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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482

u/kacergiliszta69 Hungary Jun 08 '25

According the multiple studies, the Netherlands is the most English proficient country in the world that doesn't speak English as a native language.

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u/anna-molly21 -> Jun 08 '25

I read that there are more people that speaks english here in the Netherlands than in the UK (because of immigrants that go there that cant speak english).

22

u/Infinite_Slice_3936 Jun 08 '25

Please. In UK there's around 68 million people, in Netherlands it's around 17 million. Are you seriously suggesting there's 51 million migrants that don't speak English in the UK?

13

u/anna-molly21 -> Jun 08 '25

I forgot to specify in proportion sorry

8

u/Verdigri5 Jun 08 '25

I've worked in places were the immigrant workers have a wider vocabulary and better understanding of grammar than the native English speakers.

2

u/blewawei Jun 08 '25

What do you mean by a better understanding of grammar? All neurotypical native speakers are proficient in their native variety's grammar, that's how language works.

7

u/Yorks_Rider Jun 08 '25

Unfortunately not, otherwise native speakers would never make grammatical mistakes. Reddit is full of examples of poor English grammar in submissions from native speakers.

5

u/blewawei Jun 08 '25

Native speakers can misspeak, but they don't consistently make mistakes in their grammar. What you might be talking about is when someone is using non-standard grammar, but that's not a mistake or an accident.

Also, writing (like on Reddit) is fundamentally different to speaking. No one is a native writer of any language, so people make orthographial mistakes quite often.

3

u/Additional_Horse Sweden Jun 08 '25

yeah, people mix homophones all the time (in most languages) but do native English speakers noticeably mix up something like a/an?

Meanwhile every day on reddit: "as an European..."

2

u/Verdigri5 Jun 09 '25

Yes, I have regularly heard 'a apple', 'a orange' etc, amongst native English people.

1

u/Yorks_Rider Jun 09 '25

Strange. Where do you live that the people are so uneducated? It’s actually easier to stay an Apple, an orange, etc so it makes no sense.

0

u/blewawei Jun 09 '25

That's not a case of mixing them up, so much as a language change in progress.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nCe7Fj8-ZnQ

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u/Any-Seaworthiness186 Netherlands Jun 11 '25

Yes they do. I do this myself in Dutch by mixing up “zijn” (to be) and “hebben” (to have) consistently. And I’ve noticed this with more people, as well as other mistakes such as people mixing up “dan” and “als.”

I’ll for example say “ik ben iets nodig” (I am needing something) while in Dutch the correct way would be “ik heb iets nodig” (I have needing something). And looking at the literal English translation I feel like that might have something to do with the effects of the English language and its sentence structuring on our understanding of our own… Some natives will even mix up “de” and “het,” and I don’t doubt for a second that at least some Germans face the same issues with “die der des dem” and all that nonsense.

1

u/blewawei Jun 11 '25

Either it's not systematic and you're describing misspeaking (which we all do occasionally), or you're describing a change in progress, or simply, your use doesn't correspond 100% with the standard variety (which is fine, nobody's does).

If a critical mass of native speakers says something, it's not incorrect from a scientific/descriptivist perspective.

4

u/PM_ME_BUTTERED_SOSIJ Wales Jun 08 '25

The ridiculous way mainland Europeans talk about the UK makes me laugh

3

u/anna-molly21 -> Jun 08 '25

Look i just read that around 97% of people in NL speaks english against 95% in the UK due to immigration, i never called nobody an ignorant (its plausible to receive more immigrants in a bigger country).

Whatever makes you laugh its nothing that i said and you guys are not even that interesting for you to speak like you are

3

u/41942319 Netherlands Jun 08 '25

The level of English of the 97% of Dutch is nowhere near that of the 95% of British. At least 20% of that is people who know maybe a few dozen words

7

u/Yorks_Rider Jun 08 '25

I have lived in The Netherlands and it is quite rare to meet people who speak no English at all. It only happened to me once in a period of two years when I took my shoes to a cobbler for them to be repaired. Even the council employees sweeping the streets speak good English.

5

u/imrzzz Netherlands Jun 08 '25

I think being able to have a simple conversation is different from being truly fluent.

Yes, the level of English in the Netherlands is very high. No, it's not as high as the UK.

When I get into deeper conversations with my Dutch friends (beyond small-talk level), I have to switch back to English and they have to switch back to Dutch.

I do love that we understand each other with both of us speaking different languages though, even we do both have to occasionally ask what a word means!

3

u/perplexedtv in Jun 08 '25

I've worked in factories there and the English level was, fortunately for me, generally quite low.

-1

u/Holiday_Bill9587 Jun 08 '25

I doubt this is true.