Working as a Chinese Linguist for the US Govt

[Nathan Mao]

This is a huge topic.  I almost don't know where to start.

 

First off, there are probably three different main areas within which you can work as a Chinese linguist for the US government.

 

Regardless of the job, you generally need to be able to obtain a clearance.  There are no hard-and-fast disqualifiers for getting a clearance that I'm aware of: I know people who have used hard drugs and still got their clearance, and others who have gone into bankruptcy and still obtained a clearance, and others with extensive foreign contacts/connections who still got their clearance...even though any of these can disqualify you.  Basically, the US Govt wants to know they can trust you with secrets.  So if you have any problems in your past, it is best to be up-front and honest.  The things that tend to cause people to betray the nation are:

Needing money (which is why bankruptcy or inability to handle money matters), ideological dislike of the US govt or attraction to another nation/ideology (like communism), being unreliable (which is why drug use matters), and blackmail (which is why secrets you don't tell the govt that they discover by investigating you matter).

 

Here are the three main areas:

1) Dept of Defense Linguist

 

2) Linguist/analyst

 

3) Language-related professional

 

To be blunt, a DoD linguist really is just a skilled laborer.  You aren't being paid to use your brain all that much.  You are being paid to use your skill (translation from Chinese to English) without any responsibility or opportunity to use judgment.  You can have a comfortable living even with fairly low language skills, but you really can't go that high (unless you switch over to a leadership track...but that's another topic).  So if you work in DC, your salary will start at maybe $50-60k/year, and you will max out at probably $90k.  There are some opportunities for truly advanced language skills, but even with those, you will probably max out at $105k to maybe as much as $115k/year.  But it takes 7 or more years of experience to get to that point, and your language has to advance along with the experience.

 

There are three types of DoD linguists: military, government, and contractor.

 

Military Linguist:

For a military linguist, normally you start with nothing.  Based on your aptitude tests, you might be given the chance to take the Defense Language Aptitude Battery.  During that test, they teach you progressively more complex rules of three made-up languages.  If you score well, you earn the option of becoming a linguist.  The higher you score, the more difficult language you can study.  You generally need at least a 100 to be able to study Cat IV languages (Chinese-Mandarin, Korean, and Persian-Farsi).  You can request what language you want, but there is no guarantee you will get your request, because the needs of the military always come first.

 

If you choose to become a linguist, you are sent to the Defense Language Institute where you are trained in the assigned language for anywhere between a few months and 15 months.  The harder the language, the longer you are there.  DLI is in Monterey, California...a beautiful place to live.  I regret I didn't take advantage of that area as much as I could have and should have.  After you graduate from DLI, you go to Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, TX for your technical training, which is generally about 6 months.

 

After that, you are sent to your first duty station.  For Chinese, locations are limited. For the Army, that is either DC or Hawaii.  For the Navy, Air Force, and Marines, that is DC, Hawaii, northern Japan, or South Korea.  Other languages can go to San Antonio, or Augusta, GA, or maybe other places...I'm not clear on other languages.

 

Government employee:

I'm not that familiar with how one becomes a government-employed DoD linguist.  I have worked with many over the years. To the best of my knowledge, government DoD linguists must already know the language.  Many are former military linguists.  Many either have or end up with PhDs in Chinese.  Some are very, very good.

 

Contractors:

These are basically the Temp Workers of the Dept of Defense.  The govt pays Contractor companies to supply linguists.  You must already have a clearance, so most contractor linguists are military linguists who just retired or separated at the end of their enlistment contract.  The contractor linguists get a little bit higher salary, but fewer benefits than govt employee linguists, and the contracts are always year-by-year and can be allowed to lapse by the govt at any time...so there is less security.

 

There are contractor linguist jobs right now that just require a 1/1 in listening/reading in Chinese.  That's survival language level.  If you can read or listen to someone talking about ordering food, reserving a room, or making travel arrangements, you can get one of these jobs.

 

Because there are contractor positions available, there are probably government positions available at that same level.

 

Why would the government be willing to hire people with such low-level Chinese skills?

 

Because translation for the government involves specific topics with specific jargon.  It doesn't get the complex.  Sometimes it can be almost scripted.  With online dictionaries and even automated speech-to-text software, they can get the result they want out of you even if you don't have mastery of the language.  On the job, you will become highly skilled at your tasks, and in the language topics you use on a regular basis...but it assuredly is not language mastery in any way.  The most important aspect is that you understand the basics of the language: pronunciation, basic grammar, how the language works, and how to turn it into acceptable English for analysis.

Sure, there are some drawbacks from this method, but it works well enough.

 

It is all passive, however.  If your only language practice is as a DoD linguist, your speaking and writing skills will atrophy.  You will never be taught interpretation to begin with.  The longer you are a DoD linguist without any outside practice, the more you are qualified only to be a DoD linguist.

 

In fact, it is very common that most linguists' Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) language scores decline within a year after leaving DLI.

 

After DLI, while at Goodfellow AFB, I was trying to write a letter back to my old language-exchange partner.  I couldn't remember how to write 有.  That shocked me so much, I immediately pulled out all our textbooks and started reviewing regularly.  As a result, even though I actually graduated in the bottom 3rd of my class at DLI, just one year later I was one of the best linguists.  I not only avoided the decline other linguists normally experienced, I improved.

 

Then I started listening to Chinese music, married a Chinese woman, and started attending a Chinese Christian church, so I improved even more, but that's another story.

 

There are also many DoD linguists who are native speakers.  They are usually naturalized citizens, or children of immigrant parents who were still raised in a purely non-English environment for many years.  They are usually extremely good in the target language, but less skilled in English.  As a result, they sometimes score lower on the DLPT because their English isn't good enough to answer the test questions correctly, despite perfectly understanding what was said or written.

 

So it absolutely isn't that "military linguists are terrible".  The truth is, those that care and work at it can become very good linguists.  And even those that just do their job and let their general language skills decline can still become highly skilled in a very small subset of the language.  And then there are the native speakers whose skill is unimpeachable.  There are many military linguists who lose any general Chinese ability due to lack of use, but it is not safe or correct to assume that all do.

 

So if you want to be a DoD linguist and have minimal skills, you can enlist in a military service.  If you have solid skills, you can apply directly to NSA.  If you have solid skills and a security clearance, you can apply to a contracting company like CACI or SAIC.

 

Linguist/Analyst:

I don't know too much about these positions.  I just know that various security organizations in the US require Chinese proficiency, but not necessarily for translation.  Usually these jobs are primarily something else with the language ability as an added bonus.  Homeland Security might look for Chinese linguists, for instance.  The Defense Intelligence Agency requires analysts, and in some cases having some language ability can be an added bonus because the language proficiency can help you to understand the translated works.  The FBI sometimes looks for Chinese linguists, or perhaps trains agents to understand Chinese...I'm not sure.  The New York PD and LAPD deal with Chinese gangs, so I've heard that language ability can be a plus with them, as well.  The point is you aren't hired purely for language skill, and you may not work with language on a daily or even weekly basis.  Since it isn't pure language work, judgment and leadership are often more directly involved, and it is more possible to have a 40-year career that spans entry-level work to executive leadership.

 

Jobs like these can sometimes be found via USA Jobs.

 

Government and non-Government Language-related Professional:

Third on the spectrum, these types of jobs have specific non-language requirements.

Over the last 2 years, I've seen several jobs like this on USA jobs:

- Dept of Energy was looking for someone fluent in Chinese with an engineering or science background to work with China on patent issues for technological devices.  They required Chinese fluency, but if you didn't have a science or engineering background, you couldn't apply, no matter how good your Chinese was.

- Language Training Supervisor for State Department language school Asian Department.  Again, looking for someone fluent in Chinese, but you also had to have an education degree and experience supervising teachers.  Absent those, it didn't matter how good your Chinese was.  I had experience training other linguists, and a Command Language Program Manager certification in combination with advanced language ability, but was rejected due to the lack of actual education experience.  Someone who taught Chinese at a college might have met those requirements, and someone who was in charge of a Chinese teaching team absolutely would have.

- Trade Analyst.  The Dept of Commerce was looking for someone fluent in Chinese to work on trade/tariff issues with China, or something like that.  You needed to have 2-3 years of trade analysis experience.  I didn't apply because I was unavailable to work if selected for a variety of reasons, but I think I might not have had enough trade analysis experience to qualify.

 

 

- Technology Transfer Liaison Officer.  I have a friend who has this job.  He got the job because he was an acquisition officer in the Air Force, so he understands engineering programs and technology.  He works for General Electric and is responsible for selling material/plans for nuclear power generation to the PRC, and ensuring GE follows all required regulations.  This is non-government employment, and I have no idea how he heard about the job or got the job.  But he was hired due to his Acquisition expertise, and only assigned to the liaison position after hiring because his Chinese is excellent (born in Taiwan).  His job is to travel to China regularly for conferences, and to host executives when they come to the US (so he is always taking them out golfing and to gun ranges and horseback riding, hiking, etc).  Very lucrative position, but it must be a right place/right time opportunity. Since it is non-US Govt, it probably doesn't fit under the topic title, but I included it as an example of how language can be a bonus ability, but you get hired more easily for higher-paying positions based on non-language skills and experience.

 

I'll share more as I learn more about the contractor/govt employee language job market over the next 6 months.

 

Pardon any typos.  This is a first-draft posting that may be edited if I realize I forgot something really important.

[Yorin]

 

There are contractor linguist jobs right now that just require a 1/1 in listening/reading in Chinese.  That's survival language level.  If you can read or listen to someone talking about ordering food, reserving a room, or making travel arrangements, you can get one of these jobs.

 

Because there are contractor positions available, there are probably government positions available at that same level.

 

Why would the government be willing to hire people with such low-level Chinese skills?

 

Because translation for the government involves specific topics with specific jargon.  It doesn't get the complex.  Sometimes it can be almost scripted.  With online dictionaries and even automated speech-to-text software, they can get the result they want out of you even if you don't have mastery of the language.

 

I find your posting very thorough and informative, hence upvoted it.

Please forgive me that, despite your explanation on this, my stongest initial reaction is the following: It frightens me that the military of the world's No.1 nuclear superpower seems to partly rely on some "Google Translate"-like software to gather it's information.

[Nathan Mao]

Not "rely on".

Just that for routine translation, a working understanding of how Chinese works is enough to let marginally-skilled translators be effective.

 

Think of it like a bell curve: the most vital information that needs skilled translation is rather rare.  The bulk of stuff isn't that hard, and stays within a relatively small sector of jargon. 

The most important thing is to separate the wheat from the chaff, and even relatively poor skills are enough for that.

Triage is a vital function that lets you identify what is truly crucial for expert attention, and what merely needs an extremely general gist.

 

Or to put it another way: if your job is to solve sudoku puzzles, will you gain any skill at all at understanding Shakespeare?

[Yorin]

Ok, I get it.

 

It was just that... in Chinese, the meaning of a word depends so much more on context than in other languages. Just the thought of goverment employees with minimal language skills using online dictionaries to translate a Chinese text on a word by word basis seemed... weird.

 

But I guess it will indeed need minimal skill to distinguish between Xi Jinping's favorite Jiaozi receipe and his air defence zone plans on a basis of which characters are used in the text.

[Meng Lelan]

If you're not military then how do you go about getting a security clearance?

[Nathan Mao]

Most govt jobs will hire you conditionally on the premise that you can get approved clearance, and then the govt pays for the background check (which can cost more than $100k, depending on the level). You don't start working or getting paid until the background check is completed, usually.

These jobs have something similar to "must be able to obtain a _____-level clearance" in the job posting.

But contractors aren't usually willing to foot that bill...they want to make money from hiring you and placing you, and the background check costs are just too great.

[kdavid]

Great write-up. Thanks for sharing!

 

So, clearly the goal for most people is to get the most interesting job which pays the most and provides the best benefits.

 

How would an interested party go about applying for such a position?

 

Can I submit one application to one place and get back several offers and then choose which I think is the best fit for me?

 

How would one go about beginning the job search / application process?

[skylee]

I thought linguists were more than translators/ interpreters ...

[Meng Lelan]

But contractors aren't usually willing to foot that bill...they want to make money from hiring you and placing you, and the background check costs are just too great. 

 

 

Some years ago I tried to apply to be a translator for the FBI and the job posting did say that security clearance was required. So I checked no where they asked if I had security clearance, and I never heard from them again. So I decided to not pursue that route and went into education instead, at least in education and academia they don't tie me up with security clearances which seem impossible to get unless you're in the military, and I have a disability so I can't go into the military even if I wanted to. 

[Nathan Mao]

@Lelan,

I don't think you can/should extrapolate from a single data point.

Did you follow up with them?  Some HR departments wait for you to follow up...if you aren't interested enough to ask how your application is going, then they assume you aren't that interested in the job.  Or maybe there was some other requirement that you didn't meet and the problem wasn't your lack of clearance. 

There are many possibilities.

 

It isn't impossible to get a clearance w/o being in the military, because there aren't enough ex-military to fill all the jobs that require security clearances.

 

@kdavid,

You can start here.  Your keywords should be some/any/all of: Chinese, China, Mandarin, Linguist, language

 

DoD linguist jobs:

http://www.nsa.gov/careers/index.shtml

 

DoD linguist, clearance-probably-required contractor jobs:

http://careers.caci.com/

http://www.saic.com/career/

http://www.vdtg.com/careers/index.html

 

Language/analyst jobs:

http://www.dia.mil/Careers.aspx

https://www.cia.gov/careers

 

Language-related professional jobs:

https://www.usajobs.gov/

 

You can get an idea of jobs that require a clearance here:

http://www.clearancejobs.com/

 

Here's a CACI job that requires only a 1/1 (survival level) in Chinese.

But it is required that you already have a clearance.

 

In any case, most jobs, like this one, require a 3/3 (abstract understanding; functional fluency, but still passive skills)

 

And here is one that you don't need a clearance (!), but you have to have a clean enough record that clearance is obtainable.  But you still need to have a 3/3 in Chinese. I'm surprised to see this! Guess I was wrong that you absolutely must have a clearance for a contractor job...but I still think this opportunity is fairly rare.

 

@skylee,

Different words have different connotations in different contexts.  When the US Department of Defense uses the term "linguist", it is a job title, not a description.  The actual duties required under that job title are not as rigorous as one would expect from a true linguist.  In fact, in almost all cases, all they require is translation from Chinese to English.

[Meng Lelan]

don't think you can/should extrapolate from a single data point.

Did you follow up with them? 

 

 

I did and they responded saying they already had hired for the position(s). I will try CACI. Thanks for your posts. 

[Nathan Mao]

@Lelan,

Then the problem may have been that the other individual was more qualified.

 

Or maybe they knew who they wanted before they even posted the job.

 

Unfortunately, what sometimes happens for government jobs is that they are required by law to make them available, even when they know who they want to hire. That means sometimes it is a game where they already chose the winner, and that can make trying for a government job frustrating.  Like trying to sell a novel, you have to go through many rejections to get one job, especially in the poor economy since 2009.

Don't give up.

[Meng Lelan]

Unfortunately, what sometimes happens for government jobs is that they are required by law to make them available, even when they know who they want to hire. 

 

I've seen that happen hundreds of times. Thanks for the encouragement. I will give CACI a try soon. 

[abcdefg]

Working as a Chinese Linguist in Thailand. (Tongue in cheek.)

 

I'm in Northern Thailand for the CNY holidays. Tons of Chinese had the same idea. I've already volunteered about a dozen times to briefly help translate in hotel lobbies and restaurants.

 

The problem seems to be rendered more severe by the fact that both parties in these conversation (Chinese and Thai) are attempting to converse in English, and both speak it none too well as a foreign language.

 

I can't really speak Thai, but I know enough to step in and help the Chinese family understand that the hotel is full when there is an impasse, or yesterday when a neighboring table was trying to order glasses of hot water instead of cold water.

 

Have also given simple directions in Chinese to Beijingers wearing down jackets and pulling roll-aboard suitcases down the street. 在红灯往右转。

 

Maybe I should turn it into a part-time job. Perhaps a new career path? I should print a Chinese sign that I can hang around my neck: "Will translate for beer."

[Nathan Mao]

@lelan,

If you are in Texas, you are at a disadvantage when applying for Chinese jobs.  It is much easier to be at the location, so you can make in-person interviews and be flexible when those interview times are changed, so you can attend job fairs, etc.

 

There are some govt linguist jobs in San Antonio...unfortunately, not in Chinese.

 

However, you could attempt to get hired as an analyst (w/o language) in San Antonio for NSA, and then once you are in the system and have a clearance, you could more easily switch to become a Chinese linguist and move to the DC area.  It's always easier to switch within a system than to get hired into a system.  If for any reason it is easier to get hired in San Antonio, that could be your access path.

 

Also, from your profile page, I see you are a teacher.  If your language skill is high enough (3/3 on the DLPT), you could apply to be a teacher at DLI in Monterey, CA, or in Hawaii or DC for any one of several organizations.  They need teachers to help the linguists maintain their skills. Those jobs are usually found through the same keyword searches I provided earlier: CACI, NSA, etc.

[Meng Lelan]

Also, from your profile page, I see you are a teacher.  If your language skill is high enough (3/3 on the DLPT), you could apply to be a teacher at DLI in Monterey, CA, or in Hawaii or DC for any one of several organizations.  They need teachers to help the linguists maintain their skills. Those jobs are usually found through the same keyword searches I provided earlier: CACI, NSA, etc

 

 Looks like I should take the DLPT but I don't know anything about that test, though I did take the ACTFL OPI and WPT in order to obtain my Texas certificate in teaching Chinese.  As for San Antonio, my goal is to leave San Antonio after next year as I don't think I like this city at all. 

[Nathan Mao]

If you were to get an analyst job in San Antonio, it would only be to get in the system so you could have the boost of an internal hire/transfer to a job related to Chinese in the DC or Hawaii area.

 

I'm not sure how you take the DLPT w/o being an employee...probably possible as part of an application/hiring process?

[Touchstone57]

Did marrying a Chinese person affect your ability to get security clearance? I'm from the UK and it stopped me in this area...

[Nathan Mao]

Nope.

I already had a clearance, tho. It might be different if you start married to a foreign national and then attempt to apply.

 

If you have a clearance, you have to make sure you inform your security manager when you establish an ongoing contact with a foreign national, when you decide to start dating, when the dating gets serious, when you decide to get married, when you are about to marry...they do some background checks of varying depths depending on how serious the relationship is.

 

It is a risk, but not a big one, as long as you avoid surprising anyone.  Security folks don't like surprises.

[skylee]

Re this clearance thing, it is not permanent, right?  There are similar clearance requirements in other governments.  And as far as I know, some would require a fresh clearance once a person gets married (regardless of nationality) or before promotion (which is understandable).