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How do CIA agents learn a language?
The Defense Language Institute (“DLI”), located in Monterey, California, is where the CIA, members of the U.S. armed forces and various other government agencies go to learn foreign languages. Students at the DLI are training to pass the DLPT, or the Defense Language Proficiency Test.
How many languages do you need to know to be a CIA agent?
Become fluent in one or two foreign languages CIA agent positions that work in a foreign country may require you to be fluent in more than one language. Middle Eastern and Asian languages such as Arabic, Korean, Russian and Japanese are particularly useful due to the intelligence work being conducted in these areas.
What is the best language to learn for the CIA?
The CIA needs language professionals who specialize in a range of languages spoken around the world. The current mission-essential or critical languages in no particular order are Korean, Russian, Chinese, Mandarin, Indonesian Dari/Pashto, Persian/Farsi, Kurdish, Turkish, and Arabic.
Does the CIA provide language training to its officers?
To answer your question, yes, the CIA does provide language training to officers who need it to perform the job it wants to assign them, so you could wait. Theoretically. First, you should understand that the CIA offers jobs to fewer than 10 percent of those who express interest in employment — and that includes people it recruited.
Does the CIA require fluency in a foreign language?
The CIA demands candidates for language officer jobs who have a native or near-native fluency in a foreign language. Although the CIA undoubtedly employs language officers in nearly all foreign languages, the NCS has particular interest in individuals with fluency and cultural awareness in:
Where can I find more information about the foreign language incentive program?
Visit the Foreign Language Incentive Program page to see a full list of languages that qualify for our incentives, and see our Foreign Language Proficiency Scale page to learn more about how we gauge a candidate or employee’s proficiency. Foreign language skills are critical to much of the work we do across the CIA.
How long does it take to become a CIA agent?
It does produce an astonishing degree of proficiency in just a few weeks, through incredibly hard work. After that, they get better through practice, same as everybody else. It’s not limited to CIA agents; various people in the Departments of Defense and State go there.