U.S. Foreign Service needs language skills

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a05
a05
English to Russian
+ ...
Apr 19, 2010

This is most likely true but does not mean languages are not a priority for the Foreign Service. They have a comprehensive system of training, and their recruiting system assumes that they are able to manage their staff's linguistic skills whereas psychological features or general knowledge of anyone past one's 20s are not upgradable. I am not in a position to judge whether they are right or wrong but such is their approach indeed.

 
JaneTranslates
JaneTranslates  Identity Verified
Puerto Rico
Local time: 04:50
Spanish to English
+ ...
Apr 9, 2010

Tell your children to study Arabic and Chinese!

 
Fabrizio Zambuto
Fabrizio Zambuto  Identity Verified
Chinese to Italian
+ ...
Apr 14, 2010

...Farsi, Pashtu and Gujarati as well, they keep posting AD with these language requirements.

 
Trans-Iberia (X)
Trans-Iberia (X)

Local time: 09:50
Apr 16, 2010

I went through the process to join the American foreign service and they made it very clear that language skills were of absolutely NO importance whatsoever in being selected for the foreign service. When I mentioned that I spoke 4 languages besides English, they brushed it off and made sure that I knew this would practically nothing for my application, as was even explained at the time in the process documentation. The whole Foreign Servcie selection process is based on psychological, organizat... See more
I went through the process to join the American foreign service and they made it very clear that language skills were of absolutely NO importance whatsoever in being selected for the foreign service. When I mentioned that I spoke 4 languages besides English, they brushed it off and made sure that I knew this would practically nothing for my application, as was even explained at the time in the process documentation. The whole Foreign Servcie selection process is based on psychological, organizational and personality-related skills after passing a fairly difficult test on knowledge about history and government.Collapse


 


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U.S. Foreign Service needs language skills







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