Certain countries will only grant visas to teachers from specific English-speaking countries, typically the UK, USA, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Though, those are not very serious ones, we can avoid such mistakes by … Universities also play a role with their focus on English learning initiatives. No other country may be considered as being 'majority English speaking' for visa purposes. Of the approximately 1.5 billion people who speak English, less than 400 million use it as a first language. 2. These countries stand out: You may be thinking to yourself, “But isn’t English the official language of South Africa?” Yes, technically English is one out of South Africa’s 11 official languages. She started in fashion design and moved to marketing, but has always enjoyed writing on the broad topic of things that connect people. Like the other Nordic countries, Denmark also opts not to dub English TV or movies into Danish. Although China typically hires native English speakers, it’s not a requirement. The linguistic hegemony built up around this language has led it to become a basic skill required for a large portion of the global workforce. In Norway, they truly see English as a second language, so the country is far from a surprise entry in at number three.… Out of it, around 216,449 individuals use English as their first language like Bollywood stars, students and businessmen. Reply. Guinevere grew up in the tiny town of Moonambel in Australia among the gum trees and grapevines. With high living standards and levels of life satisfaction, the Dutch place a lot of importance on mastering English. Whether you’re native or non-native English speaker, you’ll never run out of options. Vietnam. And in case you’re curious, Dutch is another Germanic language with many similarities to English. Although the destinations with "very high proficiency" were largely made up of European countries, Singapore and South Africa also scored highly, coming in fifth and sixth place respectively. Learn About All The English Speaking Countries. And does English have an advantage compared to other languages. Luxembourg is officially a trilingual country, in large part due to its geographic borders with France, Germany and Belgium. The second list is of non-English-speaking countries that have the highest English proficiency – the highest percentage of people who can speak English well, according to English testing firm EF. English is the world’s most widely spoken language but is unusual in the fact that the vast majority of speakers are not ‘native’. Since the days of colonialism, English has been a language of administration and politics in India. Or, if you’re curious to discover further connections between these countries and English, try learning the local language! 3. The EF Corporate Solutions country manager, Laura Häkkinen, says that Finns learn English from a young age in school, which gives them a great head start in the professional world. Approximately 64% of native English speakers are in the United States, 16.6% in the United Kingdom, 5.3% in Canada, 4.7% in Australia, 1.3% in South Africa, 1.3% in Ireland, 1.3% in New Zealand, and the remaining 5.5% are spread across the world. Here, it’s impossible to ignore the key role English played in colonialism. From Groningen to Rotterdam, you’ll likely find locals responding in English to your attempts at speaking Dutch, simply because they feel it’s easier for the both of you. If you're reading this story, the chances are you've got a pretty good grasp of English. The results of its English Proficiency Index, based on a free online test taken by 2.3 million volunteers, indicate that the Dutch are the most fluent. However, it is also the single most popular second language. Only true English as a second language students (i.e. I can see that many non-native speakers are commenting here, with lot of grammatical errors. First off, being a Scandinavian language, Swedish sentence structure is very close to English. 5. Latin America Countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, and Peru are your best birth in the Americas. From Groningen to Rotterdam, you’ll likely find locals responding in English to your attempts at speaking Dutch, simply because they feel it’s easier for the both of you. The list is long: Thailand, Cambodia, countries in Central and South America like Mexico and Brazil, countries in Europe as well as Turkey, among others, all welcome applications from non-native English speakers. The top non-native English speaking countries. English/EFL/ESL teachers or whatever you want to call it are paid from 800 USD up to 2,500 USD. About 372 million natives and about a billion non-native speakers are conversant. However, some like Germany do have English speakers. Of the roughly 1.5 billion people in the world who speak English, over 1 billion speak it as a second language. It’s no surprise, then, that Norwegian words and sentence structures closely resemble English, giving Norwegian learners a clear advantage in the classroom. There’s a hidden root that ties English with Scandinavia: English and all of the Scandinavian languages are Germanic languages. That’s a heck of a lot more than native speakers, so what gives? Her indulgences include miniature objects like ceramic fruit, sunbathing with intermittent dips (preferably at a sandy beach), and cooking for friends. Bilinguality appears to be less of a priority for Americans, if a separate study by non-partisan American think tank. Published last year, the analysis found that just 20% of school students in the United States were studying a foreign language. As long as you have a TESOL, TEFL, or CELTA certificate and can prove that you’re a good teacher, you’ll be hired. Excluding English-speaking countries like the US and the UK (where the proficiency is naturally high), here are the top 5 countries with the highest proficiency in the English language. Keep the chin up! So, which nation tops the list of best non-native English speaking countries? The English language has approximately 400 million native speakers worldwide, trailing only Mandarin and Spanish. Singapore 68.63. India India is the biggest, and major non native country with most English speakers; their approximate strength is 125,246,44. Additionally, the list does not include areas which may be thought of as countries like Tibet or Kashmir. This means that all of these languages belong to the same family tree! The other non-European country on the list is the global business hub, Singapore. Join us on a 12-month journey to see them all. According to a new report by international education company by. As a non-native speaker, you might be restricted from teaching in certain countries due to strict visa and work permit requirements. If you’re not a citizen of the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa, your passport doesn’t fit the bill. Fill out the form below to get in touch. Japan Hiring Exception: Those from non-native English speaking countries with a four-year degree and 12 years of documented education in an ALL English speaking school may be eligible for employment. With the help of the EF English Proficiency Index (EPI) — the world standard for measuring a country’s English-speaking capability — we can see the results from over one million test takers in 80 countries. The next time you visit Oslo, you can rest easy knowing someone will be keen to speak English with you. There are a lot of reasons why Sweden ranks so high on this list. The 2018 English Proficiency Index by global language training company Education First compared levels of English among non-native speakers across 88 countries around the world. Seeing as both countries belong to Scandinavia, you can probably guess why. I’ve listed countries that do not have English listed a major language. This can be particularly frustrating to aspiring ESL teachers … ; Non-sovereign entities are not included: Over two billion people speak English, making English the largest language by number of speakers, and the third largest language by number of native speakers. Like many of the other countries on this list, Luxembourg has a leg up on the competition because English is one of three “procedural” languages of the European Union. Are you wondering which countries excel the most at English as a second language? English is the second most-spoken language in the world after the Chinese language. Norway 68.38. If you want to move, travel or do business in a foreign country, you can bet your bottom dollar that English will somehow come in handy. So, how can you make sure that you’re as qualified as possible for teaching positions in these countries? The Netherlands! The report also found that English was the most widely studied second language in the world by far. With 15 million English Speakers, about 90 percent of the entire population in the Netherlands speak English. So, which nation tops the list of best non-native English speaking countries? Finland consistently ranks high over the years in terms of its English-speaking capabilities. There is a misconception that somehow ‘native-speaking’ teachers are better and there is currently lively debate around native-speakerism, and terminologies used. The only non-European countries to feature are highly-developed city state Singapore, and its neighbour Malaysia, as well as Argentina. Unfortunately, even if your home country uses English in most of its day-to-day communication, the world job market has a very narrow classification of countries home to “native English speakers. Additionally, there are 29 million in Canada, 25.7 million in Australia, 5 million in New Zealand, and 5 million in Ireland. This is pretty impressive, considering that Finnish isn’t linguistically related to most other languages in Europe! 1.3 What % of English conversations involve only native speakers? List of English Speaking Countries. These are sometimes referred to as the ‘big seven’ and, while there are many other countries in which English is a national language, they’re often not recognised. Typical native speaker conversations: Most English learners will be using their English to discuss business, holidays, etc. Of Moonambel in Australia among the gum trees and grapevines to practice in 15 English... 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