I'm an American/German who can speak pretty decent German. My goal is to join the CIA, would it be smarter to learn a more demanding language like Russian in college or perfect my German skills? I hear German isn't really in demand, although I do like it.
>>17277307
What you want to be is a linguist. CIA does need linguists, but you have to be damn good at it. Better languages to learn would be Arabic, Swahili, Farsi, or other middle eastern or African dialects
>>17277314
I see, I hate those languages though. I tried them but they were just way too hard, I had better luck with Mandarin and that was hard too. However, I like the Clandestine Services branch the best.
To be honest it depends on what you want to do at the CIA, and whether you want to find yourself in certain countries. If you want the best chance of getting into the Clandestine branch, then learn Arabic, Russian, or an Afghani dialect (Dari/Pashto); graduate with a perfect GPA, and be passionate in what you're doing at college.
I don't work for the CIA, but I do work in the Clandestine Operations branch of my countries' intelligence agency. It's extremely competitive, and although you might be able to get a job while being an expert in German, your chances are going to be much higher with something else.
If you're struggling with learning a difficult/advanced language; both immerse yourself in the culture as best you can, but also 'learn' the language; as opposed to just rote learning / hear + repeat, etc.
What kind of role do you see yourself in OP?
>>17277353
That's amazing anon, may I ask where you're from? I wamt to do Clandestine Services as well, and be abroad. I really have no desire for the Middle East, but I could see Russian being useful even if I end up deployed there. Did you do military as well? I think I will work on Russian, and make it better. I can actually pronounce it and I already know its alphabet.
>>17277307
You can contact the CIA directly through their website. Ask them.
>>17277375
Sorry for the delay OP.
Unfortunately I can't disclose my country or the agency I work for. I have military experience, but it's not entirely necessary if you're not looking at pursuing an operations role. I cannot speak for other clandestine operation divisions, but my agency focused greatly on military and espionage training after intake in order to standardise experience.
Russian is a very good option, and was one of the languages that I learnt in anticipation of this current job. Travelling and working abroad is unfortunately very difficult from a personal standpoint, and it is difficult to keep relationships (family, friends, girlfriend, etc.) as a result. With this being said, the line of work is very intrinsically rewarding, albeit dangerous and taxing.
It is a very long and arduous road ahead OP, but I can promise you that it is absolutely worth it.
>>17277330
I don't think a lot of people like those languages, and that's probably why there's a demand for it (on top of the conflicts/whatever in the middle east).
You could also learn Russian in Germany, but I don't hink there's much demand for Russian either (but I do think being familiar with Russian is in advantage for anyone).
Maybe North Korean would be more interesting for you? I doubt there's much demand for that either, but who knows what might happen.
The CIA spies on basically everybody. There is no language that is not in at least some level of demand, because they know that as soon as they haven't got one covered, that will become the new language for counterintelligence. They've probably got people who could cover Dothraki, Na'vi, and Hymmnos if they had to.
Russian is useful, no doubt about it, but the CIA will teach you whatever languages you might need to know but don't. Studying linguistics would be better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ_4m2ocxhI
Don't learn Finnish :D
>>17277307
>My goal is to join the CIA
Wants to work for the CIA...
Posts on 4chan...
Are kids really this stupid these days?
I can't imagine that America really needs a lot of German spies these days.
Most of the real snooping is going to be nerds hacking into databases anyway.
>>17277330
Sucks 4 u
Brit-Indian here and I'm learning Hindi, Urdu, Arabic
Goal is to join the military, but probably not as a linguist unless I have to.
Considering the western interests in the middle east, middle eastern languages will be more useful than German
just don't do agency pulls on Uzbekistan by plane
