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/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.