Rob Horgan
SPANIARDS are getting to grips with the English language.
In 2011, Spain was ranked as the third worst country for English proficiency, with only Russia and Turkey behind.
However, four years on and Education First has reported that Spaniards have made massive strides in their language skills.
According to a new study: “The level of English of the adult population of Spain has significantly improved in the last four years and it is now the fourth most-improved European country when it comes to English proficiency.”
Wonder how these alleged language skills are measured. Could it be with the standards used by the for-profits firm Education First? After their training?
I wonder how they manage to come up with such ridiculous statistics!
Living only 14km from Granada, the last 3 years have seen no change, only the occasional person able to speak a bit of pidgin-English learnt from tourists.
But then this is Spain and we should be speaking better Spanish.
If only we could get the courses
Stef, don’t quite get that, at print Spain was third but now fourth?.
Exactly. Weasel words. What does “fourth most-improved mean”?
Agreed Dave: We should make greater efforts with Spanish. But the fact is, English is currently the Lingua Franca of modern times and the ability to use it is a big plus on a C.V. and great help in employment. Even if the certificate attesting to the skill is dubious.