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France ranked 'worst in EU' at learning English

Vergennes

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Good,i hope we remain so. :enjoy:

@mike2000 is back

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France has performed woefully in a worldwide English language ranking, finishing dead last in the EU and only slightly ahead of Turkey and Azerbaijan.

France finished 37th out of 70 countries in the new world ranking, carried out by international language training company Education First.

This was enough to see it finish ahead of only Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Russia among the 27 European countries measured.

The report noted that France, as well as neighbouring Spain and Italy were behind European averages. However, while Spain and Italy were on the up, France remained stubbornly stuck, well behind the likes of Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.

"In fact, France is so far behind its neighbours that its English proficiency levels are akin to those of countries on the eastern edges of Europe," the company noted.

"Whether due to a cultural aversion to English or an inability to reform its education system, France is on a different trajectory from its neighbours."

France finished with a "low proficiency" overall, dropping from 29th place last year when it was ranked with a "moderate proficiency".

Nenad Djokic, Country Manager for Education First in France, stressed that while France may have dropped eight places, things weren't any worse than usual.

"France is stagnating, it's not dropping," he told The Local.

"The only reason we have lost ground is because we have added new countries to the study this year. But the trend is that France is not improving, not at all."

He said that the reasons France isn't keeping up with other countries that are on the improve, like Spain and Poland, could be blamed on the proud French-speaking culture, the lack of English as a required competency in schools, and overflowing classrooms preventing high school students from learning.

"The problem is that there is a split in France. Some people realize that it's important for business, foreign careers, and going abroad, while the intellectual elite think the primary focus should be expanding French everywhere."

"As long as we don't have a vision about where we want to go, then we are destined to stay at the same level," he said.

The list, as usual, was dominated by the Nordics. Sweden finished first, followed by the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Finland.
 
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French are also really rude to foreigners who try to speak French to them, the few times I attempted it I was always treated quite rudely, IM TRYING TO SPEAK YOUR LANGUAGE HERE AND YOUR BEING A SNOB ABOUT IT.
 
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French are also really rude to foreigners who try to speak French to them, the few times I attempted it I was always treated quite rudely, IM TRYING TO SPEAK YOUR LANGUAGE HERE AND YOUR BEING A SNOB ABOUT IT.
On the contrary, I stayed there a semester and my skills in French..were..well in beginning non-existent except for a dozen nouns, actually. But they taught me and were quite polite. Though, some of them laughed at my pronunciations but I also laughed at them when they spelled Urdu and Arabic words. It depends on which section of society you interact with.
 
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When I was there I found older French people spoke it very well but not the younger generation. Seems to me to be a decline in education standards, which is the same over here.
 
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Good,i hope we remain so. :enjoy:

@mike2000 is back

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1446549019_mapfrance.jpg


France has performed woefully in a worldwide English language ranking, finishing dead last in the EU and only slightly ahead of Turkey and Azerbaijan.

France finished 37th out of 70 countries in the new world ranking, carried out by international language training company Education First.

This was enough to see it finish ahead of only Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Russia among the 27 European countries measured.

The report noted that France, as well as neighbouring Spain and Italy were behind European averages. However, while Spain and Italy were on the up, France remained stubbornly stuck, well behind the likes of Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.

"In fact, France is so far behind its neighbours that its English proficiency levels are akin to those of countries on the eastern edges of Europe," the company noted.

"Whether due to a cultural aversion to English or an inability to reform its education system, France is on a different trajectory from its neighbours."

France finished with a "low proficiency" overall, dropping from 29th place last year when it was ranked with a "moderate proficiency".

Nenad Djokic, Country Manager for Education First in France, stressed that while France may have dropped eight places, things weren't any worse than usual.

"France is stagnating, it's not dropping," he told The Local.

"The only reason we have lost ground is because we have added new countries to the study this year. But the trend is that France is not improving, not at all."

He said that the reasons France isn't keeping up with other countries that are on the improve, like Spain and Poland, could be blamed on the proud French-speaking culture, the lack of English as a required competency in schools, and overflowing classrooms preventing high school students from learning.

"The problem is that there is a split in France. Some people realize that it's important for business, foreign careers, and going abroad, while the intellectual elite think the primary focus should be expanding French everywhere."

"As long as we don't have a vision about where we want to go, then we are destined to stay at the same level," he said.

The list, as usual, was dominated by the Nordics. Sweden finished first, followed by the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Finland.

Well, funny enough, i agree with France though. They ought to protect their language just like any other country as a great power, else they will lose the main pillar of their culture. One's own language is very important for the social fabric and sense of belonging of a nation. Plus it's natural for a Great power like France to maintain and protect its language from the Anglo-Saxon onslaught.
In fact. more than any other European nation(bar Britain), the French have a very powerful sense of historical destiny. Having exported their values to the world since 1789, their self confidence ebbed away a little bit in the 20th Century. However France still stands as one of the main pillars of Europe and its values.

Vive ma deuxième patrie et L’exception culturelle française
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German, swiss and ppl from nordic countries speak good English, both grammar and pronunciation.
Italian and spanish suffer from the mother tongue influence. Probably same with french, its not that they dont try, its probably because their language sounds quite different.
 
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Good,i hope we remain so

Personally, I like french. Matter of fact, I planned to spend 6 Months in France to learn French among other things sometime early next year but after the recent Paris Attacks I'm having second thoughts.

German, swiss and ppl from nordic countries speak good English

Haven't met many Europeans but of the few Germans I've met, almost all were fluent in English.
 
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@mike2000 is back @flamer84 @PWFI

You don't need to be super fluent in English to be "Le Président de la République" or an important person in our politic. :enjoy:




:rofl: Jean-Pierre Raffarin.........Oh mon Dieu, tu m'as tué de rire.:lol: The yes needs the no to win against ze no. Well said Raffarin.:D
@FrenchPilot , @Taygibay . A ce que je sache, Raffarin etait Premier Ministre de 2002 à 2005 sous la présidence de Jacques Chirac n'est-ce pas? Est-ce vrai qu'il démissionne après le référendum portant sur un projet de constitution de L'union européenne en 2005?:undecided:
Si c'est le cas, ca veut dire qu'il est un con après tout.lol :P
 
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Personally, I like french. Matter of fact, I planned to spend 6 Months in France to learn French among other things sometime early next year but after the recent Paris Attacks I'm having second thoughts.



Haven't met many Europeans but of the few Germans I've met, almost all were fluent in English.
I am learning spanish(beginner), simply because its easy to learn(people say) and you can communicate with massive chuck of humanity if you learn it.
Its perfectly possible to learn more than one language, french language wont die if they speak better English, and german language is not going to die because germans speak good English.
 
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Not surprising, the French have their own way of doing things. Though, English speaking countries are THE least proficient in speaking any other language at all.
 
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