The Portuguese appear in 6th place in a ranking on knowledge of Englishaccording to an international study carried out in 123 countries, in which Portuguese students and teachers stand out.
On a scale of 800 points, the Portuguese obtained 612 values, well above the world average of 488 pointsaccording to the ranking Education First English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) 2025, released this Wednesday and which included 2.2 million participants.
In the English test, which assessed knowledge of reading, listening, speaking and writing, Portugal comes in 6th place, just slightly below the Netherlands, which occupies 1st place with 624 points, followed by Croatia, Austria, Germany and Norway.
The study shows that the oral expression continues to be the biggest challenge. In more than half of the countries assessed, speaking English is the weakest skill. In Portugal, for example, speaking is 130 points below reading, the skill in which the Portuguese were strongest, obtaining 632 points.
Looking at the country, it is in the center and north that there are more knowledge: Coimbra, Braga, Aveiro and Viseu are the districts where English is best spoken. At city level, Coimbra leads the national ranking, with 639 points, followed by Guimarães and Aveiro.
Among the regions with worst resultsstand out Bragança and Viana do Casteloboth with a district average below 600 points. Setúbal is the city with the lowest national score (596).
In Portugal the students and teachers achieved the best resultswith averages around 650 points. Next are professionals in the legal and Information Technology areas, according to the study.
Constança Oliveira e Sousa, from EF in Portugal, highlighted the impact of translation tools based on artificial intelligence (AI) on knowledge in oral and written expression: “These tools allow instant translations, which can reduce motivation to learn a language from the beginning”, he argued.
On the other hand, he recognized that AI can also bring new opportunities to learn languages, namely through personalized exercises that are accessible at any time of the day.