Zoe Holman

A global index on English language proficiency has cast Cambodia against the international trend of improving standards, with the Kingdom ranking 69th of 70 countries and territories surveyed and the lowest among 16 Asian participants.

Released this week, the annual English Proficiency Index, the world’s largest ranking of countries by English skills, surveyed almost 1 million adults around the world, compiling the results from countries with a minimum of 400 participants.

Despite an overall global improvement, Cambodia ranked in the “very low” band for the second year running, with only Libya scoring lower. While Vietnam and Thailand were both surveyed, neighbouring Laos and developing ASEAN partners like Myanmar were not included.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/english-skills-lagging-behind-global-trend

I find that odd. My own very unscientific experience is that I have found more people in Cambodia who speak English than in Thailand.

I find that odd. My own very unscientific experience is that I have found more people in Cambodia who speak English than in Thailand.

I have 20 staff here in Phnom Penh, 17 of whom speak English. Even some Tuk Tuk drivers speak better than average English here. When I worked in Thailand, had I not learned the language, I would have been unable to communicate with 90% of my staff.

Thailand fell to 62nd out of 70 nations in English proficiency and is now the third-worst country in Asia on Education First’s annual English Proficiency Index.

I find that odd. My own very unscientific experience is that I have found more people in Cambodia who speak English than in Thailand.

I agree. I recently returned from a trip to Phnom Penh and Sihanoukvillle. On my return I stopped over in Bangkok and Phuket. The locals encountered--airline, taxi, hotel, restaurant, street vendor, and bar staff--spoke better English in Cambodia than they did in Thailand.

Surveying 400 people per country has an extraordinarily high chance of misleading results.

If a Sociology student ran that survey for a course they would have utterly failed. It was about as scientific as New Age healing Crystal Magic.

Frankly, to me, it smells like a political tool more than a scientific survey.

In going to Angkor Wat found that the young kids, 9 or 10 years old, hustling the tourists had better verbal English skills than most Thai Graduates.

At Angkor Wat the nine ten year old hustlers spoke better clearer English than most Thai Graduates.