Bulgarians as Poorly Proficient in English as the French
Out of 43 European countries, 23 have showed better result than Bulgaria. Photo by ETS.org
Bulgarians are really bad in English, and rank 69th together with France in a 109 countries study.
In an article entitled "French Students Still Get a Zero for English", French daily Le Monde reports that an annual Europe-wide language test revealed just how bad Bulgarians are in English.
In total, 109 countries sat down for the English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) test, compulsory for foreign students wishing to study in an English-speaking country.
Bulgaria came in 69th in the ranking with an average of 88 points (out of 120) while Denmark (102), the Netherlands (102), Austria (100), and Belgium (98) headed up the leaders' board.
Out of 43 European countries, 23 have showed better result than Bulgaria. The worst results come from the Balkan region - Kosovo (73), Albania (77).
Internationally, the French are known to be fiercely proud of their language and its various dialects, refusing to anglicise as is commonly the case in other European countries like Germany and Italy.
In 1996, the French government famously adopted a law ruling that at least 40 percent of music played on private radio stations should be sung in French, a move which aimed to combat what the government described as the "English-language influence," especially from rap, rock and hip-hop from the US.
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