October 2, 2018
International comparisons
From Pew Research, via Twitter
That list of European countries, presumably intended to give the most meaningful comparison to the USA, is a bit unusual.
It includes Malta and Cyprus and Lichtenstein, but doesn’t include Ireland or the UK.
Thomas Lumley (@tslumley) is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Auckland. His research interests include semiparametric models, survey sampling, statistical computing, foundations of statistics, and whatever methodological problems his medical collaborators come up with. He also blogs at Biased and Inefficient See all posts by Thomas Lumley »
Yeah it is trying to make US look ignorant by ignoring other countries where English is primary language. Most of the “foreign” languages learned in Europe is English.
A quick browse finds just 8% in England study a second language. I suspect Ireland, Australia and NZ also around or below the US mark of 20%
6 years ago
Also, in Ireland as in NZ, some of those studying a second language will not be studying a foreign language.
6 years ago
Absolutely. In Ireland everyone in primary school and nearly everyone in secondary school studies Irish. Canada’s data would be close to 100% as well…but not a foreign language.
6 years ago
Even in the US, studying Spanish wouldnt considered a foreign language, with maybe 50 mill speakers.
6 years ago