Practicing for the formal battery of Spanish tests administered by the FBI for the Department of Justice is challenging. I am scheduled to take 5.5 hours of testing (the two written tests) tomorrow and, if successful, will be scheduled soon for the oral portion of the test. I'll be taking the test at the FBI building in Chicago.
I have been reviewing audiobooks in English and reading the companion books (text-based) in Spanish simultaneously. I've been listening to the same audiobooks in Spanish. The challenge, for me, in the testing is translation from English to Spanish--the other way is usually easy.
What may be even more of a challenge will be the type of Spanish being tested. If the test concerns lots of slang, that is not the type of Spanish I practice as a bilingual teacher and as a Spanish-speaking business consultant.
I did some Google searches today to find a practice test and did find a document (ED324977) published by the Education Research Information Center (ERIC) about the development of the test (or of an earlier version of the test). The document certainly gives me background as to how the test is used and what went into its development.
While I've been working with books--some by Spanish-speaking authors and some by English-speaking authors whose works are translated into Spanish--I have not been reading newspapers from major cities in the Spanish-speaking world. That might also be a good arena to practice in.
It will be a very interesting day tomorrow. I'm sure I'll have some adventures.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I took the tests on Thursday and did have some adventures. I signed privacy agreements and cannot discuss details of the tests. A reference book I wish I had (and will have if I have to take these tests again) is a Spanish-English Legal Dictionary and Phrase Book. To improve my practice, I need to work with some "cops and robber" mysteries for some of the language needed by the Department of Justice.
ReplyDelete