November 18, 2022

English Gains in Russia


English Gains in Russia
Amador Loureiro

The annual rating of English language proficiency worldwide compiled by English First shows Russia holding steady, notwithstanding anti-Western propaganda and travel bans.

English First conducts an annual survey of English proficiency worldwide, based on test data from more than 2,100,000 test takers who took the EF Standard English Test (EF SET) or one of the company's English placement tests in 2021.

By that measure, Russia landed in 40th place worldwide, or in the "moderate proficiency" band, with a score of 530 (Netherlands topped the list with a score of 661). That ranked the country just below Belarus and just above Moldova, and only a few steps below Itay, Spain, and France.

The highest-ranking city in Russia was Yekaterinburg, which edged out Moscow by one point. Last year, Russia ranked 51st, and the year before that 41st. Russia's highest ranking in the global survey was exactly a decade ago, in 2012, when it came in 29th place.

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The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

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Woe From Wit (bilingual)

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The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
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