Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Surprisingly I suppose Filipinos. English is taught in the schools throughout the islands. And much more bilingual because of their native dialects than say Americans.
For "professional" East Asians, vocabulary is the real challenge.
e.g. In all countries in the world, "chemistry" is pronounced something like kemi-, kemia- and so on, but in Mandarin Chinese it is hua-xue, Cantonese fa-hok, Korean hwa-hag., Japanese ka-gaku.
Another example, "chromosome" is ran-se-ti in Mandarin, yim-sik-tai in Cantonese, yeom-saeg-che in Korean, sen-shoku-tai in Japanese..You have a clue?
As a result, many scientists in East Asia often forget how to say some term in English. When you spend too much energy searching for words, grammar gets messed up too. And a speaker becomes nervous.
Mainland Chinese professionals are often completely unintelligible when they speak English. However, Taiwanese professionals have much better English. Their speech is not like the Scandinavians, but at least you know what they are saying.
The obvious reason is that being a small island country, there is a lot more foreign entertainment on screen which gives them more exposure, and a lot more foreign business which gives them a chance to use it.
Some countries with stellar English: (none of this has English as the main language, but some are former British or American colonies)
1. Philippines: professionals in big cities speak like they're native English speakers. Quite incredible. However in poor areas, the standard is much lower, but you can still get by. 9.0/10
2. Malta: extremely widespread fluency and almost native British accent 9.5/10
Some countries with good English:
1. Israel: I found that Israelis are quite competent in English. Not quite up to Scandinavian standards, but close. 8.5/10
2. Switzerland: not brilliant but very widespread. 8/10
3.-4. The spoken English among native UAE and Qatari citizens is really good. At least their wealth has served them well in this respect. 8.5/10
Some countries with unexpectedly bad English skills:
1. Mexico: I was very surprised to find that English skills are quite bad. 4.5/10
2. Japan: laughable English skills 3/10
3. South Korea: much worse than I expected as well 5/10
4. Hong Kong: considering it's a former British colony - HK is really not doing so well 7.5/10
5. France: considering it's proximity to Britain and the closeness of the vocabulary, France is doing a poor job 6/10
Some countries with stellar English: (none of this has English as the main language, but some are former British or American colonies)
1. Philippines: professionals in big cities speak like they're native English speakers. Quite incredible. However in poor areas, the standard is much lower, but you can still get by. 9.0/10
2. Malta: extremely widespread fluency and almost native British accent 9.5/10
Some countries with good English:
1. Israel: I found that Israelis are quite competent in English. Not quite up to Scandinavian standards, but close. 8.5/10
2. Switzerland: not brilliant but very widespread. 8/10
3.-4. The spoken English among native UAE and Qatari citizens is really good. At least their wealth has served them well in this respect. 8.5/10
Some countries with unexpectedly bad English skills:
1. Mexico: I was very surprised to find that English skills are quite bad. 4.5/10
2. Japan: laughable English skills 3/10
3. South Korea: much worse than I expected as well 5/10
4. Hong Kong: considering it's a former British colony - HK is really not doing so well 7.5/10
5. France: considering it's proximity to Britain and the closeness of the vocabulary, France is doing a poor job 6/10
I have been to quite a few countries, and had significant language barriers in: Japan, Italy, and Mexico.
In Japan, the clerks in a bank could not speak basic English. Fortunately I can write Chinese characters which helped a lot.
In Italy, some people understood nothing in English, quite a surprise to me.
Mexico is the worse. I could not order food in McDonald's even. But there are also some young people who spoke perfect American English.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
