Very Low Proficiency: Japan Drops into Bottom Group in English Ability Ranking
https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02620/
Very Low Proficiency: Japan Drops into Bottom Group in English Ability Ranking
https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h02620/
13 Comments
I have a bad case of dirrahea.
In Japan, heart surgeon. Number one. Steady hand. One day, yakuza boss need new heart. I do operation. But, mistake! Yakuza boss die. Yakuza very mad. I hide in fishing boat, come to America. No English, no food, no money. Darryl give me job. Now I have house, American car, and new woman. Darryl save life. My big secret: I kill yakuza boss on purpose. I good surgeon. The best!
Article from Dec 2025. I’m not saying it’s false but not exactly news.
The article shows Japan as 14th in 2011.
This sounds like it came out of the anus of a bull.
>Swiss international education company EF Education First
Never heard of them.
I understand that English is quite different from Japanese and it’s not an easy task for Japanese to learn it. However, what I found flabbergasting is a kind complete indifference to knowing a foreign languages here. Not only English, but just any language. Many people that I talked with don’t really feel that knowing languages is good for traveling, business, or just expanding your horizons. Especially in the globalized world. They just don’t care.
The EPI is a useful marketing and conversation device that reveals something about the English skills of the kinds of people who take free online English tests. It’s not a scientific measure of national English ability.
There is no practical, representative, cross-national instrument for measuring and comparing adult English proficiency.
All your base are belong to us
Japan, much like South Korea, is a culture where public embarrassment is a big fear. Thus, classes tend to have students afraid to speak English because it won’t be perfect. Country-wide examination is made for simplicity and speed, so speaking is never tested in the one exam that matters.
And in the end, if most Japanese work in Japan their whole lives, the usefulness of English drops. They can get by without it. It is a hard language for them, and they believe they suck at it, in spite of all the hours spent in school. Thus the avoidance.
Kore wa pen desu
This is a pen
Honestly, Japanese are the Americans of Asia. Very little interest in learning any sort of foreign language or traveling beyond nearby. And they will gladly tell you all of this with no hint of shame.
I don’t have all the answers, but one thing I see regularly is Japanese people being in charge of qualified and experienced native English teachers. If you consistently get bad results, try something new.