The Netherlands is the best in English in the world once again, as the English Proficiency Index of 2017 which has just been published tells us
The Netherlands ranks at the top spot in the EF’s English Proficiency Index (EPI), the world’s largest ranking of countries when it comes to their level of English. Every year, Education First (EF) does this study to see which non-native countries rank the highest in English. This year was the seventh time it was done, testing almost a million adults in more than 70 countries.
WE ARE NUMBER ONE – WE ARE NUMBER ONE*
*Of non-native English speaking countries
Is The Netherlands really the best in English?
Here you can find the whole page about the study and our tiny country’s awesome performance when it comes to mastering English. To save you a click and the scare of visiting another website other than DutchReview, here are four highlights:
#1 Netherlands number one
#2 Always in the top 3
Here’s the trend, it’s almost getting boring — and yes we’re known to get very high *wink wink* in general all the time:
#3 So we might have a little advantage already
And here are some awesome stats, which are totally due to the fact that we speak the bestest English and not because we’re some kind of shady tax-heaven that makes obscene amounts of money.
#4 The Netherlands compared to other countries
As you can see and expected already, younger people are better at speaking English than their parents and grandparents. This is especially the case in German-speaking countries such as Austria, Switzerland and (duh) Germany. I guess they really beefed up on their education-system there because as far as I know everything is still awfully synchronized in these countries?
As usual, the other contenders are all from Scandinavia and again; suck it Sweden, now that we’re not going to the stupid World Cup in Russia we’re just going to have to celebrate this one! Interesting position for South Africa, I would have thought that everybody spoke English next to Afrikaans there?
What makes Dutchies the best in English?
Education is all good here, although apparently, English at Dutch universities isn’t the best in the world. No, if you ask me I think subtitling is key to our mastering of the English language. From a young age, we’re raised by the good folks of the television world like any normal developed country (although that’s starting to change sadly). All the American and English shows and films are subsequently subtitles in Dutch, it’s like the perfect language lessons and what makes many Dutchies under 40-45 year olds way better in English than their parents and teacher.
And of course, there are exceptions:
Ik kom niet meer bij! ??
Geplaatst door De Viraal Spiraal op zondag 7 mei 2017
Still haven’t gotten enough of this #Dutchsplaining and want to know why exactly The Netherlands is the best in English? Well, here’s an excellent article on that matter. Enjoy!
P.S. Ironically, you’ll probably find some horrible grammatical errors in this piece, but let’s hope that the good people at the English Proficiency Index won’t notice them. 😉
SOME horrible grammatical mistakes? Check again! It gave me sore eyes reading it. Try a course to upgrade your proficiency …
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Really, You fall for that again? Please, I thought so too, when I still lived in the Netherlands. When Incame to the US I found out how wrong I was. Looking back, after 25 years, I feel still ashamed at my arrogance. Maybe we can greet, tell someone the way and things like that. But a lengthily conversation, or a written piece? Full with mistakes! And don’t get me started on the advertisements on trucks, cars, billboards etc. I had a hearty laugh when I came back to the Netherlands, from 2012-2017. No, maybe we sound better than Germans or French people, but the Swedes and people from Iceland are much, much better. The Dutch are good, but not the best!
From a Dutchie, living in the US for 25 years , who is an official translator Dutch-English-Dutch ( and I know I still make mistakes myself)