Policy Note/Selim Koru & Jesper Åkesson Turkey’s English Deficit

"In a popular television comedy, a nervous character one night barges into his coworker’s apartment. 'It’s all over, over I tell you!' he shouts. Their company, he says, is being bought up by Americans. He drops on the sofa, hands covering his face. 'No English! No Computer skills! We're done for!' His friend tries to calm him down, and they decide to try to get by with what English they speak.

The next morning they arrive at the new office the American company bought and furnished for them. Not bad, they think. It occurs to them that they’ll be earning dollars from now on. One of them breaks into cheerful song, spraying imaginary money around. But the other is worried. 'How do you say in English you're glad to meet someone?' he asks. His colleague thinks for a second and shouts in English 'How old are you!' But he is rebuked. 'No you idiot, that's how you ask someone how they’re doing.'

Finally the new American boss, a red haired woman, arrives. Speaking through a translator, she lays down the law. Everyone has to be in the office at 8:00am. Everyone is to meet at least four customers a day. Oh, and everyone who can’t learn English within two months will be let go. 'What?!' the men exclaim, their eyes open with terror. 

Nothing breeds anxiety like the inability to communicate. And communication, and thereby knowledge, is becoming the currency of an increasingly global economy. The English language has become so fundamental to work environments that it can be counted up right alongside computer skills. And Turks, as the scenario portrays, are far behind..."