English in Europe
Hi,
Does anybody know which European country (Aside from British Isles) has the biggest number of English speakers or whose population is most knowledgeable about English?
I'm sure it has to be either the Netherlands or a Scandinavian country.
According to Wikipedia, which is by no means definitive:
Sweden = 89%
Netherlands = 87%
Denmark = 86%
No information about Denmark or Iceland but I'm sure they're up there as well.
Cyprus and Malta might have the most speakers but that's because they have been under British "control" at some point in the past.
Anyways, what's the verdict?
I think there's no verdict. But you must be close to what reality is. They say people in the Scandinavian countries + the Netherlands are very knowledgeable about English.
> No information about Denmark or Iceland...
Isn't Denmark = 86%?
Oh sorry, I meant Norway.
I wouldn't expect more than a few percentage points in difference between any of the Scandinavian countries. Norway being a bit more rural, perhaps it would be slightly behind, but only slightly...
That's one of those questions one can't answer just like this. What level of English? Most Scandinavians speak English, though most of them know only the basics of the language (what they've learned in school) which is, for instance, nowhere near enough for a decent discussion. But if you sum up the English skills of the whole population of a country, then it would probably be one of the Scandinavian countries
I think, it's the Netherlands. At least, even hobos in Rotterdam speak quite accurate English
English is the official language of Malta.
How many in Malta actually speak English though?
I pronounced CENTER as ['sen@r] without T, that is, to a Dutch guy, and he didn't understand, oh well...Maybe they understand the more bookish usage, but aren't too familiar with colloquial US English.
"Maybe they understand the more bookish usage"
They learn their English at school not in a redneck suburbs, what do you think?
There are too many Guests. It looks like you're conversing with yourself...
You can distinguish different guests by their styles.
*sigh* I figured you would say something like that. :) It's just unfortunate that I have to work my brain that hard. I'll just assume that you're the one I seem to be conversing with the most.
It's not about personality, it's about ideas.