English proficiency is an indicator of the quality of the skills set of the citizens of a country.

Education First (EF) is a private English training course established in 1965. Each year it ranks countries by their proficiency in English to form a proficiency index. The English Proficiency Index of 2011 recently was published. According to this, Turkey is the forty-third among forty-four countries. It appears that we have passed only Kazakhstan in English proficiency. To check the EF's results, I referred to a more comprehensive list: TOEFL score rankings. But I think they were correct. Let us admit: Turkey does not speak English! Is this bad? Yes, indeed. In what sense? In the sense that Turkey cannot become the tenth biggest economy of the world unless it solves this problem. Let me tell you why.

First, let me refer to a point that most troubles you. "Turkish and English are distant languages; one is prefixed, the other is suffixed." Yes, you are right. Language distance is the first factor that hinders the proficiency in one language. Therefore, you can at first glance tolerate the fact that Turkey ranks at the bottom of the European countries in any ranking. This is also probably why Thailand ranks forty-second on the EF list. But this is not the case with China, which ranks twenty-ninth. Similarly, Hong Kong ranks twelfth and Japan ranks fourteenth. Then, what? Then, language distance is not that critical. This is the first point.

The second point we have to keep in mind must be the following: all of the ten largest economies of the world today have better proficiency in English than Turkey: The US (native language), China, Japan, Germany, France, the UK (native language), Brazil, Italy, Canada (native language), and India. You also may check the scores. What is more, this also is the case for the top twenty! Among the twenty largest economies of the world, Turkey ranks at the bottom in terms of English proficiency. The seventeenth largest economy ranks twentieth in English proficiency. The second ten: Russia, Spain, Australia (OK, the native language), Mexico, South Korea, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Switzerland, Poland! And Turkey ranks at the bottom. Then, how can Turkey become the tenth largest economy of the world? This was the commitment, right? So let this be the second point.

The third one proves that there is a problem with Turkey. What is the source of it? Academic studies on proficiency in English as a second language state that there are three factors other than the language distance that are critical for success. First is the overall quality of education. Second is the duration of education. Third is the funds allocated for learning a second language in addition to those for formal education. Turkey has problems in all three areas. Turkey's problem is the education system, which has not come onto the reform agenda. This is the third point.

In short, English proficiency is an indicator of the quality of the skills set of the citizens of a country.

There are publications about the fear of globalization. I understood what the concept referred to in one episode of a Turkish sit-com called "Çocuklar Duymasın" (The children shouldn't hear). The firm which employed some of the characters of the show was to be sold to a foreign company. Everybody was alarmed. The old hierarchical order collapsed. Everyone was trying to learn English in a rush. Thus, lack of skills is frightening.

Some friends have been asking me what I thought about the "crazy project." What can I say? If you fail to improve the skills of the citizens, you naturally will try to increase the land value of the country.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 06.05.2011