The Dutch are the best non-native English speakers in the world (again!)

The Netherlands has topped the charts for English proficiency in a new study released by EF Education First. 

The EF English Proficiency Index (EF EFI) 2020 examined the English-speaking capabilities of 2.2 million respondents across 100 countries. It’s the second year in a row that the Dutch have claimed the top spot.

Naturally, we’re sure the Dutch are proud as punch over the achievement — especially after beating out their language arch-nemesis Denmark for the title. The Dutch scored 652 points on the survey, relegating the Danes to second-place with 632 points.

“It’s great that the Netherlands has again managed to occupy the number one position this year,” says Marc Hollander, Country Manager of EF Education First Netherlands. “It has become clear that communication is key, especially in the challenging circumstances of the past year.”

Which city is home to the best English-speakers in Holland?

Drumroll please … well, perhaps that’s not necessary. Amsterdam is home to the best English-speakers in the Netherlands, closely followed by Rotterdam and The Hague. We could lie and say that we’re surprised but … we’re not.

Of course, the Dutch speak great English all the way across the nation. But how did this tiny country become so good at a language that isn’t their own?

Why the Dutch are great at English

The Netherlands teaches English from primary school all the way through the final years of high school, and even vocational education and university. Some universities have even switched entire courses to English, prompting fear of a “linguicide” of the Dutch language.

Online TEFL courses have also become a firm favourite in the Netherlands, with many Dutch looking to teach English as a second language.

Meanwhile, unlike other European countries, like Germany and Spain, that insist on dubbing popular television shows and movies, the Dutch don’t rely on dubbing. That’s why you can walk into virtually any non-children’s movie playing in a cinema in the Netherlands and enjoy it in English.

READ MORE | Why are the Dutch so good at speaking English?

Dunglish

While writing this article I asked my partner for a translated Dutch phrase about being proud. “Proud as a cockpea!” she said confidently. I must have looked confused. “You know, the bird with all the feathers!” she said.

Perhaps English proficiency doesn’t stretch as far as the word “peacock”?

EF EFI 2020 Country Rankings for English Proficiency

1Netherlands
2Denmark
3Finland
4Sweden
5Norway
6Austria
7Portugal
8Germany
9Belgium
10Singapore
11Luxembourg
12South Africa
13Croatia
14Hungary
15Serbia
16Poland
17Romania
18Switzerland
19Czech Republic
20Bulgaria
21Greece
22Kenya
22Slovakia
24Lithuania
25Argentina
25Estonia
27Philippines
28France
29Latvia
30Italy
30Malaysia
32South Korea
33Hong Kong, China
34Nigeria
34Spain
36Costa Rica
37Chile
38China
39Paraguay
40Belarus
41Cuba
41Russia
43Albania
44Ukraine
45Macau, China
46Bolivia
47Georgia
48Dominican Republic
49Honduras
50India
51Armenia
51Uruguay
53Brazil
54Tunisia
55Japan
56El Salvador
56Iran
56Panama
59Peru
60Nepal
61Pakistan
62Ethiopia
63Bangladesh
63Guatemala
65Vietnam
66United Arab Emirates
67Venezuela
68Sri Lanka
69Turkey
70Kuwait
71Qatar
72Jordan
73Nicaragua
74Bahrain
74Indonesia
74Morocco
77Colombia
78Mongolia
79Afghanistan
80Angola
81Algeria
82Mexico
83Egypt
84Cambodia
85Sudan
86Azerbaijan
87Syria
88Uzbekistan
89Cameroon
89Thailand
91Ivory Coast
92Kazakhstan
93Ecuador
93Myanmar
95Rwanda
96Kyrgyzstan
97Saudi Arabia
98Oman
99Iraq
100Tajikistan
Feature Image:Pexels
Samantha Dixon 🇦🇺
Samantha Dixon 🇦🇺https://gallivantations.com
Sam has over six years experience writing about life in the Netherlands and leads the content team at DutchReview. She originally came to the Netherlands to study in 2016 and now holds a BA (Hons.) in Arts, a BA (Hons) in Journalism, and (almost) a Masters in Teaching. She loves to write about settling into life in the Netherlands, her city of Utrecht, learning Dutch, and jobs in the Netherlands — and she still can’t jump on the back of a moving bike (she's learning!).

16 COMMENTS

  1. > Which city is home to the best English-speakers in Holland?

    Too bad you left out cities like Utrecht, Arnhem, Groningen and Maastricht that are in different provinces.

    • Er zijn lang niet zoveel toeristen en expats daar als Rotterdam en Den Haag voor onder andere zaken reisjes. Maastricht is een studenten stad net als Groningen. Utrecht zou nog wel op een 4e plek staan.

    • Not true there are plenty on the internet to watch xD
      I’m pretty sure we all know this one famous youtuber who is Swedish!

  2. this is not true because dutch people dont like to speak english and + for normal work you must speak dutch or else you cant get a job.

    • That’s not true. I am dutch and work perfectly well with only english speakers! So I have to debug that one. besides most people like it if you speak both english or Dutch or even 4 languages if s=possible since french and Deutsh both are wolcome here!

  3. There is no way, I am from South Africa, living in the Netherlands for 5 years now, from the south to the north , the English in this country is honestly sub par, compared to South Africa , (btw studying to become an English teacher ) and you got SA as never 11 ? ??? Excuse me ? Non-native, a place South Africa is leagues and leagues higher than what I have encountered in the Netherlands ( also working as a professional IT programmers!!! Show me the non-native english speakers that are better than the people from Denmark ( where I have also lived and I do not agree with this assessment at all, and South Africa is way way way way higher in standard when it comes to English as a language compared to denmark, let alone the Netherlands.

  4. Interesting but I don’t agree. I am also from South Africa and the English spoken there is of a much higher grade than the Netherlands.
    But yay for the Dutch – they do speak English well. My comment would also be that most Dutch people speak a decent grade of English but they don’t make any effort to overcome the heavy Dutch accent – in contrast to, say, the Norwegians

  5. I’m dutch and my English is close to native. This article completely wrong about the reasons our English is so well. Nobody learns a language from class. We learn English because we speak English almost every day. We watch television in English and even cartoons used to be in English. Amsterdam specifically has 70% expats in the city center. Just 30% is local. And we do a lot of business. Big international companies like to setup headquarters in The Netherlands because of tax benefits. Bringing lots of expats and international students in. We got great international schools and Universities too.

    And it isn’t hard to be the best English speaking non native country if French and German don’t speak English at all. Also, our language is very similar to English and German. Naturaly English is picked up quick. School is not the reason!

  6. I would expect that having an accent is not a big factor here. I would expect the survey to pay attention to grammar and vocabulary and the amount of people that speak it well. And to be honest, not every South-African is well-spoken in English. I think this is about averages, not just a select community.
    Also I remember an article saying that around 10% of South-Africans can speak English (understanding it is a much bigger group). Perhaps that also weighs in, because in the Netherlands I expect that way more than 10% people speak English (be it with an accent).

  7. Fluency in English does not mean that all of the Dutch citizens have the phonetic ability to synthesize accents that one would associate with either an American, British, or any other accent you would find in a country where English is the native tongue.

    I do happen to have a natural affinity for the finer nuances of languages. As such, I can confirm that while most of us can express ourselves with some degree of fluency, the sometimes thick accent that my countrymen display, is easy to pick out and to me personally, a little cringe-worthy at times.

    All of the South Africans I’ve met so far (all of them here in the Netherlands) spoke amazing English and I personally have never met people from Denmark, Sweden, Finland or Norway that don’t express themselves well in English.

    With Germans and Austrians I don’t really know, I typically speak German when I’m there. The French in Paris at least seemed to do just fine, although my basic level of French came in handy at multiple occasions.

    Having said that, I think that the responses here are primarily based on anecdotal evidence and that the individual variety allows for impressions that are inconsistent with this ranking. Also, with scores this close, I would venture to say that the result is going to vary with different samples and should not be deemed statistically accurate. Just take them with a grain of salt.

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