If you only speak English and are planning to travel abroad, you are likely to have an easier time finding English speakers in South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and China than in most Latin American countries.
It seems weird, among other things, because Asian countries have a different alphabet, and — unlike Mexico — don’t share a border with the United States. But according to a new ranking of English-speaking proficiency in 63 countries around the world, Latin American countries — including Mexico — are at the bottom of the list.
The Education First English Proficiency Index 2014 Ranking says that while European countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden top the list of proficiency in English as a second language, almost all countries in Latin America “have low or very low English proficiency.”
Only Argentina and the Dominican Republic, which rank 15 and 23, respectively, are higher on the list than South Korea (ranked 24th), Japan (26th) and Vietnam (33rd). Most other Latin American countries are ranked below China (37th), including Brazil (38th), Mexico (39th), Uruguay (40th), Chile (41st), Colombia (42nd) and Venezuela (50th).
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Etiquetas: Andres Oppenheimer, english fluency, Latin America
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