I barely can believe we rank so low. Is it because of the French and Italian speakers in CH?
Maybe unpopular opinion but I’d guess it’s because of the romands. Look how France is faring in the ranking.
Also in many countries english is the first foreign language you learn in school, in switzerland it’s usually one of the other national languages, so you spend much less time in school learning english.
Because of the big french & italian part.
The german speakers have an easier time.
Considering the source, I wonder how it’s done. If it’s an internal EF data, it may only be about people buying their courses, which is not exactly a representative panel.
I think there is no immediate need for many swiss people to learn English if they speak French and German, as there are good job opportunities in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and France. Also the boomers who didn’t grew up with the internet and never learned English in school.
We’re barely above France? Oh that stings
France and Italy rank even lower, so I assume the ~30% of the country that is French or Italian speaking is drawing down the average.
Maybe because we also learn high german and french in school next to english.
Why would you expect otherwise?
Pure coincidence statistics. Germany and Zcech in front of switzerland. lol
Absolutely right. In the Netherlands you think you are in an english speaking country
Because of the French speaking part. French is a Latin language and English a Germanic one. It’s easier for German speaking people to learn English. I also think it’s pretty recent that we learn English in school
many of the nations higher up than Switzerland begin studying English in first grade as a second language.
In Switzerland they start in 8th grade, and it is the 4th language
Because this ranking is not representative at all.
You should travel more in switzerland if you don’t understand why !
Also swiss reddit are full of expat.
I call BS, being Hungarian I 100% confirm they are rather close to the other end of that snake. Also Portugal that high on the list? No way
Personally, I get the impression that it’s coming from the countryside, especially in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, which is densely populated, but they don’t give a damn about English in their villages.
Have you tried to speak in English in any shop in Geneva?
Hé Hé ! We suck !
In Romandie you never use english.
The source is garbage, it is a self selected survey of people who want to learn English.
Äi Häf nou äidii
That list is rubbish. Ignore.
Tell me why the average Swiss would need English?
So, I’m portuguese and I recently went on vacation to Zurich and then to Stuttgart and the difference is huge. I don’t how Germany ranks above Switzerland but it’s definitely not true from my experience. I left with the ideia that Germans have a problem with English and refuse to learn it, don’t know if it’s true.
Netherlands number one. I doubt that. Have you heard NATO general Rutte speak it? Typical Dutch accent.
Ireland should be at the top of the list
If it’s not just getting schoolkids, then beyond the native Swiss, lots of the immigrant groups from the tailbone of this graph are big in Switzerland, pretty much all except Moldova I guess. With Portuguese being the big exception, their proficiency especially newer generations is pretty good. I had a big technical service done and some of the stuff I couldn’t understand in German but would in most romance languages and the worker asked if I could speak another language to communicate better, I mentioned quite a few languages and the guy was like “no,no,no”, so I asked “what other language do you speak then?”…”Albanian?” I mean, that’s what like, 5 million people worldwide?
Well, i’ve had to learn french first (i didn’t, i still don’t speak it, i don’t see why i should and never did) and only at 6th grade did i learn english.
I kinda get it, Wallis is a bilingual canton, but we all know that us german speakers hate (and don’t actualy learn) french just as much as the french speakers hate (and don’t actualy learn) german, so we might as well skip that shit and go with english.
Not once in my life have i called some government or whatever stuff down in Sitten/Sion and actualy tried to speak french with them, i just ask if there’s someone who can speak english, i don’t even try german *because there sure as hell won’t be anyone around that day who speaks german*.
Well, i’ve had to learn french first (i didn’t, i still don’t speak it, i don’t see why i should and never did) and only at 6th grade did i learn english.
I kinda get it, Wallis is a bilingual canton, but we all know that us german speakers hate (and don’t actualy learn) french just as much as the french speakers hate (and don’t actualy learn) german, so we might as well skip that shit and go with english.
Not once in my life have i called some government or whatever stuff down in Sitten/Sion and actualy tried to speak french with them, i just ask if there’s someone who can speak english, i don’t even try german *because there sure as hell won’t be anyone around that day who speaks german*.
bikos we arnt using de seven sinking steps, hä mister köppel! kän ju tel mi de seven sinking steps, mister köppel?
Töpperwär
Massive doubt
vecozz vee tolkk laik diss (tbh I’m not good at imitating a German / Swiss accent in English)
It’s probably accurate and I have seen similarly unfavourable comparisons with Austria before.
English is relativity straightforward for German speakers and in my experience urban Swiss Germans are on par with the Nordics. The further west and central you go, the less a priority becomes. Sure there are pockets in Lausanne, Schwyz and Bern that speak excellent English, but the majority of people just don’t.
Bad graph
What do the numbers mean?
The design of the line is misleading. The thickness should be proportional to the number
36 comments
I barely can believe we rank so low. Is it because of the French and Italian speakers in CH?
Maybe unpopular opinion but I’d guess it’s because of the romands. Look how France is faring in the ranking.
Also in many countries english is the first foreign language you learn in school, in switzerland it’s usually one of the other national languages, so you spend much less time in school learning english.
Because of the big french & italian part.
The german speakers have an easier time.
Considering the source, I wonder how it’s done. If it’s an internal EF data, it may only be about people buying their courses, which is not exactly a representative panel.
I think there is no immediate need for many swiss people to learn English if they speak French and German, as there are good job opportunities in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and France. Also the boomers who didn’t grew up with the internet and never learned English in school.
We’re barely above France? Oh that stings
France and Italy rank even lower, so I assume the ~30% of the country that is French or Italian speaking is drawing down the average.
Maybe because we also learn high german and french in school next to english.
Why would you expect otherwise?
Pure coincidence statistics. Germany and Zcech in front of switzerland. lol
Absolutely right. In the Netherlands you think you are in an english speaking country
Because of the French speaking part. French is a Latin language and English a Germanic one. It’s easier for German speaking people to learn English. I also think it’s pretty recent that we learn English in school
many of the nations higher up than Switzerland begin studying English in first grade as a second language.
In Switzerland they start in 8th grade, and it is the 4th language
Because this ranking is not representative at all.
You should travel more in switzerland if you don’t understand why !
Also swiss reddit are full of expat.
I call BS, being Hungarian I 100% confirm they are rather close to the other end of that snake. Also Portugal that high on the list? No way
Personally, I get the impression that it’s coming from the countryside, especially in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, which is densely populated, but they don’t give a damn about English in their villages.
Have you tried to speak in English in any shop in Geneva?
Hé Hé ! We suck !
In Romandie you never use english.
The source is garbage, it is a self selected survey of people who want to learn English.
Äi Häf nou äidii
That list is rubbish. Ignore.
Tell me why the average Swiss would need English?
So, I’m portuguese and I recently went on vacation to Zurich and then to Stuttgart and the difference is huge. I don’t how Germany ranks above Switzerland but it’s definitely not true from my experience. I left with the ideia that Germans have a problem with English and refuse to learn it, don’t know if it’s true.
Netherlands number one. I doubt that. Have you heard NATO general Rutte speak it? Typical Dutch accent.
Ireland should be at the top of the list
If it’s not just getting schoolkids, then beyond the native Swiss, lots of the immigrant groups from the tailbone of this graph are big in Switzerland, pretty much all except Moldova I guess. With Portuguese being the big exception, their proficiency especially newer generations is pretty good. I had a big technical service done and some of the stuff I couldn’t understand in German but would in most romance languages and the worker asked if I could speak another language to communicate better, I mentioned quite a few languages and the guy was like “no,no,no”, so I asked “what other language do you speak then?”…”Albanian?” I mean, that’s what like, 5 million people worldwide?
Well, i’ve had to learn french first (i didn’t, i still don’t speak it, i don’t see why i should and never did) and only at 6th grade did i learn english.
I kinda get it, Wallis is a bilingual canton, but we all know that us german speakers hate (and don’t actualy learn) french just as much as the french speakers hate (and don’t actualy learn) german, so we might as well skip that shit and go with english.
Not once in my life have i called some government or whatever stuff down in Sitten/Sion and actualy tried to speak french with them, i just ask if there’s someone who can speak english, i don’t even try german *because there sure as hell won’t be anyone around that day who speaks german*.
Well, i’ve had to learn french first (i didn’t, i still don’t speak it, i don’t see why i should and never did) and only at 6th grade did i learn english.
I kinda get it, Wallis is a bilingual canton, but we all know that us german speakers hate (and don’t actualy learn) french just as much as the french speakers hate (and don’t actualy learn) german, so we might as well skip that shit and go with english.
Not once in my life have i called some government or whatever stuff down in Sitten/Sion and actualy tried to speak french with them, i just ask if there’s someone who can speak english, i don’t even try german *because there sure as hell won’t be anyone around that day who speaks german*.
bikos we arnt using de seven sinking steps, hä mister köppel! kän ju tel mi de seven sinking steps, mister köppel?
Töpperwär
Massive doubt
vecozz vee tolkk laik diss (tbh I’m not good at imitating a German / Swiss accent in English)
It’s probably accurate and I have seen similarly unfavourable comparisons with Austria before.
English is relativity straightforward for German speakers and in my experience urban Swiss Germans are on par with the Nordics. The further west and central you go, the less a priority becomes. Sure there are pockets in Lausanne, Schwyz and Bern that speak excellent English, but the majority of people just don’t.
Bad graph
What do the numbers mean?
The design of the line is misleading. The thickness should be proportional to the number
Comments are closed.