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You would be surprised. At a previous job, we would receive guests from all around the world, and particularly from African, Asian, South American, and 2nd-tier
by bsanr2 6y ago
You would be surprised. At a previous job, we would receive guests from all around the world, and particularly from African, Asian, South American, and 2nd-tier European countries. The Africans and SEAs were by far the most consistently, fluently conversant. The (comparatively wealthier) Eastern Europeans and East Asians seemed to understand written English most proficiently, but seemed to loathe speaking it; the former broke the "English only" classroom rule most often.
Edit: I'm not surprised by the downvote, simply bemused.
- jozvolskyef 6y agoI didn't downvote you but it is probably because you are making a straw man argument, countering something GP didn't imply. There is probably some truth to some cultures being more shy when it comes to speaking. I'd wager it is an effect of people being judgmental of others' accents.
- bsanr2 6y agoI'm not sure what else, "It's still a long way to go, especially for undeveloped countries," is meant to imply, but feel free to posit alternatives.
- jozvolskyef 6y agoI see. That could be interpreted either way, but let's give henvic the benefit of the doubt and assume they were talking within the context of the above comment, i.e. Europe. edit: Not that it makes the argument sound: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EF_English_Proficiency_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EF_English_Proficiency_Index
- bsanr2 6y agoI don't think that suffices, because I have never heard European countries described as "undeveloped" (perhaps "underdeveloped"), if that. The benefit of the doubt usually orbits a common sentiment, and in this case there is a conspicuous incongruity. As for the edit: "The test takers were self-selected." The tests also seem to be online-only, and by that measure, likely textual. I'll say that there is an explanation for the phenomenon I've described: if one has the privilege to conduct business and socialize in one's native language, speaking proficiency in a lingua franca could likely be lower.