Ticos With Good English, Study Shows
More and more Costa Ricans are looking at learning the English language as a step to better jobs in the future. And the results of that effort are already being felt as dozens of service companies have already set up shop in the country and more to follow.

A study by the Centro Cultural Costarricense Norteamericano on the quality of English in Costa Rica shows that Ticos have a good level of English.

The Centro Cultural runs the TOEIC - Test of English for International Communication - which has been used by institutions, companies, and government agencies worldwide to measure the English proficiency of nonnative English-speaking people, for more than 25 years.

With more than 4.5 million test takers per year, the TOEIC test is the standard for workplace English language proficiency worldwide, measuring the everyday English skills of people working in an international environment.

The test is widely accepted by corporations, English language programs, and government agencies around the world.

According to the Centro Cultural study, Costa Rica takes second place in Latin America for the level of English, Brazil is first.

However, though the test reflects the level of understanding English, it evaluates directly the written and comprehension of the language, falling short on conversational English.

Vanessa Gibson of the Coalición Costarricense de Iniciativas de Desarrollo (CINDE) -  Costa Rican Investment Board - says that country is making advancement in English but still has far to go.

Gibson added that in addition to English, businesses are now beginning to ask for a third language, French and Mandarin among the favourites.