MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentine women are the most fluent English speakers in Latin America
Argentines are the most fluent English-speakers in Latin America according to the EF English Proficiency Index 2015 report — a study that analyzes the State of Worldwide English Proficiency. Globally the country came in 15th place out of the 70 countries that participated in the study, which uses test data from 910,000 adults. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesWell, fluent english would be a plus in finding a gringo husband to take you away from the place..... nothing new there...
Nov 05th, 2015 - 06:59 am - Link - Report abuse 0I wonder what the UK Spanish proficiency index would show ?
Nov 05th, 2015 - 11:09 am - Link - Report abuse 0Again, all you need is “una cerveza por favor ”
@1
Nov 05th, 2015 - 12:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Don't complain.
A “fluent English speaker” argentine girl would be good for you too. For sure you will be able to pick up a girl well above your regular, and natural, expectations. A poor but beautiful and well educated girl will be a blesing for you.
@2 the extent of UK Spanish proficiency need only include such phrases as “as soon as your commander can change into his prettiest uniform, please advise him that at 1200 today he is to be at the surrender ceremony....”
Nov 05th, 2015 - 12:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As far as las argentinas, we would do well to remember the news observations a couple of years ago, that “.... Argentina. The country has the distinction of being home to more psychologists per capita than anywhere else in the world....” From far too much experience in this matter, I submit that Argentine women are on the whole the most chronically neurotic in the world. Language skills and superficial belleza do not adequately offset the inevitable effects of congenital insanity coupled with 40 percent annual inflation.
@4
Nov 05th, 2015 - 01:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Hahahaha, yes, yes and yes.
Argentine women are, on average, hysterical, neurotic, irrational and deadly jealous. This, combined with 10 hours a week in the gym, healthy (light) eating and Italian genes make them into some of the most dangerous operators a heterosexual man can possibly run into. Of course, they are nothing but victims of a bizarre culture where cheating is the norm and, apparently, one a the very few ways to avoid relative poverty is by being sexually attractive.
@4 with 40% annual inflation these ladies arent going to continue looking good for long. Is it down to Choripans?
Nov 05th, 2015 - 02:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Houston/Miami are overrun with rotting roadkillian hussies hunting for a gringo. lol.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 02:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Analyzed from how intellectually challenging an activity it is, learning English for Argentines is just a hobby similar to hosing the garden every morning, or hanging clothes to dry in the backyard. That's why so many speak it in a country where English is probably in the least useful of any other country in the world, since we don't depend on Anglos for anything, and since we don't trade with anyone.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 03:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Nostril - shut up! Get back in that cell. You consistently spout the worst balderdash here. Stop embarrassing your home country.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 03:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You dont trade with anyone because your beef is poisoned, your wine is like dishwater, no-one trusts you and you dont posess any foreign currency to buy anything. Keep picking up cardboard and plastic bottles and shut it.
Yes, I will trade my beef for that plastic industrial trash that is called Uruguayan, Brazilian, and Paraguayan beef. hahahah.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 03:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#8 really....shut up quique and go back to your country news blogging and report on Sam Wright's ideas on growth.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 03:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It's that time of year again, I have a friend in Gessell that needs help in the summer with the handle and trade of precious stones, including Jade and Obsidian. Good pay, plenty of time at the beach, and beautiful English-capable Spanish speaking women.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 03:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Anyone interested I will forward the contact.
Do not engage NOSTRILS @12
Nov 05th, 2015 - 03:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0He has nothing relevant to say, and lives in a fantasy world.
The comment by @8 is splendid evidence of the effects of Peronist brainwashing, and of course nothing is further from the truth.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 03:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The utility of English in Argentina's trade is quite significant. In fact I am told that most of the interactions between Asian business representatives and the argentos is conducted in .... English. In fact a neighbour here in southern Patagonia who does not speak English has me play the interpreter for his Japanese clients, who recognise that the language of trade internationally is ....naturally..... English.
“ we don't trade with anyone” ha ha, still laughing over that one. So.... Argentina doesn't import about US$ 4 billion a year in auto parts so that they can “assemble” cars and trucks? (Argentine assembly is a low-skill occupation, unlike manufacturing the parts, which for the most part must be done with skilled labour in the civilised nations). The USA alone provides something like US$23 billion a year in goods and services that Argentina, ummm, imports - and typically runs a trade surplus of some US$10 billion or so. And the UK, where I believe English is still spoken, provides Argentina with millions in motor vehicles, chemicals, medical equipment, specialised machinery, and on and on. In fact the UK is one of Argentina's leading sources of imports, normally in the top 20 . But to the blinkered argento, “we don't trade with anyone.” ¡¡¡¡ Divino !!!
@14 You make some good points and it is quite appalling that so many Argentines accept what they are told by their government as fact, without question. TTT is an example of that.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 04:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes, Argentina trades but ask an Argentine on the street and they think they are a great manufacturing nation and don't need anything from Johnny Foreigner. Pure arrogance is easy to manipulate.
This piece of information goes on to show how a glimpse of the real Argentina--a country where the governments in the last decade have heavily invested in education.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 04:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And most of the ramblings above just show the extent of the disappointment when a good news story comes along.
Real sad.
@16 Good to hear the government places so much importance on Argentines learning English in school. It certainly is good news.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 04:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes, however if you've been to Argentina you would also note the Chinese language being taught in schools everywhere, including parochial and private schools. Parochial is the safe alternative to public brainwashing is they cannot afford private schools.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 04:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@16… and how many foreigners outside China speak Chinese - zilch. Why, because English is the universal language, the language of trade, films, the air, the sea. You should know you live in a largely English speaking British Commonwealth country.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 05:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Its a great pity that Argentina doesnt teach economics and civilised behavior in its schools instead of spite hate venom and downright lies. The brainwashing of the masses in Argentina, government control of the media is something of which Argentines should be thoroughly ashamed.
@18 Captain Poppy
Nov 05th, 2015 - 05:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0But which Chinese language? And which dialect of that language? That's the problem.
My sister works for a firm that has parts for its product made in China, and they also do a lot of trade with China. She attended a meeting with lots of high ranking Chinese officials from various companies that her company does business with, and there were about 10 interpreters there! One translating from English into one Chinese dialect, then another interpreting that into a second dialect, and so on and so forth!
It is no wonder that China has more English speakers than any other country on earth. Yes it is usually a second language, but it as language that they can speak to each other in, as well as do business with the rest of the world.
I can only conclude that Argentines are learning Chinese so they can kowtow correctly when they become a minor province of the greater Chinese Empire.
English is the first International language. Spanish is the second; at the moment.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 06:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Speaking English is probably a relaxing experience instead of the low level Jibber-jabber spoken in Argentina.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 06:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0ALL of my Argentine friends in Uruguay speak English far better than the youngsters around Stoke on Trent who prefer to text you, not speak with you.
Unemployable by large part due to the stupid 'language' they use AND they still think they speak English!
I think you all missed my point. Anyway, Lep I have no idea. It was mererly an observation and not an enrollment for me. I'm taking Spanish at a local community college. That's enough for me.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 06:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 016 Enrique,
Nov 05th, 2015 - 08:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I have to agree that this “good news story” should not be an opportunity to knock these women for doing something worthwhile, learning another language, but especially English, a language potentially useful to them in business.
However, if it is to be attributed to a CFK/Peronist initiative, I have serious doubts.
As NOSTRILS @8 and @12 clearly demonstrates, the anti-foreigner rhetoric coming from the government, especially the UK and “Anglos”, is repeated by a brainwashed public. The message seems to be that the UK and Anglos are sabotaging the Argentine economy and are undermining Argentine autonomy with Sepoys and predatory trade practices.
Hardly a message of, “let's give them a leg up and teach them English”!
#24 Troy
Nov 05th, 2015 - 09:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0No, you got it wrong. Argentina has always been open to the world and has always recognized the difference between the people at large and the governments and organizations that conspire against the country.
@23
Nov 05th, 2015 - 10:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Here we go again, it is the governments and organisations conspiring against the Argentine Government. Why, Oh why, are Argies always accusing others for their failings?
25 Enrique
Nov 05th, 2015 - 10:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“...and the governments and organizations that conspire against the country”
Do you honestly think that is happening? A “conspiracy” against Argentina?
Who springs to mind, Enrique?
Which governments?
Is the UK included in the at list?
Yes, I'm sure the BRITISH want a successful, prosperous Argentina.
Nov 05th, 2015 - 10:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0hahahaha.
I revel in the very typical arrogance of this thread “English the universal language”. Really? So it's spoken in Venus, Mars, Alpha Centauri, and Andromeda too?
But please keep up. As usual, ANGLOS thinking like this leads them to the conclusion they need to learn a grand total of ZERO foreign languages. Even a basic command of another language or two gives up an economic/career edge, not to speak of better mental cognition. I hear and read it all the time: ANGLOS who are rejected for a job over someone that is more than just monolingual. This trend that started 10 years ago is now multiplying. In a few years Anglo nations will be losing TENS of billions due to being less educated than basically everyone else. And well deserved.
#38
Nov 05th, 2015 - 11:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0We really don't give a tinker's damn about Argentina. They are of no importance in the great scheme of things. At present they seem to be beyond the pale. It's all a great conspiracy against them. Whatever is happening to them is someone else's fault.
I really did not realise that there was sentient life on Venus Mars etc but if so, they probably would speak English if they wished to speak to anyone intelligent on earth...certainly not the form of Spanish in spoken in Argentina.
Bye the way, have your self proclaimed language skills given you access to a high - powered career ? If so, what is it.
All you seem to do is wallow in self-pity...man-up...go to B.A. and astound them with your business skills and then we may take you seriously...
Enrique
Nov 05th, 2015 - 11:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Does Nostrils @18 speak for you and for Argentina?
I have nothing but admiration for Argentine women. They have to put up with Argentine men. I might balk at the idea of CFK though.
Nov 06th, 2015 - 01:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0@16 “ .... the real Argentina--a country where the governments in the last decade have heavily invested in education....”
Nov 06th, 2015 - 02:01 am - Link - Report abuse 0This must be coming with someone who is mercilessly unclear on what is happening with Argentine education today. Only about half of the adolescents in this country have completed secondary education (in neighbouring Chile the figure is closer to 80 percent). And the Argentine government schools unsurprisingly perform much worse than the private schools. One of the legacies of the Kirchner government is that only about 30 percent of the adolescents who attend state secondary schools here come away with diplomas.
32 Marti,
Nov 06th, 2015 - 02:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0“This must be coming with someone who is mercilessly unclear on what is happening with Argentine education today.”
Interesting comment, Marti.
Enrique Massot may or may not know if everything he writes is true. He has lived in Canada or outside of Arg. for decades.
He repeats CFK's government propaganda verbatim and has no way of knowing the real situation.
He rejects everything he is told that conflicts with the official version of events.
1. if their English proficiency is so good why don't they interface with the Falklanders?
Nov 06th, 2015 - 06:40 am - Link - Report abuse 02. So when will they start speaking decent Spanish?
Well, in spite of all the hate and BS ....
Nov 06th, 2015 - 10:52 am - Link - Report abuse 01- I am happy and proud to see this. Great news. I hope more and more people can speak proper and fluent English. It is a fantastic, fun and quite useful language.
2- Lots of young folks down here speak English. I was a kid during the 80s and back then every single parent used to torture you with the “learn english” preach. Well, they were so right.
3- I have made only 3 good decisions during my adult life. Learning english is one of them. It gave me the key to a whole new and wider world.
4- Right before I graduated, I worked one year for one of those outsorced US phone companies here in Argentina. I spent the entire year speaking in english. We were a group (just in my team) of 20 guys/girls aged 20/30 and we all were able to speak it quite good. It was like a scholarship for me :) training my skills and being paid at the same time. All except me spent some time abroad, yet I was one of the top-reps in my group.
5- One day we will leave all this peronist/kirchnerite crap and we will be doing business with the world again. English will be needed.
6- If it was up to me, I would replace spanish by english.
7- I hardly meet a guy/girl aged 30 who can´t speak some english .
8- Women here are stunning ... and crazy. Sorry, that´s the way it is ;)
9- At last a piece of news we all can be happy about, yet some folks here seem to try to undermine it. Chill out people.
@29
Nov 06th, 2015 - 11:00 am - Link - Report abuse 0Sure we are of no importance. Who would have ever thought we would have one thing in common with the British.
And its an awful thought believe me.
#36
Nov 06th, 2015 - 12:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If we were of no importance then you have wasted your time learning English....along with thousands of your countrymen....or should I say women !
@36 The historical linkage between the UK and Argentina is indeed interesting.
Nov 06th, 2015 - 02:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0In the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was British capital, railroads, shipping, management, animal husbandry science, markets, and personnel that took Argentina from a hopelessly backward agrarian backwater up to the doorstep of a potentially civilised and productive nation. Of course, as La Cultura de Coima y Robo, populismo criollo and eventually Mussolini-inspired Peronist gangsterism replaced British civilising influence, Argentina began a long decline that we see in its monumentally corrupt and economically inept present sad state, where -- as noted earlier -- its social progress is exemplified in having fewer than half of the country's children finish secondary school.
Argentina's present true significance in the world is perhaps best observed in the following note: in 2014, South Korea submitted over 13,000 PCT patent applications. Argentina, just 33. That is the portrait of a país de cuarto, a mote of a country demonstrably best suited to the growing of beans.
Enrique,
Nov 06th, 2015 - 03:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Bravo to these women, and the people who learn another language.
Despite your government's public stance against the UK and the Falklands, including indoctrination of children, teaching them that the “English” are pirates, and potential aggressors towards Argentina, and ”militarising the South Atlantic, it seems a lot of people take it upon themselves to learn the language.
Are you saying it learning English is a product of a government initiative?
That seems to conflict with widespread anti-UK statements coming out of Argentina.
You mentioned @25 Enrique,
“...and the governments and organizations that conspire against the country”
Do you honestly think that is happening? A “conspiracy” against Argentina?
Who springs to mind, Enrique?
Which governments?
Is the UK included in the at list?
If that is how you feel, I don't know why you don't answer.
@37
Nov 06th, 2015 - 10:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It is not because people want to do anything with the British. If tomorrow everyone switched to Swahili, it would not mean it's because everyone wants to deal with Kenya.
@38
As usual your benighted content is enlightening and frightening.
The British did nothing in the 19th century. It was ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT POLICY that brought in capital, and the hard work of ARGENTINES that did all those things you mention. The British (among OTHERS), simply TRANSFERRED STOLEN TREASURE FROM ONE PART OF THEIR EMPIRE to invest in a country THEY WISHED WERE PART OF THEIR EMPIRE, but got kicked in the ARSE 70 years before, twice, so they had to settle for some sort of economic benefit. They made a profit out of the investment.
So no, using STOLEN treasure from others they conquered to put money so that Argentines build things and they made a profit is no act of benevolence, and just some sort of accident of history.
@39
I agree, bravo to anyone who learns another language. Which is why we will never utter this phrase when talking about mentally inept Anglos.
And the British are aggressors, always have been. Last work of aggression in the world was 10 years ago started BY THEM. And it has lead to a WORLDWIDE CATASTROPHE of terrorism, beheadings, refugee crises, economic turmoil, revolutions, mass tourist killings, etc.
Bravo to Blair and Bush, and btw they still have not been arrested yet due to the utter ineptitude and weakness of the Anglo justice system. (also no one jailed for the 2008 financial crisis, I guess “no one did it”, either).
But lets put the army around the Ecuadorian embassy to get a democrat, or lets put sanctions on a whole country because some former computer spy expert decided to air has number 9 Petition.
Anglo culture is pathetic, and sickening.
(and hypocrites of the highest caliber... in other words, ANGLOS will be ANGLOS).
The Argentine government teachings are 100% on the money.
#40 nice to see you put your tobi hat on quique. Is this what a lonely old man like you does for entertainment? Ever figure out that intersection of the farmers striking in Mendoza? Or describe a local establishment in detail? Of course not, not being a canadiense in the rockies.
Nov 06th, 2015 - 11:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I see el Chavo is in Argentina. Probably an invitation front Hanibel lecter Fernandez protecting his distribution chain.
Enrique,
Nov 07th, 2015 - 12:06 am - Link - Report abuse 0Our old friend NOSTRILS @40 says,
“The Argentine government teachings are 100% on the money”
He seems to be referring to the teachings of Argentine government propaganda that the UK and English are enemies, Pirates, and conspirators against Argentina.
Do you agree with that, too??
Nostril, shut up! Embarrassing your homeland again. Complete load of old tripe. Have you ever been to Kenya or anywhere in the Commonwealth? No!
Nov 07th, 2015 - 12:25 am - Link - Report abuse 0Idiota, get back in the straightjacket.
Fluency in other languages can only be applauded, sadly us British would come at the bottom of the table, the Argentines and Uruguayans that visited the UK for the rugby World Cup were a credit to their nation, hopefully Chile will be there next time?
Nov 07th, 2015 - 08:01 am - Link - Report abuse 0#40
Nov 07th, 2015 - 10:27 am - Link - Report abuse 0Well, maybe we CAN agree on something There seems little point in trying to have “normal diplomatic relations” with your basket case of a country if YOU are an example of what Argentina produces as balanced thinking citizen.
You have a self-inflicted victim mentality. It's much easier for you to blame everyone for your woes rather than face the unpleasant reality that maybe, just maybe, it's your own fault. Then you would lose the comfort of being the poor victim of a conspiracy and have to do something about it.
Please explain why and how the UK is plotting and conspiring to bring down your country. As far as I can see, all the histrionics are coming from your country over the ”most important matter in Argentine politics, the Falklands.
Just think of how you would enter a golden era of prosperity and admiration from the whole world's community if you could only acquire this Shangri-la of the S.Atlantic.
Keep up your diatribes as it appears that envy and hatred are the only things you have to keep you going. Without them, you are but an empty shell.
This is the one area where Argentina has surpassed their Chilean neighbors. I find this part of the article baffling: “The Index shows Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica and Uruguay as following Argentina in the Latin America rating.” Is that in order of ranking? If so, I call bullshit. There's no way Chile ranks that high. I'm married to a Chilena who speaks English very well, but none of her educated siblings speak even close to intelligible English. Only one of her friends truly speaks intelligible English. I lived there, and spend a month there a year, and still only a very small percentage of Chileans speak intelligible English. There's no way they rank higher than Mexico or Costa Rica on a percentage basis or raw numbers.
Nov 09th, 2015 - 08:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0We Americans still don't put a high enough priority on learning foreign languages. Even though the primary language of business is English, it still opens doors, commercially, culturally, etc.
@46 - your assessment of the generally poor English skills of the chileans is I believe quite accurate. I live in southern patagonia near the CL-AR frontier and get to observe the attempted interactions. This far south, however, few of the locally educated argentos or the locally educated chilenos can count to five in English. The nicer chilean hotels here in the south hire argentos from the north (mostly Bs As province) because they tend to have both acceptable (for Latin America) hotelier skills and adequate dominance of English, while the chileans tend to, as a rule, have substantially poorer performance in both and are often as descuidados and dumb as a box of rocks. Gross generalisations, but useful. Part of the problem with chilean school output is the chilean educators, unqualified, nonperforming, and led by a thoroughly marxist leadership (the chief of their national colegio de profesores is Jaime Gajardo, an unapologetic communist party member) .
Nov 09th, 2015 - 09:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Chileans are less educated, less multi-lingual and less good looking than Argentos; still the country is blowing past Argentina in economic growth due to one property: DISCIPLINE (of which Argentos got none - go figure)
Nov 09th, 2015 - 10:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0In Argentina there is a sizeable community of Brits and Irish and their descendents. For many of them, English is probably their mother-tongue, learned at home before Spanish.. There are also several dozen bilingual schools, some of which are very good. Many middle-class children start learning English when still toddlers.
Nov 09th, 2015 - 10:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@48 Unfortunately much of what you say is lamentably true. And I'd say only slightly less neurotic. Although there is arguably a sort of discipline present in Argentina. How else can we explain the restraint that is shown by the argentos in keeping from bashing in the heads of their massively corrupt and incompetent government leaders and punteros políticos?
Nov 10th, 2015 - 12:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0@ 49 - There is also a significant number of British descendants in Chile and many of them try to maintain English in the household. Unfortunately many (most?) of the private “British” schools in Chile are terrible. In the municipal schools the job of teaching English, which is theoretically mandatory, is sometimes shuttled off to a monolingual physical-education teachers or the like. But don't be surprised to meet a native in Chile with a surname like Morrison who doesn't speak a word of English.
Marti @ 50
Nov 10th, 2015 - 02:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0As teenagers, we used to play rugby against schools in Buenos Aires and Chile. The name “Grange” comes to mind in connection with Chile.
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