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Why do the Nordics & Dutch speak English so much better than the Germans, Italians & French?

New Working Paper: Out-of-School Learning: Subtitling vs. Dubbing and the Acquisition of Foreign-Language Skills w/ F. Baumeister & E. Hanushek nber.org/papers/w33984 A

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11:32 PM · Jul 6, 2025

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Ludger Woessmann

@Woessmann

Jul 6

Developing English-language skills is a near necessity in today’s global economy

Prior studies of language acquisition have focused on schools

We show an overwhelming influence of historical national decisions about whether to subtitle or dub TV content

2/12

Global importance of English: > 1 bn second-language speakers = 4x next-largest language In many countries, time spent watching TV > time spent in school Much TV content originally produced in English 3/12

Important difference in TV translation mode:

Subtitling exposes viewers to English voice track

whereas dubbing does not

Differences in learning opportunities outside of schools 4/12

Non-English-speaking European countries: prevalent exposure to English media Basic choice (subtitle/dub): historical after emergence of sound film in 1920s But if related to other country characteristics associated with general skill levels, simple comparisons misleading 5/12

Cross-country between-subject approach: We identify the causal effect of subtitling in a difference-in-differences specification that compares

English to math skills (1st diff)

in European countries that do & do not use subtitles (2nd diff) 6/12

We find a very strong positive effect of subtitling on English proficiency of population Effects are huge: > 1 SD

Consistent across 3 measures:

English Proficiency Index (EPI)

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)

Adult Education Survey (AES) 7/12

Effect is larger for listening & speaking skills

than for reading

Consistent with learning from oral TV transmission Effect strongest in youngest age group (16-34)

but also large for those aged 35-55 & 56-75

8/12

Placebo test: no effect of subtitling on native-language reading Effect is robust to accounting for

similarity of local languages with English

size of country populations & language communities

starting age & instruction time of foreign-language teaching in schools 9/12

No bias from differential selectivity of test taking in EPI & TOEFL: a) Results in representative (but self-rated) AES as large as non-representative (but standardized-test) EPI b) Results robust to controlling for number of TOEFL test takers 10/12

Estimates best interpreted as long-run effects that capture not only impacts of individual TV viewing but also intergenerational effects running through improved English skills of parents & teachers 11/12

Policy implications for countries aiming to strengthen populations’ English skills: major consequences of adopting practice of movie dubbing for English-language acquisition Analysis shows powerful impact of non-school factors on learning 12/12

FYI:

paper on subtitling & language skills:

FYI:

paper on subtitling & language skills:

FYI:

paper on subtitling & language skills:

Small country phenomenon

Quote

Ludger Woessmann

@Woessmann

Jul 6

Replying to @Woessmann

Placebo test: no effect of subtitling on native-language reading Effect is robust to accounting for

similarity of local languages with English

size of country populations & language communities

starting age & instruction time of foreign-language teaching in schools 9/12

It may well be true that subtitles make learning English more difficult, but their English fluency depends much more from the fact that English is more similar to Scandinavian languages than to Latin languages. Indeed, they used to be the same language 1000 years ago

The estimated effect of subtitling remains virtually unchanged when we account for linguistic similarity of a country’s native language to English, or when we look just within language families.

Just returned from a trip to Portugal, where pretty much everyone seems to speak English, and from Spain, where few seem to speak English. Was told one big driver of this was Franco only allowed movies if they were dubbed into Spanish, while Portugal went with subtitles.

Yes but when I started school in 1965 in Sweden we had English as a 2nd language from 2nd grade. A couple of years later it was from first grade. 3rd language required in 9th grade of wanted to go to college and 4th in highschool. German, French, Italian, Spanish or Russian.

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haecceity and its yours

@IanGrygs

14m

true, years of watching subs definitely helped my best other language of japanese. our parents would often play a game of trying to guess the language of shows or movies on the foreign media channel when we were kids too, and ask us to guess sometimes

unroll

Which means that the best way for a country to promote its language is to build a flourishing movie industry.

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CajunEph, Esq. (PaoloPaniello)

@PanielloPaolo

11h

Because their television is subtitled instead of dubbed

Lars - Tiny Vikings

@LazerErik

41m

Yea, this is obvious for anyone from small languages

Lars Weber

@lwe_84

10h

Thank you for the working paper. From personal experience: I learned English really quickly from watching series. And at some point, my parents switched the subtitles to English so that k learned how words where written in English.

Because their languages are linguistically close?

I took my English to the next level by watching lots of subtitled movies.

All the Romanians I know learned English from subtitles

They speak English better than some Americans. Fact.

Ed the Buckeye/Badger

@emathias18

Jul 7

I don’t know if it’s proven but I heard many years ago that Americans actually speak English with a Dutch accent, probably due to the settlement of NY. That explains why Dutch actors such as Rutger Hauer and Famke Janssen sound/sounded American.

Such a cool paper! Small detail about Belgium, there are three regions, not two, and in Brussels region where I grew up movies are subtlited in two languages at the same time (top line Flemish, bottom line French). This must have a lasting weird effect on our brains.

This has been my explanation for 40 years. Now confirmed by science! (I grew up in NL in the '70s and '80.)

Their markets are too small to justify the expense of dubbing English language TV/movies. Interesting question: AI probably easily overcomes that. Does that mean the next generation will not be as fluent in English?

Very neat. That was my hypothesis when I lived in Sweden.

On average, Germans have way better English skills than Italians and French.

Philip J. Rosenberger III

@PJRosenberger3

Jul 7

That was my impression when living in the Netherlands. I found the Dutch subtitles of English programmes helped develop my Dutch skills.

The difference in Belgium between the northern Flemish part with subtitles and the southern Frenchspeaking part with dubbing is eye opening. Everyone speaks good English in the North and terrible English in the South.

Anis Bennaceur

@anisbennaceur1

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0:00 / 1:15

What has long been known - subtitling English language TV rater than dubbing.

Been saying this for years with no evidence glad someone finally put in the work to validate my position!

Portugal maybe more impressive than Nordics & Dutch

unroll

Some Dutch people speak English so much better than some English people.

Antonin Bergeaud

@a_bergeaud

Jul 7

Voilà pour les débats de

de cette nuit

It’s astonishing that the effect is so large… do you expect the subtitle/dub difference to hold elsewhere in the world?

Very cool work!

Because they would have nobody to talk to otherwise.

@ManBitesDog

@NAWest1

17h

In my experience Germans speak WAY WAY better English than French/Spanish/Italians.. beyond comparison

Víctor

@psicoincognito

16h

Or the englishmen themselves

Congratulations!

Have ever heard the engish spoken by Mark Rutte? #dunglish

Aito Natihere

@ANatihere

Jul 7

English is a germanic language, spanish, italian and french are Roman language. As a french, is so easy to learn panish for example.

As a citizen of a certain red country in this map, i can confirm this is the reason. Also, i learned 5y of french in my school i understand zero of french and use english everyday

Cool paper!

The languages are similar. Are portuguese good at English ?

Dutchman in US

@Dutchman_US

35m

A-Team, Knight Rider & Dukes of Hazzard! Subtitles only!!

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