if you set clear rules about when to use which language. That way, collaboration stays fast without excluding people.
Use these rules of thumb to make a choice:
- Choose English if one or more team members don’t speak Dutch, or if you collaborate internationally a lot
- Choose Dutch for communication with local parties who expect Dutch, or where nuance carries significant legal or operational weight
- Choose a mix if your team is partly Dutch-speaking but you still want everyone to be able to participate equally
A practical mix often looks like this: internal meetings and documentation in English, customer contact in the customer’s language, and short informal conversations can switch as long as you always record the outcome in the agreed working language.
How do you create clear language agreements that everyone follows?
You create language agreements that everyone follows by making them simple, visible, and verifiable. Define the default language per channel and moment, agree on how you share summaries, and make one person per meeting responsible for keeping the agreement on track. This prevents language choices from changing day to day or person to person.
- Define the default per channel: meetings, chat, email, documentation
- Make exceptions explicit, such as customer calls in Dutch or a safety briefing in Dutch
- Always document decisions in the working language, even if the conversation switches briefly
- Use fixed formats for minutes and action items with short, clear sentences
- Check understanding by asking at the end who is doing what and by when
An extra tip for teams with Highly Skilled Migrants: agree that anyone can always ask for repetition or rephrasing without it feeling like a delay. That makes quality more predictable.
How do you prevent misunderstandings caused by language and cultural differences?
You prevent misunderstandings caused by language and cultural differences by communicating explicitly what you mean, avoiding assumptions, and actively checking understanding. Use short sentences, avoid local expressions, and make expectations measurable with examples and deadlines. This reduces noise, even if everyone speaks English well.
Misunderstandings often arise not from vocabulary, but from differences in style—for example, direct versus indirect feedback, or how literally someone interprets an agreement. This helps:
- Repeat the key points at the end: decision, owner, deadline, definition of done
- Use examples for vague words like soon, later, priority, or ASAP
- Avoid idioms like it’ll work out or we’ll just cycle through it
- Ask for a brief recap in their own words: what will you do and when
If you notice the same misunderstandings keep coming back, it’s often the process. In that case, adjust your templates, definitions, or meeting structure instead of speaking louder.
How do you keep communication inclusive for colleagues who don’t (yet) speak Dutch?
You keep communication inclusive by using English as the default as soon as there is one colleague who doesn’t speak Dutch, and by always sharing important information in that shared language. Make room for questions, ensure documentation is easy to find, and prevent decisions from being made in a Dutch side conversation. This helps Highly Skilled Migrants participate on an equal footing.
Practical habits that work right away:
- Switch to English as soon as a non-Dutch-speaking colleague joins, even in informal settings
- Write updates in one language in the team channel so no one depends on verbal handovers
- Summarize if Dutch was spoken briefly anyway: what was decided and what it means
- Make onboarding language-proof with a glossary of internal terms and abbreviations
- Plan language space such as an optional Dutch lunch session, without work information being hidden there
Inclusive communication doesn’t mean no one may learn or speak Dutch. It means setting up your work processes so that understanding and access don’t depend on someone’s language level.
How All About Expats helps with language agreements in international teams
We help you make language agreements practical within teams with Highly Skilled Migrants, so communication stays clear and everyone receives the same information. We do this by thinking along with you about working agreements around onboarding, documentation, and day-to-day collaboration—tailored to your situation and the realities of international mobility.
Want to discuss an approach that fits your team and processes, or broader support around working and relocating to the Netherlands? Get in touch via contact our team or view our approach to immigration for employers.
