Japan ranks 92nd in English proficiency, lowest ever: survey - eviltoast

Summary

Japan’s English proficiency ranking dropped to 92nd out of 116 countries, the lowest ever recorded.

The decline is attributed to stagnant English proficiency among young people, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Netherlands ranked first, followed by European countries, while the Philippines and Malaysia ranked 22nd and 26th, respectively.

    • Frog@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      Funny. Joking aside, I don’t think England, Ireland, the US, and Canada were tested.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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        1 month ago

        And, to be fair, there are millions of U.S. citizens who speak English as a second language.

        About 1 in 10 according to the U.S. census do not speak English at home.

        https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/12/languages-we-speak-in-united-states.html

        Spanish is first, Chinese a distant second. I am guessing there are also plenty of indigenous people, especially in Alaska considering its isolation, who primarily speak native languages at home.

        • Frog@lemmy.ca
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          1 month ago

          That’s interesting.

          Makes sense that America does not have a national language. I’m pretty sure you can ask for any federal form in Spanish.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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            1 month ago

            In California, you can ask for state forms in a huge number of languages. I was really surprised at the number when I went to get my California driver’s license after I moved.

      • Valmond@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        A friend of mine went to “the states” a year, somewhere in the early nineties and she was accused of cheating because she came in top tier on the english test …

        We were n°1 back then though, sweden has really lost it, plummeting off the podium to fourth place smh 😔