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Compared to the Nordic countries or Netherlands, 'exceptional' might be the wrong word. But certainly compared to, say, Germany or France, the level of English
by rhblake 9y ago
Compared to the Nordic countries or Netherlands, 'exceptional' might be the wrong word. But certainly compared to, say, Germany or France, the level of English is in my experience considerably higher in the Baltics (and in Poland too). I say this having lived in both Germany and France and visited all the Baltic countries.
"Even doctors may not have good English" -- in Paris I'm happy to find one that will speak English at all. Do not underestimate how unwilling or afraid to speak English a lot of people are even in places like Paris and Berlin.
- xxs 9y agoI agree about Germany (depends a lot on the city, though) or esp. France. Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian (which is non indo european language) have virtually no non-native speakers and large amounts of the Russian born citizens (and aliens) may not speak the language, rendering English a good choice to obtain information. Having tiny user base forces the case compared to France, Germany or Italy (imo worse than both France/Germany). For instance movies at the theater (and largely on the TV) have no dubbing unless they are targeted to kids who are unable to read.