3 ms·

It's interesting to confront the data with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co

by V-2 12y ago

It's interesting to confront the data with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-sp... European ranking according to EF EPI vs. percent of English speakers according to Wiki (No particular reason for filtering it down to just the European table - I simply happened to start like so and only realized it after a while) VERY HIGH PROFICIENCY 1. Sweden (86%) 2. Norway (nd) 3. Netherlands (90%) 4. Estonia (50%) 5. Denmark (86%) 6. Austria (73%) 7. Finland (70%) HIGH PROFICIENCY 8. Poland (33%) 9. Hungary (20%) 10. Slovenia (59%) 11. Belgium (59%) 14. Germany (64%) 15. Latvia (46%) 16. Switzerland (61%) 17. Portugal (27%) MODERATE PROFICIENCY 18. Slovakia (26%) 20. Czech Republic (27%) [...] Clear anomalies are the post-communist countries such as Poland and Hungary. Personally I was surprised seeing my home country (Poland) rank that high. Good command of English is relatively rare, especially among older generations who typically did not learn English at school, and up to this day it is taught badly (in my opinion).

tnb234 12y ago
Having spent 6 months in Poland I have to say I'm a bit surprised by this too. In my experience a lot of Polish people still have issues with english.
- V-2 12y ago
  Most people who speak fluent English learned it out of their own initiative, outside of school, by attending courses or taking private lessons. Not everybody's parents could afford paying for it, though. English at school isn't taught properly as I said, or at least it wasn't back in the 90s (I was born in 1981). I suppose things must have improved since then, but not radically. Most English teachers were requalified Russian teachers back then, since Russian used to be a compulsory subject under communist regime and they'd be out of work had they not switched to English. There were hardly any qualified English teachers, so, no competition for the job. You can imagine the outcome. What's more, the didactic method was terribly obsolete. As early as in primary school we would have to memorize loads of grammar rules for past perfect continuous and whatnot, while lacking the most basic vocabulary. Older generation (+40 yo) never even had that, and living behind the iron curtain one did not have a strong incentive to learn English in the first place.

by V-2 12y ago

tnb234 12y ago

Having spent 6 months in Poland I have to say I'm a bit surprised by this too. In my experience a lot of Polish people still have issues with english.

V-2 12y ago
Most people who speak fluent English learned it out of their own initiative, outside of school, by attending courses or taking private lessons. Not everybody's parents could afford paying for it, though. English at school isn't taught properly as I said, or at least it wasn't back in the 90s (I was born in 1981). I suppose things must have improved since then, but not radically. Most English teachers were requalified Russian teachers back then, since Russian used to be a compulsory subject under communist regime and they'd be out of work had they not switched to English. There were hardly any qualified English teachers, so, no competition for the job. You can imagine the outcome. What's more, the didactic method was terribly obsolete. As early as in primary school we would have to memorize loads of grammar rules for past perfect continuous and whatnot, while lacking the most basic vocabulary. Older generation (+40 yo) never even had that, and living behind the iron curtain one did not have a strong incentive to learn English in the first place.