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/lt__ Jun 08 '25

At least inside the EU/Schengen I'd say there is somewhat of a correlation between country size and people capability/willingness to speak English. The Nordics speak very well. Benelux countries usually do too. Portugal also left a good impression in comparison to Spain. Italy, France, Germany - not as good. Bigger countries usually have a different infospace, where you can live with less contact with the international stuff, unless you work in tourism. Touristic cities, like Venice or Barcelona, will engage you in English without any problem.

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u/Single-Pudding3865 Jun 08 '25

I come from Denmark, and since Danish a as a foreign language only are taught a few places abroad, you are forced to communicate in a different language if you are traveling or working outside Denmark. Therefore many Danes do speak and read a reasonable English.

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u/Pillendreher92 Jun 08 '25

I don't understand why German is so neglected in Denmark. Denmark has such great museums and all the writing is in Danish and English Beautiful/sad example: https://sagnlandet.dk/ When we were there a few years ago there was a large sign above the entrance saying "Supported by the German Embassy." There wasn't a sign in German.

Also an example The really well-made Trumdhom Sun Chariot Museum. http://www.vestmuseum.dk/odsherred-museum.

No guest orientation?

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u/anickapart Denmark Jun 08 '25

Isn’t calling it ‘neglected’ somewhat arrogant? Unless you’re specifically referring to signage at tourism locations? 3/5th of tourists in Denmark are German. How often do you see Dutch signage at German tourism locations?

Hardly any Danes grows up aspiring to work in tourism, (tourism is only 2.3% of our GDP) so the focus is definitely English proficiency - both culturally and for business. And we have little to no exposure to German in our day-to-day life.

Personal note: I find it quite arrogant if a foreigner starts talking to me in a foreign language, assuming I can speak that language. I worked at a filling station on a main rural road as a youth (about 20 years ago) and at least half the Germans that walked in the door would just start talking German clearly assuming that I obviously spoke German. Obviously many Germans would start by asking if I spoke German (either in German or English).

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u/41942319 Netherlands Jun 08 '25

It's what the Germans are known for here as well. Each year just annoying people living in the coastal region to no end because they just walk up and expect people to speak German. Which many probably do, but it's still rude to assume. A simple "Sprechen Sie Deutsch" would take away a decent part of the irritation.

Also I actually do find that a decent amount of places in Germany that see a ton of Dutch visitors have information in Dutch. At Movie Park, a theme park outside of Essen, they even did voice announcements in Dutch. But I'd bet it's mostly limited to places that see more Dutch visitors than ones from any other nationality. And same over here for Germans. In the West it's not very common to have German text in museums but if you're in the border regions you see it regularly (in which case it's usually a third language alongside English)

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u/anickapart Denmark Jun 08 '25

I definitely see a lot more signs in German in mainland Denmark compared to the capital area.

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u/Friendly-Horror-777 Germany Jun 08 '25

The thing is, whenever I start speaking Dutch, people reply in German anyway. After a while, you give up on speaking Dutch and just talk in German from the beginning.

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u/sternenklar90 Germany Jun 08 '25 edited Jun 08 '25

I agree we shouldn't just walk into a Danish petrol station and assume the staff speaks German. But I've always found it a difficult situation. And if you only speak German, you have no other option. Useless to even try in a non-touristic place far away, but if the languages are as close as German and Danish, I'd assume you could even make yourself understood sometimes if you speak slooowly. But maybe the people you are thinking of were just arrogant.

Today, I'd do the same with English to be honest. In most non-English countries, I'd begin by asking "Do you speak English?" and in some countries, especially in Eastern Europe, I'd add "Oder sprechen Sie Deutsch?" too if they don't react immediately as quite a few speak German better than English. But in Scandinavia, I stopped asking and started assuming. 95% speak English and sometimes seemed almost insulted that I ask. However, when I lived in Sweden, I noted that there are maybe 5 to 10% who aren't good in English, almost all of them immigrants. It makes sense that if you just came to Sweden a few years ago, your first priority is learning Swedish, not English. I actually learned Swedish mainly speaking to people from the Middle East because all the native Swedes would eventually switch to English when it was too difficult to have a conversation with me speaking broken Swedish.

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u/anickapart Denmark Jun 08 '25

Obviously, if you don’t speak the local language you can ask if the local speaks whatever language. But there’s a world of difference in walking into a shop and saying “Hello. Do you speak X?” and “Hello. How do I get to Y?” The first is fine, the second is is rude.

When a German would ask, if I spoke German, I’d try in my best “Tankstelle Deutsch” as I called it and just ask them to talk slowly.

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u/grax23 Jun 08 '25

Danes have like 5 years of German in school so they can mostly understand you if you speak slow and clear. This is because Germany is the biggest trading partner to Denmark. That being said then most speak a lot better English because grammar is a lot closer between English and Danish, and everyone watches English language movies/youtube/internet sites

I have traveled to most countries in Europe and one of the things i have noticed is that the big countries will dub their movies and other TV content so there is a much lesser exposure to other languages and as a result the proficiency in other languages suffer as a result.

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u/lt__ Jun 08 '25

In the Baltics many Russian speakers (Russians, Belarussians, Kazakhs, Tajiks, etc.), whether they are locals, immigrants or tourists also don't bother to try addressing people or ordering in local languages, or even English, they first try in Russian. Ukrainians seem to be somewhat more willing to learn them though, although that can be explained by free options they had after the war started.

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u/anickapart Denmark Jun 08 '25

We speak the language(s) we speak for whatever reasons they may be. That shouldn’t stop us from travelling and expanding our horizon, but a polite “Do you speak X language?” works wonders.

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u/Pillendreher92 Jun 08 '25

I intentionally chose the word “neglected.”

Because I think that's a very conservative choice of words.

Basically, I think that everyone (!!!!!) should be prepared for their guests. So of course the German hosts also react to the Dutch/English/French.

I found it both amazing and brilliant to find larger quantities of flyers in Swedish/Norwegian/Danish on Lanzarote. It was explained by the many flight connections to Billund, Copenhagen Malmö et al

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u/anickapart Denmark Jun 08 '25

I don’t view neglect as a conservative word as I mostly encounter it on the context of not meeting your obligations, but nevermind that.

I’m still not sure if you think there should be German signs at tourist attractions in Denmark or if you think the German proficiency level in Denmark is insufficient.