The CIA Wants You If You Can Speak Two Languages

The CIA relies on experts in many different fields, including languages, science and technology, and economics. Currently, a shortage of multilingual speakers has them scrambling to train college students. CREDIT: CIA

CIA Seeks Anyone, Anyone Who Can Speak 2 Languages -- Live Science

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Many Americans don't learn a second or a third language from birth, let alone a language that the CIA or U.S. Foreign Service might want. The situation has forced U.S. government agencies to learn how to cultivate the most talented second-language speakers from among college students with little to no other-language expertise.

But experts who help select and train raw talent also see an opportunity in the mass of recruits who start out speaking only English. That's because the U.S. represents a living laboratory for observing how adult brains change over time as they struggle to adapt to the new grammar and vocabulary of a second language.

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My Comment: Americans have always been resistant to learning a second language .... even though it is a country that is made up of immigrants. But this mindset is changing. Spanish is rapidly becoming an important language, and with time will become even more dominant than what it is today. In my case, Russian is my first language. I learned English when my parents moved to Quebec, Canada. Living in Quebec, I then had to learn French. When I started doing business in Asia, I quickly had to learn rudimentary Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Now .... at 50 .... I am working on my Spanish. But while a lot of people are impressed with my language skills .... my mother speaks 8 languages fluently, and 4 more but on a rudimentary level .... and at 84, is now learning french.