Japan ranked 49th in English proficiency, rated ‘low’ again

Japan ranked 49th in English proficiency, rated 'low' again：The Asahi Shimbun

Japan's ranking in terms of English proficiency continued its slide to a distant 49th on a list of 88 non-English-speaking countries and regions, according to a Swiss-based international language education organization.

And for three straight years, Japan was rated two (low) on a scale up to five (very high).

..."The gap between Japan and other countries is growing relatively wider," said Sang-Chul Lee, president of EF Education First Japan Ltd.

(cont.)

The only thing surprising to me about this is that Japan was ranked much higher in 2011.

It seems that Japan is falling behind the rest of the world, just like the article says. And Hirashin seems to be confirming this.

Well at least we know there is at least one dedicated English teacher in Japan. Hirashinさんを尊敬します。

> The only thing surprising to me about this is that Japan was ranked much higher in 2011.
It looks like they doubled the size of the list. It was 44 in 2011 and it's 88 now.
So you can't really tell if the situation has gotten worse or better.

Well anyway this is good for us. If Japan was a "4" or "5" all this effort spent learning and speaking the language would have been for naught. ;-)

I took their quick English check from here.
Quick Check - A short online English quiz

It includes reading (grammar and vocabulary) and listening. It was hard for me, but I got "advanced level 86%" for some reason. I seem to have made good guesses. If it had included speaking test, I couldn't have gotten 86%.

mdchachi said:

Well at least we know there is at least one dedicated English teacher in Japan. Hirashinさんを尊敬します。

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I'm surprised to read mdchachi's comment. The honor is more than I deserve. (Does this phrase sound right here? I haven't used it before. )

The reason why most of us are bad at English is that we do not use the language in our lives. People in Malaysia and Singapore use English every day. So it's meaningless to compare them with us.

What we should worry about is that the English level of Japanese students has dropped recently. Thirty years ago, top high school students could write much better English. Now even "advanced" high school students can't write simpler sentences. Their level of English will probably continue to drop because of the stupid policy of the Japanese govenment. And it can influence the Japanese economy for the worse. (Would you correct my English if needed?)

hirashin said:

I'm surprised to read mdchachi's comment. The honor is more than I deserve. (Does this phrase sound right here? I haven't used it before. )

Click to expand...

The phrase sounds fine. But no need to be so humble.

hirashin said:

What we should worry about is that the English level of Japanese students has dropped recently. Thirty years ago, top high school students could write much better English. Now even "advanced" high school students can't write simpler sentences. Their level of English will probably continue to drop because of the stupid policy of the Japanese govenment. And it can influence the Japanese economy for the worse. (Would you correct my English if needed?)

Click to expand...

Your English here is perfectly fine.
The only thing I would change is to use "simple" instead of "simpler." And of course the misspelling of government.

Thanks, mdchachi, for your ongoing help. I really appreciate it.

hirashin said:

Their level of English will probably continue to drop because of the stupid policy of the Japanese govenment.

Click to expand...

Check your English ability with 'notorious' Korean college entrance exam

Check your English ability with 'notorious' Korean college entrance exam

"The English test of Korea's College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT) is notoriously difficult ― so much so that many native English speakers (well-educated adults) have called it a "CRAZY" test after looking through some of the texts and questions put on test takers' desks.

"This year's test, conducted on Thursday, is said to be "tougher to answer" compared with previous years.

"Here are sample texts and questions from the 2018 CSAT English test.

"Check your English ability with them ― and imagine how hard it is to live in Korea as high school students studying for the CSAT.

"Don't cheat!

"(You can download all texts, questions and answers here [link])

"PS: Test takers were given 45 questions that needed to be answered in 70 minutes.

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"Q21. What does "refining ignorance" mean?"

(cont.)