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Translator (CIA) Careers
An-D
EnthusiastAshevilleRegistered User regular
EnthusiastAshevilleRegistered User regular
So, I'm graduating in December with a degree in Political Science and a minor in journalism. So, its slightly better than an English degree. Over the past two years or so, I've been taking courses in Chinese and have recieved relatively high marks. For the past week or so, I've been pen-pal-ing with people in other countries to enhance my Chinese and help me gain a basic understanding of more Romance languages (Italian, mostly). But my main focus is Mandarin.
When I graduate, my plan is to move to Washington DC and according to their website, the CIA is almost always offering translator jobs. Given the rising importance of China in the world today, I would imagine that with my background in Mandarin, I could get a job there pretty quickly.
Or am I jumping ahead of myself here? I can't see myself making a lifelong career out of any CIA position (unless it turns out to be really super cool) so, in my mind, just having it as a blip on my resume would help me move forward in life. Anyone have any experience working with the CIA?
And while on the topic of translator jobs, are there any other companies/organizations that would offer something to someone wishing to utilize Mandarin in a career?
Decide my future, H/A!!!
When I graduate, my plan is to move to Washington DC and according to their website, the CIA is almost always offering translator jobs. Given the rising importance of China in the world today, I would imagine that with my background in Mandarin, I could get a job there pretty quickly.
Or am I jumping ahead of myself here? I can't see myself making a lifelong career out of any CIA position (unless it turns out to be really super cool) so, in my mind, just having it as a blip on my resume would help me move forward in life. Anyone have any experience working with the CIA?
And while on the topic of translator jobs, are there any other companies/organizations that would offer something to someone wishing to utilize Mandarin in a career?
Decide my future, H/A!!!
An-D on
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However, I can't imagine two years of study on one of the most difficult to learn languages is anywhere near enough for even low-level translation work, let alone CIA work. Obviously I don't know your program, but do you have practical conversational experience? Or non-textbook translation?
You might be able to get a government/CIA job with a language specialist tag, which I believe makes language training an on-the-job activity, but you're not going to jump directly into translation.
If you want Chinese fluency to determine your career, I would suggest looking at paths that would lead to that, rather than trying to get a job with the skills you have now.
It was in my best interest to do everything to the best of my ability, even if it was a class I dreaded every week.
And as I said, I've been penpalling with several people in China. They send me letters in Mandarin (the symbols, not pinyin) and I translate them. I like to think I've gotten relatively good at doing it. These letters are pretty conversational. It took me a bit at first to get my mind away from the academic Chinese that I had been taught and to more simplified/'slang' Chinese.
It is a difficult language and I have TONS more to learn, but its something I'm quickly developing a passion in and I really want to stick with it.
What other good careers would there be that would lead to something with a focus on Chinese fluency? Some kind of international business-thing?
This is one of those posts that's going to get a lot of questions PM'ed to me about what I do for a living.
Its still in the back of my mind though (I'd probably lean air force though).
As far as careers go, you should try to find a job that suits your personality. If you really become fluent in Chinese, all sorts of opportunities are going to open themselves up to you. As far as translator work goes, you're going to need and find specality in a field like medicine, law or engineering. You'll be spending your first few years working for a large firm, but you can go freelance after a few years if you want to. Translation isn't exactly an easy career, you need to stay on top of the latest developments in your field and be able to actually understand all the jargon you're translating as well. For example, if you're a legal translator you'll need to spend some serious time in the library studying and comparing Chiense and American penal codes. This probably goes without saying but, you also need to develop the ability to think in both languages at the same time. You'll have to think about how to deal making shit like 十人十色 sound natural in English.
If that doesn't sound like something you'd enjoy doing, you probably aren't going to find reading other people's mail more exciting just because you're not in the army, bro. You should stick with the Mandarin, but you should do it because many people will pay you a lot more than the government is willing to pay you to facilitate business negotiations, etc.
Besides, don't you think that a great way not to get a job at the CIA is to post on a message board about how to get a job at the CIA?
I'm guessing you (a) haven't considered what questions will come up during your security clearance interview and (b) didn't read far enough down on the webpage.
Uh. I have a lowly secret clearance, though not from the CIA. I have three or four friends who work for that agency and the NSA. While you shouldn't go blabbing it to everyone you meet at a bar and extended family relations, it's not a big deal. What that website refers to is clanedestine assignments. I'd expect these would be where you're posted as technical agency personnel or a visiting academic or a peace corps members (well, they say they don't do that, but it seems more likely than not they infiltrate the peace corps.) So if you tell everyone you work for the CIA, then show up in Kazakhstan as a State Department employee, things look fishy. If you're going to sit in a CIA office doing analyst work or signals intelligence or translation, it really doesn't matter that you've made this message board post.
However, you're not going to get a job as a translator with two years of mandarin, unless you have become fluent in two years. You should try applying for an analyst job, though if you don't like the idea of analyst work or don't know what it is i'm not sure you'll do very well in an interview. The army can be a drag, but they do a better job of paying for you to get language lessons when yu're inthere. One friend got to be fluent in hungarian. Spending lots of time at the defense language institute is a plus.
There are lots of national security programs that will help you get more fluent, but i'm not sure the CIA conduct it in-house.
If you are serious though, why not buy Rosetta Stone? From the commercials and news it seems to be the go to method of perfecting a language without having access to native speakers. It might set you back a bit, but not nearly as much as going to China nor requiring you to join the military.
This is all thinking aloud and looking for some advice/path for follow. What I am getting, is to maybe move to China for a year or so after graduation and see how fluent I can be after that. I'm getting really good at translating emails but I know I am lacking when it comes to actually speaking the language. I'm more interested in having a worthwhile job as a translator than I am actually working for the CIA...but doing both at the same time could interesting.
What other national security program would help me gain fluency? I'm going to look some up now, but I'd like to know if you have any specific ones in mind.
And I've been taking Mandarin year-round, 5 days a week, for the last 3 years, with teachers who will consume your very soul if you don't get at least a high-B on your homework or a (daily!) quiz. Still, there's no way I'm ready for government translation work, so I very much doubt you're there yet.
That said, I will stop being a Gloomy Gus and tell you that Mandarin only becomes more rewarding the longer you study it, and that chicks dig it. ;-)
I suggest you take a look at this website:
http://languagestudy.goabroad.com/China.cfm
You should be looking for a program that teaches in a "total immersion" style. Be aware that doing homestays is a bit of a gamble. You want to try and NOT using English as much as possible, though it's probably a great way to take care of the tuition costs.
Just doing a basic search, I've found year-long courses for $10,000 which should be completely managable for a college graduate.
http://www.mandarinhouse.cn/longdurationcourse.htm
Holy frak QFT.
My homestay family was pretty much normal, but I had one friend who got unwillingly embroiled into an illicit relationship between his home-stay mother and some police officer "friend" ( :winky: ) of hers. It was the most awkward week of his life.
Then again, I had one friend who was hosted by a doctor's family. They lived in a beachfront villa, basically, and had pet turtles crawling around the house.
So yes, "gamble" is absolutely the best word for homestays. Consider that when you're choosing a study abroad program.
It's obviously the fastest path towards fluency and you learn a more useful 'current' and 'realistic' version of the language you're studying. The only downfall is that your living area/lifestyle might affect the vocabulary you learn.
While generally-fluent now, I lived on a farm, and as such I could talk all day about milking cows and riding horses but if it ever comes to talking about missile silos, secret agents and other CIA-stuff the appearance of fluency would come crashing down. The time you're there will also affect what you know - I didn't know the word for Christmas until early December/late November for example, and never learned the word for Easter because I wasn't there for it.
So, err, going to China for a full year or two is what I'd strongly recommend. Stay open in your learning, i.e. read newspapers and books of a variety of genres/themes. Limit your English usage to reading online newspapers from home/emailing friends and family.
Edit: And as for homestays being a gamble, yes they are but usually its alright. From a group of 40 Australians heading to France I heard about three horror stories ranging from a marriage breaking down to the family wanting the whole family (exchange student included) to shower together. The sort of people that would invite a stranger into their home are pretty nice.
Some people do have good experiences, but I think that for a college student or recent graduate, it'd be much wiser to try and live in a dorm and make friends with students.
Don’t do an extended stay in China first unless they recommend it as that will lengthen your background investigation, and trust me, you do not want to be one of these people who gets paid to sit in a room staring at the wall for a year or two because some bureaucrats can’t decide if they approve of someone you may have cavorted with overseas.
Also, before you do this, be aware that intelligence is a very weird field to work in. The procedures and paperwork related to security can be a real pain in the ass for some people. There’s not much tolerance for people who don’t like it, complain, or don’t fit in. You’ll be working around a lot of former military officers and reservists, some of whom will be batshit crazy but know that their clearance = job security. Due to the evangelical takeovers of the military colleges, many of the younger ones are going to be right wing religious fundamentalists. And God forbid you ever have to try and deal with other agencies. Going into intelligence is dedicating yourself to an extremely surreal daily life, so you need to be a person with a great amount of tolerance, patience, and cynicism.
Oh man, the interagency process is a brutalizing thing. Burn after reading captures nicely the combination of dullness and eccentricity that marks these scenes, though it doesn't touch on how crazy the military is.