Strategically selecting 'mother tongue' as 2. language given sufficient knowledge in other language for pre-test?

Dear all,

I am still unsure about the choice of the 1st and 2nd language. I speak German ('mother tongue') and English (working language) whereby I would consider my German language skills still to be better superior to my English skills (in particular my oral skills). Yet, I think my English is sufficiently good to master the pre-test without any relevant disadvantage. Moreover, I use a lot of English practice material (e.g. "The Ultimate EU Test Book 2016") and some candidates even stated that pre-tests in languages different from English and French are sometimes less precise in their terminology. So I though selecting English as 1st language and German as 2nd language may be advantageous.

Is it a common/sensible/ethical approach to select the 'better' language as the 2nd language as one has more opportunities to exploit the 'language skills' in the 2nd stage (in particular in the AC)? Do examiners condemn/comment on candidates that (more or less obviously) selected their mother tongue as the 2nd language in any way?

Many thanks for your advice.

Why not? If there are no

lasombradecain@gmail.com Mon, 03/27/2017 - 19:55 Permalink

Why not? If there are no restrictions in that sense in the notice of competition, go ahead! I'd do the same if I could (I hate verbal tests in my mother tongue - they're translated and you can read through the translation, it's terribly distracting! Unfortunately my mother tongue is never offered as 2nd language and I'm not so confident with my 3rd language. You've got the privilege of having German as a mother tongue. Use it to your benefit!

I'm facing the same issue

Rocio Bracero Tue, 03/28/2017 - 09:20 Permalink

I'm facing the same issue here. With texts in English from "The Ultimate EU test book" I managed to get around 90% correct answers, and now I'm trying in my mother tongue (Spanish) on the EU Training platform and I struggle to get more than 70%.

Does anyone know if the texts we´re getting the day of the exam are also such poor translations?

The Epso Spanish verbal tests

lasombradecain@gmail.com Tue, 03/28/2017 - 10:28 Permalink

The Epso Spanish verbal tests used to be very poor translations but they've improved over the years. In my last competition I found them very reasonable and I got 9/10 (usually I always got 10/10 in English and 6 or 7 in my mother tongue, due to ambiguos terms or bad translations.) Eu Training still needs to improve their training material but I can assure you that, after dealing with verbal tests here, you'll find Epso's a blessing.

I don't know what the

piero.valentini1@gmail.com Thu, 03/30/2017 - 18:50 Permalink

I don't know what the examiners could think about a candidate who chooses his mother tongue as second.. reading the competition notice it doesn't seem forbidden.

Moreover, unless you are perfectly bilingual, the opportunity of taking the assessment in your mother tongue it's very interesting....

"the 5 most popular languages

tsalani Thu, 04/13/2017 - 15:00 Permalink

"the 5 most popular languages candidates choose will be the ones used at the Assessment Centre (and possibly in the e-tray exercise, too)."

so if you are sure ( and with English and German you should be on the safe side) that your language will be a popular one, I think there is nothing wrong with choosing German as the second language.

Following this reasoning it

Maria Wed, 04/19/2017 - 18:54 Permalink

Following this reasoning it means that it is also important how many candidates are from each country.That means for instance that Estonia"s language has less chances than Spanish,Romanian or Hungarian languages to be choosen as those 5 most popular languages because theoretically for eg Romania is a bigger country and it is possible that also could have more candidates who are interested in apllying for an AD position. Am I wright ?

Yes, you are! And for what I

auri Fri, 04/21/2017 - 12:29 Permalink

Yes, you are! And for what I am concerned I would pay in order to know where the candidates came from in past editions.

Maria Wed, 04/19/2017 - 18:56 Permalink

Hello everybody,

Tess Thu, 05/18/2017 - 12:55 Permalink

Does anyone have further suggestions as regards the choice of the languages? I am still hesitating... Being Italian, I could choose English as language 1, and take the computer-based test in English, and Italian as language 2 for the possible subsequent phases. I don't know if this would be a bit risky, but I took the computer-based test before in Italian and I always lost the higher number of points in the verbal reasoning, plus most of the preparation material available is in English.

Looking forward to your advice!

Hi everybody

Sjjjjj Sun, 07/09/2017 - 00:13 Permalink

Hi everybody
I am a native english speaker with fluent spanish (minimum b2) and pretty good french (officially b2). Obviously neither languages are as comfortable for me to write or answer questions as english!!

What language is the post- preselection tests in? Can you choose from any of the "top 5"?

I have 2 options: select my mother tongue as language 1 (EN) and FR as language 2 but this will mean redacting a cv in french and maybe losing out at key essays later on....

Other option is ES as language 1 and EN as language 2. Allows my cv to be visible in english and future recruitment interviews/essays i think....BUT may not be super fast at spanish preselection tests...

Please let me know best advice

Thank you all

So is it possible to end up

Sjjjj Sun, 07/09/2017 - 10:28 Permalink

So is it possible to end up doing your numerical verbal abstract exams and also the next phase in the same language depending on most popular ones chosen or do you always need to do the 2nd phase exam in a different language to the preselection phase?

I understand competency and your cv will always need to be in language 2 regardless....can anyone confirm?

Is this forum active? .....

Sjjj Tue, 07/11/2017 - 09:04 Permalink

Sjjj, what competition are

lasombradecain@gmail.com Tue, 07/11/2017 - 10:55 Permalink

Sjjj, what competition are you talking about? Every competition is a different world and you have to read very carefully the competition notice before choosing languages. https://epso.europa.eu/apply/job-offers/ongoing_en

The language you will be using in each part of the competition is perfectly well determined in the notice of competition. For instance, if I remember well enough, in the last AD5 Generalist competition the first step (numerical, verbal and abstract tests) is in the language you chose as language 1, and all the rest is in the language you chose as language 2. But every competition is a different scenario. For instance, linguists have to usually deal with 3 languages.

Since the ruling for the Pachtitis case in 2010, language 1 can be any of 23 official languages. Language 2 will be limited to the needs of the institutions hiring, as published in the notice of the corresponding competition. Where a competition notice hasn't been published yet, you might have to wait because past competitions for the same category might differ.

I suggest you read the notice of the competition you have in mind and, if you don't find the answer, ask here again giving as much detail as possible. The employees in EU Training answer very rarely, though, particularly where the question doesn't concern their services. Some of us, users of this site, read and answer from time to time, but I have to admit I'm tired of telling people to read the competition notice, no offence meant here ;-)

Let me correct myself -

lasombradecain@gmail.com Tue, 07/11/2017 - 11:13 Permalink

Let me correct myself - language 1 might be also limited for Linguists' profiles. For example, in a competition for Translators - English mother tongue, language 1 would be necessarily English for obvious reasons.

The use of languages (both in the CV and in the tests) varies greatly depending on the competition. So, unless you specify more, nobody can answer your question, I'm afraid.