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Swedes best non-native English speakers

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Dynamite Shikoku said:
Now which native country speaks the worst English
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I'm guessing South Africa or Scotland. But maybe I'm biased by the incomprehensible accent.

Newfoundland should be in the running too :P Not a country, but it joined Canada so recently...
 
Dont see Estonia on there, from personal experience i think they would have been in the very high proficiency bracket if they were included, never met an Estonian who cant speak good English.
 
Nocebo said:
In the Netherlands we started dubbing foreign kids shows years ago and I think that's a shame. Since I learned most of my English from watching transformers and Visionaries of the Mystical Light, Battle beasts, MASK etc. etc. on Sky Channel's Fun factory when I was a kid. Oh the memories. I mean why wouldn't you want that?
Luckily the other stuff isn't being dubbed.
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As far as I'm aware we have always dubbed kids shows in Sweden so I don't think you have to worry too much about that.
 
No suprise, everyone i met from Sweden knew perfect English.
I always complain how we Ducthies have a horrible English accent, but now i think about it, at least most of us are pretty damn good at a second language, which is pretty awesome.
 
The english language is pretty much embedded in our culture and society. We also use alot of english words in our daily language but we sort of "swedify" them to make 'em fit.
 
strata said:
Tasmania.
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Do they count as a separate thing?

BocoDragon said:
It isn't? A British commonwealth country........?
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Remember it was first a Dutch colony, then English and South Africans adapted by mixing both languages together. (At least the colonists, the majority are still indigenous)

The most common language spoken at home by South Africans is Zulu (23 percent speak Zulu at home), followed by Xhosa (16 percent), and Afrikaans (14 percent). English is the fourth most common home language in the country (9.6%), but is understood in most urban areas and is (mainly for political reasons) the dominant language in government and the media
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pants said:
Remember it was first a Dutch colony, then English and South Africans adapted by mixing both languages together. (At least the colonists, the majority are still indigenous)
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Well as you say, English is the dominant language in government and media.... But touche on the nuance, there.
 
Another thing we're #1 at. Cool. :)

Sveedän represänt

I've been mistaken for an American twice in my life, both times by actual Americans.
 
Kinyou said:
The rest of the world prefers to party while Sweden studies
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But that's not the case. As stated in the article and as is apparent according to this thread - studying more isn't what makes people more proficient. It's using the language every day.

I haven't formally studied english in almost ten years, but my English proficiency has improved tremendously regadles.
 
People always think i'm Australian for some reason when i speak English.
I'm cool with that though, at least i'm not mistaken for an American.
 
Arjen said:
People always think i'm Australian for some reason when i speak English.
I'm cool with that though, at least i'm not mistaken for an American.
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Be glad your not mistaken for being Dutch - the Dutch English accent is one of the easiest to spot
 
I'd believe it. I've worked with Swedes who I didn't know were Swedish at all until later. Yes, their accent was slightly different, but some of them actually just sound vaguely 'BBC-British', with a slight twist (and a slight mix-in of an Irish accent, me being in Dublin and all).
 
BocoDragon said:
Well as you say, English is the dominant language in government and media.... But touche on the nuance, there.
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Those 9.6% speak better English than the actual English lol. The people who drag everyone else through the mud are the 14 percent of the population that are Afrikaans and practice some form of butchered English as their second
 
Bazza said:
Dont see Estonia on there, from personal experience i think they would have been in the very high proficiency bracket if they were included, never met an Estonian who cant speak good English.
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Outside of Tallinn I met plenty people who couldn't speak english at all. In Tallinn it was another case, everybody spoke english.
 
Good timing, I was listening to a Swedish House Mafia set during my workout and thought to myself - 'damn these guys speak English well'
 
BocoDragon said:
Meanwhile.. the Swedes picked up more foreign girls because they were better at English.
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AkimbO_Arcana said:
Nope, they just watch their saturday morning shows in english, that's pretty much all.
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Erasus said:
I learned a lot of english from being on the internet, KoTOR, TV shows, movies and MMOs
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Jasup said:
But that's not the case. As stated in the article and as is apparent according to this thread - studying more isn't what makes people more proficient. It's using the language every day.

I haven't formally studied english in almost ten years, but my English proficiency has improved tremendously regadles.
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I was just trying to save some of my country's dignity :'(
 
I think its funny as I have been to the 3 countries that sit on the top of this list. Like all other countries I have visited, I have had some form of pocket translation.

Yet in Sweden, Denmark & Holland, not once did I need to use it.
 
It's all part of a grander plot for Scandinavian world domination, no species of human was meant to look so good and be so smart, without genetic engineering, in some kind of super soldier programme.

When the next ice age hits, which group of people do you think are the best prepared for it...
 
Chinner said:
they can probably speak english better than a lot of the people from america or the UK
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In a certain sense you are correct. Here in the UK we pretty much all have certain words and phrases that become part of each particular regions way of speaking.

So for the countries that learn English as a 2nd language, its by a purer form of English language
 
DeFiBkIlLeR said:
It's all part of a grander plot for Scandinavian world domination, no species of human was meant to look so good and be so smart, without genetic engineering, in some kind of super soldier programme.

When the next ice age hits, which group of people do you think are the best prepared for it...
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Geordies...
 
What the hell is Finland doing in the top 5? Come on, now. I've lived and worked in a place/industry where I met tons of people from all over the world and the worst english speakers are easily the finnish and the french. Italians and spaniards are pretty awful at it too. Dutchies are pretty damn good, norwegians are as good as swedes and most germans do all right.
 
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