{"id":61910,"date":"2023-12-25T16:05:39","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T21:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=61910"},"modified":"2023-12-25T16:05:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-25T21:05:39","slug":"declining-english-in-the-land-of-the-rising-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=61910","title":{"rendered":"Declining English in the Land of the Rising Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shocking (to me) news:<\/p>\r\n

\"Japan\u2019s English Proficiency Continues to Drop Among Non-English-Speaking Countries<\/a>\"

nippon.com (Dec 4, 2023)

A survey found that Japan currently ranks eighty-seventh out of 113 non-English-speaking countries and regions for English language abilities. This is a fall of seven places from last year and relatively low among Asian countries.<\/p>\r\n

I'm dubious that English proficiency would be so low in Japan, which overall has such a high level of education and which has such a large number of loanwords from English.\u00a0 Is this a case of lies, damned lies and [polling-generated] statistics\"?<\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

A 2023 survey by the Swiss international education company EF Education First, which measures the English proficiency of people in 113 non-English speaking countries and regions, found that Japan ranked eighty-seventh overall and was fifteenth among the 23 Asian countries and regions. Japan is at the fourth level out of five set by the company, equating to \u201clow proficiency\u201d (64\u201390).<\/p>\r\n

The survey gathered and analyzed data from free tests taken online by a total of 2.2 million people worldwide for EF\u2019s English Proficiency Index. By region, 34% of test takers were from Europe, 23% each from Asia and Africa, 20% from Central and South America, and 13% from the Middle East. The median age was 26.<\/p>\r\n

…<\/p>\r\n

The country with the highest English proficiency was the Netherlands and the majority of countries classed as having \u201cvery high\u201d (1\u201312) or \u201chigh\u201d (13\u201330) proficiency were in Europe.<\/p>\r\n

Singapore was the highest ranked Asian country in second place. The Philippines was twentieth, Malaysia twenty-fifth, and Hong Kong twenty-ninth. South Korea placed forty-ninth and China eighty-second. All these countries scored higher than Japan. EF noted that \u201cadults\u2019 English language skills in East Asia have continued to decline over the past four years\u201d due to a drop in the skill levels in Japan and China.<\/p>\r\n

2023 Ranking of English Proficiency in Major Countries<\/h3>\r\n
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
1<\/td>\r\nNetherlands<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
2<\/td>\r\nSingapore<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
3<\/td>\r\nAustria<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
4<\/td>\r\nDenmark<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
5<\/td>\r\nNorway<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
6<\/td>\r\nSweden<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
7<\/td>\r\nBelgium<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
8<\/td>\r\nPortugal<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
9<\/td>\r\nSouth Africa<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
10<\/td>\r\nGermany<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
11<\/td>\r\nCroatia<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
12<\/td>\r\nGreece<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
13<\/td>\r\nPoland<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
14<\/td>\r\nFinland<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
15<\/td>\r\nRomania<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
20<\/td>\r\nPhilippines<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
25<\/td>\r\nMalaysia<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
29<\/td>\r\nHong Kong<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
49<\/td>\r\nSouth Korea<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
57<\/td>\r\nNepal<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
58<\/td>\r\nVietnam<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
60<\/td>\r\nBangladesh<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
60<\/td>\r\nIndia<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
64<\/td>\r\nPakistan<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
67<\/td>\r\nSri Lanka<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
73<\/td>\r\nMongolia<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
79<\/td>\r\nIndonesia<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
82<\/td>\r\nChina<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
87<\/td>\r\nJapan<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
(Lower rankings omitted)<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n

I'm wondering how they did the actual testing.<\/p>\r\n

I also wonder how India is ranked so low, where there are so many people who have native English fluency and where English is a de facto second national language.<\/p>\r\n

China has universal elementary and middle school education, and all students are required to learn English from first grade, and many begin in kindergarten.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

If Taiwan (where there have been, and still are, serious proposals to make English a \/ the national language) were recognized as a country, it would surely by very high on the list.<\/p>\r\n

I'm not surprised that Singapore is ranked so very high in the world.\u00a0 English truly is the functional official language of the country.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Selected readings<\/b><\/p>\r\n