Survey gives hope to expats allergic to new languages

For potential expats who’re terrified of having to learn a foreign language, relocating to Prague could solve your problems.

For many would-be expat professionals, the real problem with living and working overseas isn’t the move itself or the cultural differences at work, it’s the thought of learning a new language and the need to become fluent within a comparatively short time. Most new arrivals seem to get there in the end, but for those who have panic attacks before each class, the answer is in a recent survey which evaluated English proficiency in a swathe of world countries.

The Education First study’s English Proficiency Index 2018 is the result of an evaluation of 88 world countries’ knowledge of the English language, and is the largest report to date on the issue. Sweden made it to the number one position and the Czech Republic came in at 20th overall, a respectable score given the competition and the fact that it was labelled as ‘high proficiency’. This year’s Czech score saw a leap forward from 2014’s ‘moderately proficient’ label and was enough to place it as Europe’s most improved state. Nowadays, Central European countries are attracting more international companies due to English proficiency in the workplace as well as the countries’ refreshingly low operation costs. This combination is certain to draw in even more multinationals as well as expat entrepreneurs who’re busy improving their skills and don’t want to get involved in learning a new language until their new business is well on its way up the success ladder.

Other countries’ major cities which also did well in their section of the survey included Amsterdam at number 1, Stockholm in second place, New Delhi in third and Johannesburg in fourth. Other highly rated Indian cities included Mumbai and New Delhi, possibly thanks to the still evident British influence in the sub-continent. Scandinavia did well on the whole, with Oslo taking fifth place and Helsinki coming in at sixth. The survey gives would-be expat English-speakers wishing to avoid the terrors of language instruction a reasonable choice of countries where their native language will do just fine.