Hungary is among the top 20 English-speaking countries
24.hu reports that Hungary is in an outstanding position in the whole world concerning the number of people speaking English. Although in 2012, Hungary was in the top 10, according to a recent research conducted by EF Education First, it now has fallen back a little bit to the 19th position.
The research highlighted that although it is a fallback compared to the previous years, among the 80 participant countries this year, the 19th rank is still a surprisingly good position. The experts from BuyEssayClub informs that the language test, that is the 1st standardized and free English test of the world, is completed by more than 1 million people worldwide. The results were shared with the public on Thursday in the United Kingdom.
The outcomes are the following:
- This is the 1st time that Africa is present as an individual region as 9 African countries participated in the research. It is here, however, that the biggest gender differences came to light as women perform highly above the average, showing a much better performance than that of the men.
- The leading continent is Europe. Among the top 10 countries, 8 are from Europe.
- Asia follows Europe in the 2nd rank, but it is here that the differences in the level of knowledge are the most palpable in the various countries.
- Furthermore, although Latin America is a constantly developing area, it is still under the average despite the significant expenditures devoted to education.
In general, it can be stated that women speak English better than men, but it is also true that the discrepancy among them is decreasing. The level of English knowledge is much influenced by the economic competitiveness, the social progress and the innovation present in each country and it is usually the countries with higher salaries, better standards of living and better investment opportunities where the level of language knowledge is also higher.
The results concerning Hungary
Based on the statistics of Világbank, the Hungarian government devoted 9.3% of its public expenditure to education between 2010 and 2013. Among the examined countries, Thailand leads the list with its 31.3% while Azerbaijan only spends 7.3%.
In Hungary, people above the age of 25 usually have spent 12 years in education. This is a very great result especially if we compare it to the war-stricken Jemen, the last one with 2.5 years, and Germany, the leader with 12.9 years.
The outstanding result might be the consequence of the much stricter requirements in the Hungarian tertiary education, but more and more people recognise the need to travel to foreign countries to perfectionate their knowledge from native speakers.
In 2012, Hungary was the 8th best country among the participants, while in 2015, it fell back to the 21th position. Now, with its 19th position, there is no cause for concern as Hungary is still a better English-speaking country than the average. 57.86% of the Hungarian men and 59.42% of the Hungarian women speak English.
The research is a bit misleading, however, provided that in the top 30, most are European countries and in this respect Hungary is ‘only’ in the good English-speaking mid-range.
Here is the list with the top 20:
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- Denmark
- Norway
- Singapore
- Finnland
- Luxembourg
- South Africa
- Germany
- Austria
- Poland
- Belgium
- Malaysia
- Switzerland
- Philippine Islands
- Serbia
- Romania
- Portugal
- Hungary
- Czech Republic
Photos: pixabay.com
Source: 24.hu
Really? But can they hold a conversation?
https://jakubmarian.com/map-of-the-percentage-of-people-speaking-english-in-the-eu-by-country/
A pity that so many English speaking Hungarians don’t use the Queen’s English but instead use American accents which are not always pleasant to listen to!
I like to say that in 1966, the first year I visited Hungary, nearly nobody did speak a foreign language. They just spoke Hungarian and after that Russian was the second language. Only some elderly people spoke German but the younger ones could not help me in finding my way in Budapest. For a person from abroad it is a very confusing and strange situation to find out that streets have the same name in Budapest! I remember Baross street and when I was lucky to find a gentleman that spoke German his first reaction was: Welches Bezirk meinen Sie? But now it is great to hear english all over the country. The Hungarian language has adopted more and more English words and the situation will be (just as in Holland) that the native language will disappear.
This is shocking! I’ve lived in Hungary for the past few months and have found that many Hungarians, even those working in the tourism sector do not speak any English.!!!
Stephanie, not everyone likes the English accent nor can understand the Queens English accent. I almost have to put subtitles on when watching Peaky Blinders. Personally, I like all of the accents. Overall, it depends which Toefl group has the most influence. I was with the British Council, so most instructors were from England and Ireland, a few from the “colonies”. I replaced an instructor from England and the students said they had difficulty understanding my English accent. I’m from Canada and am quite sure that I do not have one.
I’m from Canada too, and some of the English accents that exist. Nobody in Canada, especially immigrants here can understand. Welsh, Cockney, Scouse, Welsh, Cornish, and oh totally forget it, Ulster.
The wonderful English accent explained. Why we stay with RP, US, or Canadian accents, LOL!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDdRHWHzwR4
Claire!!!
Come-on!! Since when in your history lectures was the Hungarian Empire ever visited or conquered by the ENGLISH, SPANISH, ROMANS, etc., LMFAO!!!!!!!!
are you kidding me in polish from when speaking English .