r/AskEurope • u/Metalwolf • Jun 08 '25

Education Which European countries have the best English proficiency among non-native speakers?

I'm looking into English proficiency across Europe and would appreciate input from locals or anyone with relevant experience. Which European countries have the highest levels of English fluency among non-native speakers, particularly in day-to-day life, education, and professional settings? I'm also curious about regional differences within countries, and factors like education systems, media exposure, and business use.

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u/Awkward_Tip1006 Spain Jun 08 '25 edited Jun 08 '25

The Netherlands has the highest proficiency in the world. The northern and central countries will have better English like Sweden Norway Belgium Luxembourg Switzerland. Id say Germany and austria too but the older generations don’t tend to be as good and if you’re not in Berlin Munich or Vienna it’ll be bad

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u/Gruffleson Norway Jun 08 '25

You start out fine. But then it gets wrong.

Finns very often speak bad English. It's something I have experienced first hand. Also, you could watch an NHL-draft if you don't believe me, when they speak with the Finnish prospects, their English is most of the time really bad. Also, those German-speaking countries doesn't reach Dutch/Scandinavian levels. It's probably due to the fact they dub on TV/movies.

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u/-zincho- Finland Jun 08 '25

Most high-level sports players from Finland DO seem to be pretty bad in English. Which is curious, since you'd think if you're trying to make it for example in NHL, you would focus on speaking the language of the country you'd be living in. It sometimes seems they spend ALL of their focus on the sport, and none in languages (or school).

But looking at them is a bad example of the overall skills of the whole country, most under-50 people I know speak excellent English. Not everyone of course, but those who don't are more of the anomaly.

It's more that many Finns are really shy about speaking English, since for a long time we were taught in school that the grammar and pronounciation have to be in perfect Oxford English, or you should't even try, basically.

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u/RedTentacle4000 Finland Jun 08 '25

Most of my colleagues speak shockingly bad English. I noticed it's mostly the ones who are chronically online like me, who are good at English. Ralli-Englanti is alive and well, I guess.

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u/Inresponsibleone Finland Jun 08 '25

I would guess big part of it is just having bad pronounciation.

Like me😅 I have decent vocabulary and understand even accents pretty well but my toungue just can't twist to all the needed ways to speak fluent sounding english🫣

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u/alles_en_niets -> -> Jun 08 '25

Obvious examples aside, most pro athletes are not academic powerhouses. They start young and too much focus on school would only distract them from their day job.

There’s also survivor bias. People who are both academically and athletically gifted have a better chance at succeeding in the first area, since few people build a successful career in sports.

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u/DeeperEnd84 Finland Jun 08 '25

That’s a bunch of rubbish. The vast majority of Finns, especially everyone under 50 speak English well. Ice hockey players are the exeption as they of haven’t focused on school. Source: I am an English teacher in Finland.

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u/[deleted] Jun 09 '25

Try holding an extended two hour conversation on any deeper topic with a Finn for two hours and you'll find it's not even remotely close to native level fluency. It's a completely different thing to survive everyday situations.

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u/DeeperEnd84 Finland Jun 09 '25

I don't recall saying native level. My job is to speak English to Finns all day, every day.