Interesting Article In La Nacion

[wineguy999]

You stop someone on the street in Santiago, they will speak some English. A taxi driver speaks some English. An employee in the pharmacy may well speak some English. Same for Montevideo. Here this is simply not (as) true. No amount of rankings will change that.

It's an interesting question why the rankings diverge so sharply from what you see on the street, but my personal experience is not going anywhere on account of this article.

In Argentina, I find that more people speak a bit of English than are willing to admit. They're embarrassed to use it when a native speaker is around.

 

[Noesdeayer]

9600....
.I would bet that about 95% of those 500,000 Uruguayans, you mention came more than 10 years ago.Re. the Chileans you stll could be geting some university students but that would be about it. Very few quaified job searchers leave Chile to work.Chile is getting a lot of Spanish profesonals as well. By the way,Chile has recently made changes in ther education law.The 2 most highly ranked univesities in L.A. are still,I believe, 1) A Universidade de Sao Paulo and 2) La Universidad Catolica de Chile.

 

[sesamosinsal]

You stop someone on the street in Santiago, they will speak some English. A taxi driver speaks some English. An employee in the pharmacy may well speak some English. Same for Montevideo. Here this is simply not (as) true. No amount of rankings will change that.

It's an interesting question why the rankings diverge so sharply from what you see on the street, but my personal experience is not going anywhere on account of this article.

I think Chile, Argentina and Uruguay are all pretty bad with English, and I can say this from my experience as I work in a company that specifically deals with corporate language training. Santiago, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo leave a lot to be desired, and companies in this of the world do not seriously invest in language training either.

 

[Matiasba]

9600....
.I would bet that about 95% of those 500,000 Uruguayans, you mention came more than 10 years ago.Re. the Chileans you stll could be geting some university students but that would be about it. Very few quaified job searchers leave Chile to work.Chile is getting a lot of Spanish profesonals as well. By the way,Chile has recently made changes in ther education law.The 2 most highly ranked univesities in L.A. are still,I believe, 1) A Universidade de Sao Paulo and 2) La Universidad Catolica de Chile.

Regarding to uruguayans, yes, they came 10 or more years ago. But they do not return to Uruguay. They stay here.

And about chileans, maybe Catolica is better than UBA, who knows, the important thing to consider here is that one is entirely free, the other you have to pay. That is a huge difference, in my opinion. That is, as said before, the main reason why Argentina has positive migration influx with Chile. Chile is very prosperous now, better institutions, less corruption, growing, an open economy, with almost no industry though (unlike Argentina) and strongly dependant of copper, but is a more clean and organised economy than Argentina. If education was free in Chile, the migration situation would be different. But it is not. And houndreds of thousands of chileans come every year to study here.

 

[Matiasba]

Also, if we try to understand why Argentina recieves immigration from almost all South American countries (Peru, Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, and dont know of Venezuela and Ecuador), theres something that still makes Argentina unique, that is, the better Gini coefficient of the region. Latin America is the more unequal region of the world, by far, but with Argentina is like something remains from other times, look at this map:

 

[Pensador]

LOL I am sorry but I bet the guy that wrote this helps with the inflation data. I would never believe any data coming out of Argentina. In my own personal experience day to day living Uruguay crushes Argentina in English. And for that matter they speak Spanish way better.

 

[Pensador]

Also, if we try to understand why Argentina recieves immigration from almost all South American countries (Peru, Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, and dont know of Venezuela and Ecuador), theres something that still makes Argentina unique, that is, the better Gini coefficient of the region. Latin America is the more unequal region of the world, by far, but with Argentina is like something remains from other times, look at this map:

When everyone is on social programs, subsidies or hand outs and or working for the government data can be deceiving. And again I would never trust any data relating to Argentina.

 

[ben]

In Argentina, I find that more people speak a bit of English than are willing to admit. They're embarrassed to use it when a native speaker is around.

I found this to be true in France. There, it was completely normal to be dealing with someone who could speak English, but would refuse to. The whole "we're in France, we speak French here" thing. And once you started in French, people would often appreciate it and use their English far more freely.

Here, it's no act - they actually don't speak English. Maybe 'a bit', but not to any decent standard.

 

[Noesdeayer]

9600... Free university education doesn't necessarily mean better education.In a healthy economy there are loans and scholarships
for qualifiying students who need financial assistance.When asked why all Spanish universities were not free."Felipillo" Gonzalez-a resposible socialist-amswered,, " In Spain the education that is obligatory is free.That which is not,is not".Moreover,it is not very realistic to assume that the central gov't of any country should finance all education out of their federal budget.Ways of local financing are more practical and efficient.Like it or not- in the end analysis-you almost always get what you pay for.