Survey compares English proficiency across the world

If you’re looking for a new start to your life in an exotic destination but don’t relish learning a new language, where’s the best place to go?

English may well be the world’s ‘second language’, but choosing a destination outside the USA and mainstream European countries may mean struggling to get to grips with the local lingo or staying silent. In many countries, it’s not just the spoken word which causes problems, it’s the written language which, especially in Asia, often drives expats to wish they’d stayed at home!

Asia’s adoption of English as a second, international language is at best patchy and at worst almost non-existent, with only Singapore and the Philippines ahead in a recent survey based on the English Proficiency Index. The study was initiated by English First, an international English as a second language education company which tested fluency in the language in 80 countries worldwide. Unsurprisingly, northern European states took the top five rankings, with the Netherlands in the number one spot over Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

The survey was based on the test results of over a million students who'd completed three sets of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) tests during 2016. Asia provided a mixed bag of results, with Singapore streets ahead of the rest of the pack. Malaysia and the Philippines scored at 13th and 15th places and were rated as ‘high proficiency’ as a result. Singapore’s position as an ultramodern international business hub served it well, and the Philippines got a head start due to its American presence post-WWII.

Vietnam, South Korea, India and Hong Kong, placed between 27 and 34th along with several European states, received a ‘moderate proficiency’ rating in the study, but the remainder of Asian countries were all listed as having low proficiency, with Laos at the bottom of the linguistic pecking order. China, an ever more popular destination for expat entrepreneurs, struggled in 36th place, followed by Japan at 37th, Indonesia at 39th, Taiwan at 40th and Macao at 42nd.

China and the countries with even lower ratings were classed as having low proficiency, with Thailand’s 53rd place an illustration of its inadequate education system. At the bottom of the pack, only just beating out Laos, were Libya, Iraq and Cambodia, although Cambodian expats’ online opinions seem to disagree, mostly stating Cambodians are keener to learn English than are the Thais. It’s interesting to note countries with different, far more complicated written languages seem to be at a considerable disadvantage when it comes to learning English.