From this one man's experience, it is not that Spain has regressed in its proficiency with English, but I find that other southern European countries (particularly Portugal) has upped the ante - a LOT.

To compare Paris (I understand it does not represent all of France, but it is one view point), 20 years ago I would have difficult time in ordering in a restaurant. A hardship many English-speaking visitors today will find hard to empathize with. In most places in Paris today I can get by with English and get complex transactions done.

Portugal has truly baked-in English proficiency into their national psyche now. Zealotry aside, this enables Portugal to further their economic and cultural interests more, I think.

First times I went to France (90's), there were people I met who genuinely did not understand English at all - even simple words -, and I had shopkeepers who, when my stumbling French was also insufficient, pulled strangers off the street to translate, and at least in smaller towns it sometimes took multiple tries to find someone.

By my last few trips it'd become hard to practice my French because people switch to English the moment I stumble in French...

> it is not that Spain has regressed in its proficiency with English

I'm not sure your multi-day vacations give you enough insight to debunk the study in TFA which says it indeed has regressed.

That's tricky. Years ago primary extended from 1st to 8th grades (6 to 14 y.o. aprox.) so English, that started in 6th was primary. Now 6th to 8th have been moved to ESO.

Anyway I just checked with my son and he started in Infantil, so it's really soon.

The real issue is qualification. To really understand and speak English you need to learn pronuntiation properly. And that's the weakest link in our system. Most teachers have no idea how English is really pronounced and wouldn't be able to understand a native speaker to save their lives. It's impossible to learn English from someone that can't understand or speak it.

I believe it was Aguirre that proposed a plan to invite thousands of native speakers to teach English in Madrid. Of course everybody attacked her as usual whatever she says... I don't like her either, but that was a good idea for once.

That's why I consider native teachers to be the most powerful advantage. At school they insist too much in grammar, that's important, but the foundation is how the language sounds.

I hate movies with original language and subtitles. I've used them with subtitles also in English with great results to learn.

But nothing can replace a teacher that corrects your pronuntiation as you speak and repeats the right sounds as many times as you need.

Also when I'm watching a movie for pleasure, I like to watch and listen, not to read.

I guess the take away is that teaching a whole country a new language takes time and is hard to accelerate.

At least it was according to the constitution but that doesn't mean much. Often laws that modified the 1871 and 1918 constitutions did not change its text but overrode its meaning. Imagine the US constitution but longer you get to hunt down the amendments yourself.

20 years ago not many in Spain and France ( or even Germany ) would speak any English. May be they do, but may be they were too afraid, or refuse to speak as in the case of French.

20 years later literally everybody in ( Western ) Europe speaks English. I could go on the street and ask for directions, in places that are not cities or tourist attraction. Even the French. They may not be proficient at it, but they do understand and can do basic communication.

So I dont see any decline. And Thinking back I am surprised at how fast the world has evolved! ( Which also means I am getting old .... )

I think that's the key difference between countries: some are compelled to be proficient in English because it is a necessity in order to get a descent life. Some sees it as just a need to compete.

I really understand. It might be also difficult for a great civilization like the Italian one to admit that they need to adapt to other civilization, speak English, adopt this language in order to express their ideas ...

The point probably is that those people don't need English in their life so they never invest in learning it.

- Advanced English School?

- If if, between between.

Now I'm really confused. Or is it that bureaucratic Spain works short hours and other workers do long hours?

Bureaucracy is actually the single thing I hate most about Spain. I'm a professor at a university and the sheer amount of bureaucracy is staggering, asphyxiating at times. In fact it's a relevant factor making me work longer than I should as too much time is spent dealing with that. In industry most people don't have to deal with much bureaucracy, though, unless they're company owners or self-employed.

In industry, people tend to work long hours: there is still a culture of presentialism with remote work being frowned upon in many companies, suboptimal traditional work timetables with a long lunch break make many people return home way too late, and the threat of unemployment (not so much in the tech sector) and the need for money in an economy with modest salaries and high housing prices makes workers accept lots of (paid or sometimes unpaid) overtime.

If you're seriously considering moving, maybe it's a matter of being selective (supposing you can search while holding your current job) and taking time to find a company with more modern ways, that doesn't value presentialism and overtime. There is a growing minority of companies like that. If you mention these things as priorities in interviews, companies that want workers in their posts until late in the evening will probably filter themselves out.

If you do score a good company that allows for work-life balance and provides a good salary for Spanish standards (even if it's low for American standards), quality of life in Spain is excellent. Good climate in most places, good public healthcare, amazing and relatively cheap food both in supermarkets and restaurants, good bars and nightlife, nice natural landscapes and hiking places (especially in the north), decent public transport (not stellar compared to e.g. Germany but much better than in America) and in most cities you can go outside at 3 am and feel safe walking in 90% of the city (100% in some). I have had offers to work in America for several times my salary here and haven't even considered them.