Thailand ranks near the bottom in an English proficiency survey, showing one key competitive weaknesses of the Thai economy. This indicates the small base of competent adult English speakers necessary for a globalized workforce. Throughout Asia, Thailand’s ranking is only above Kazakhstan. Companies are mandating English as their corporate language. The primary challenges were to ensure the new policy was implemented uniformly, to motivate employees to raise their English level quickly without undermining their self-confidence and to minimize productivity losses.
