Germany has fallen behind Poland and several other neighbours in the race to improve English skills essential for securing cross-border trade. EF’s annual study shows that Germans have superior English skills to Asians or Africans, but this is hardly surprising as natives of those countries speak languages that are almost totally unrelated to English.

But the EF English Proficiency Index also shows that Austria ranks three places higher than Germany in what should be a fair competition. The Scandinavians and Dutch predictably have the highest levels of English, but who would have expected the Polish to achieve sixth place. 

For Germans such results are highly significant. As an exporting country, ability in English is key for winning contracts and caring for customers abroad.