City
Epaper

Italy ranks lowest for English-language proficiency in EU

By IANS | Updated: November 9, 2019 10:10 IST

A new report from the English Proficiency Index showed that Ital were the least proficient speakers of the language in the European Union (EU), though the country was still well within the top half of the hundred countries measured by the report.

Open in App

The ninth edition of the report was released earlier this week, with the country-specific breakdown unveiled on Friday, reports Xinhua news agency.

The report showed that Italy, on an average, was the 36th most fluent country when it came to speakers of English in countries where it was not the national language.

In the breakdown , it was revealed that Emilia-Romagna, the central Italian region that includes Bologna, Parma, and Modena, has the highest proficiency in Italy, followed closely by Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the northeastern Italian region that includes the port city of Trieste, and Lombardy, the northern region that includes Milan. Sicily is the lowest-ranked Italian region.

Lazio, the region that includes Rome, was in the middle of the pack.

Though there are 64 countries rated behind Italy on the list, Italy was still the lowest-ranked EU member state on the list, just behind Spain (35th), Latvia (32nd), and France (31st).

All four of those EU member states ranked in the list's "moderate" section, the middle of the five levels from the English Proficiency Index report.

The top-rated country on the list is The Netherlands, followed by three more EU countries: Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. These three were among the 12 EU countries in the "very high" section on the list.

At the bottom end of the list, from the "very low" section for English proficiency, were Kyrgyzstan and Libya.

( With inputs from IANS )

Open in App

Related Stories

NationalDharmasthala case: Karnataka High Court quashes externment order issued to activist Mahesh Shetty Thimarody

BusinessCyient, Azimuth launch semiconductor chip with wide range of applications; IP to reside in India

NationalRs 3 lakh compensation for family of student who died in 2015 Myladuthurai college accident

Other SportsCycling Federation of India, Vedanta partner for 'Tour de Thar' - India's first desert endurance cycling race

NationalGujarat govt hosts CM fellowship youth workshop; focus on people-centric reforms

International Realted Stories

InternationalSouth Korea: Special counsel expected to indict ex-President Yoon

InternationalDefence MoS meets UAE counterpart in Dubai, vows stronger ties

InternationalBRICS emerges as new global hub of food security

InternationalUS lawmakers seek probe into TP-Link over fears of CCP surveillance on military

InternationalSouth Korea proposes military talks with North Korea to prevent possible clashes at border