This community is shaping up to be the worst around..

[Shirai]

Ok that is true. On the other hand this can be said about nearly any language. At least as far I know from a friend that lives in the Netehrlands he founds english way easier than german. At least if you use the language aside of the common level. So I think it is the best thing to say that all languages can be mean on a deeper level.

I can attest to this, but one major reason for this is, if your friend is around the same age as I am (I'm in my early 30's), that a lot of cartoons and tv shows that we watched when we were young were broadcasted in English with subtitles.
We were basically taught English before we learned in School, aside from that a lot of primary schools here start giving English lessons once you hit the second before last year (Age 8~11) while German lessons start when you hit middle school (Age 12~14).

Another reason why we find German a harder language is because of the grammar, English is a LOT less complicated than German when it comes to grammar.

That said though, neither language is as complicated as Dutch.