P. Ezra Vasquez's Blog

If you had asked me which two non-English-speaking, non-European countries should rank well on a survey of English-language ability, I would have said Japan and Mexico.

So, it’s disheartening that a destination with such an iconic English-language-teaching reputation and that still ranks 2nd on many lists of best places to teach English abroad continues to suffer from poor overall English proficiency:

A 2023 survey by the Swiss international education company EF Education First, which measures the English proficiency of people in 113 non-English speaking countries and regions, found that Japan ranked eighty-seventh overall and was fifteenth among the 23 Asian countries and regions. Japan is at the fourth level out of five set by the company, equating to “low proficiency” (64–90).

The survey gathered and analyzed data from free tests taken online by a total of 2.2 million people worldwide for EF’s English Proficiency Index. By region, 34% of test takers were from Europe, 23% each from Asia and Africa, 20% from Central and South America, and 13% from the Middle East. The median age was 26.

Countries that ranked alongside Japan included Malawi in eighty-sixth place, Afghanistan at eighty-eighth, and Mexico at eighty-ninth.

In the first survey conducted in 2011, Japan placed fourteenth; however, at that time only 40 countries provided testing data. As the number of countries gradually increases with each survey, Japan is continuing to fall in rank.

Japan’s English Proficiency Continues to Drop Among Non-English-Speaking Countries | Nippon.com

As surprising as Japan’s failure to rank higher on this list strikes me, Mexico’s place might come as more of a surprise. While the Japanese language presents its speakers with unique hurdles, Spanish presents few barriers.

As someone who has visited both countries and works in Japan, my intuitive sense is that the problem stems from more a lack of motivation than resource. The onus lies on English-language programs to communicate the benefit and importance of English as a portal to the world for local populations.