This study aims to compare mathematical modelling abilities of prospective mathematics teachers. 38 Turkish prospective mathematics teachers studying at the Department of Primary Mathematics Education and 26 English prospective mathematics teachers studying at Initial Mathematics Teacher Education Program of the Graduate School of Education attended the study. Two mathematical modelling problems were given to the students. The stages of mathematical modelling given by Berry and Houston (1995) were used to examine the participants' mathematical modelling abilities. What the Turkish and English students did in each of these stages was presented separately for both problems categorically and with the percentage tables and to what extent the students were successful in these stages was shown. The achievement scores of Turkish and English students were compared with independent groups t-test. The results showed that almost all of the participants were quite inadequate especially at the point of setting the mathematical model. This result indicates that mathematics teacher candidates had difficulty in transferring algebraic concepts such as function, equation, inequality to real-life problems. On the other hand, it can be said that English participants' abilities were better than that of Turkish participants.