Is your Chinese good enough to get a job at MI5?

[dnevets]

So I randomly bumped into this on the interwebs: https://www.mi5.gov....our-skills.aspx

If you want to see if your Mandarin skills are good enough to join the ranks of the British intelligence service just follow the link and take the test. I had a look at the reading test... seems rather easy... (I sincerely hope) that's a poor indicator of the level of skill required to help protect the country!

<sorry, no idea which part of the forum to put this in>

[ouyangjun]

Yeah, I'd have to say ridiculously easy... When I opened it I thought it would be a text that had to do with financial fraud, securities exchanges, etc. Stuff with technical vocab, that you'd probably actually have to understand in that job... Instead the MI5 is concerned with you understanding an article about Beijing duck and supermarket trends.... I'm about certain the MI5 requires a much higher level of literacy than what is on there.

[roddy]

Dear M,

Our plans to lull the Chinese into a false sense of security by convincing them our linguistic skills rank equivalent to a first semester BLCU student have been successful.

JB

[roddy]

More seriously, I doubt they're that bothered about your actual level when you go in - they'll be much more concerned about a basic aptitude and interest and a checkable background. If they need you to know more Chinese, they'll teach you it.

[renzhe]

MI5 level in three months?

OK, punish me now....

[icebear]

Some people with the state department are put through 18 months of rigorous language courses and speak/read pretty decent Chinese by the end of it. Amazing what a soft budget constraint and a huge professional risk (if you fail) will do for ones learning curve.

[rob07]

I knew the REAL James Bond had a Scottish accent!