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The TCKness Test

Hahaha! Made you look!

No, there’s really no scientific test, of course, but a colleague of mine put together this “test” for his high school students (in an International School in China) to raise awareness of what it means to be a TCK/Global Nomad & their own backgrounds. I thought it was a fun idea & edited a bit, however if you all would like to add your ten cents I’d be interested in feedback. Any questions you’d add?! How do you score?! I’m over 60 :)


Are your parents of the same nationality? Score 1 for No and 0 for Yes

Do you have other immediate family members with different nationalities?

Score 0 for No and 1 for Yes

Were you born in your passport country(ies)? Score 0 for Yes, 1 for No

How many different towns/cities have you lived in? ½ point each

How many different countries have you lived in? 1 points each

How many different continents have you lived in? 2 points each

How many different languages can you speak fluently (very well) 2 point each

How many different languages can you speak a little of? ½ point each

How many different alphabets can you read? 1 point each

How many years have you spent outside of your passport country(ies)?

How many passports do you have? 1 point for each passport, but the first

If you have never lived in your passport country give yourself a bonus of 2 points

If your passport country is not the same as your parents’, give yourself 2 points

What is the longest you have lived in one house/apartment?

>10 years 0 points

5- 9 years ½ point

3-4 years 1 point

2 years 2 points

< 2 years 3 points

TOTAL

…I hope the format works!!! Otherwise this might look like a big mess!!

Popularity: 8% [?]

Posted by stef at 3:32 am on February 27th, 2008. Comments
Categories: General Forum.

  • Joyl
    Hmmm 48 - I would alter one thing - Question #1 if one of your parents is a dual citizen of two countries one being the same as your father's and one not (British and US, with Dad US) is that a half point or is that the same???
  • Hi all,

    I scored 53.
    That was a great test !

    My highest scores:

    - Years spent out of passport country: 17.5

    - Number of towns / cities I've lived in: 13 (Gliwice, Nowy Sacz, Paris, Algiers, Yaounde, Abidjan, Bangui, Makamba, Chambon-sur-Lignon, Bujumbura, Aix-en-Provence, London, Granada);

    - Number of countries I've lived in: 9 (Poland, France, Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Central African Republic, Burundi, the UK, Spain);

    - Languages I'm fluent in: 4 (French, English, Spanish, Polish)
  • mia
    ^-^*

    I got 11.5 points
  • Jonna
    Interesting! I've lived three lives. One of moving every 2 to 3 years, English being my parental language yet having an English language issue. I wish I spoken multiple languages but Japanese, Korean, and French didn't stick in my brain and speaking English is a challenge...I just make up words when I need them. My second life consisted of bouncing around through school and military service with my husband for the first eleven years of our marriage. And, my third life was sent raising kids in a Midwest culture I was unfamiliar with, living in the same house for over 15 years, being neighbors to a family that lived in their grandparents house with siblings nearby and who had never traveled outside the state. Though blond and blue eyed, over half a century old and living among a very Scandinavian population, I continue to feel out of place. Funny thing though...my kids have TCK tendencies and they have lived their whole lives in their "passport" country.
  • Anaide14
    I'm a 40. age : 17 I thought I would be more.( it's not really fare you get more points about your nationalities than about how much you've moved.) I've lived in more than 8 countries. ( in Europe, Asia and Africa.)
  • cowboi156
    41 points, age:17
    Does living in my passport country for 4 months count as never living there? Plus if I'm about to get a new passport but not yet?

    Guess I'm more TCK than I thought (13 years in one country, yeah I finished all my wandering before age 5)
  • Wiseways
    I scored a 46 ... hmmm and I think my english is better than my "passport" language which would be Hindi ... I think my wanderlust is starting up but I am trying to find a job and/or get accepted to college - either way its a new town :))
  • Caroline
    rafael:

    It is kinda nice, but my wanderlust is starting to get really agitated! I just need to graduate soon lol.
  • rafael
    Haha, Caroline, I beat you: 45 : D ... also at university now, and actually enjoying the break from a travelling life.
  • Caroline
    44.5 I've been pretty stationary the last few years, darn college!
  • SamanthaW
    36 points and counting.
  • michelle
    80 points and I skipped a few towns where I lived. No way I could keep track of all of them.
  • I got 46, mostly on the "years lived out of passport country"! I'm 37.
  • Aris
    32.5
  • marialuciaann
    i got 44.5 or 45.5 (i used to have 2 different passports, U.S. and filipino) but now it's only U.S.
  • brooke
    i got a 28 and i'm 17
  • ksarg
    I got 35.5 and I'm 20 =)
  • i scord 51 and i'm 21
  • Molly
    I scored 27.5 and I'm 22.
  • Arlette
    I scored 35 and I'm 27
  • 66
    ha ha, cute. I've never lived in my passport country!
  • ellen
    32.5! I'm only 20, but it helped that i spent up till college out of my passport country =) this was as fun test!
  • Esperanza
    I got 30.5 I'm 21 about to be 22. There were some questions I wasn't quite sure what the 'criteria' was for answering. But its kinda fun to just look at see different 'degrees' of TCKness.
  • 21+19years outside of passport country (my first passport anyway) = 40 points! I'm 20 years old (will be 21 in April), and I've only lived in my birthplace (Finland) for a year when I was born, and a year in high school. I only got so many points because I haven't lived in Finland for so long! XD I don't really see myself there in the near future either. *shrug*
  • kimmyjo
    27.5 points :)
    im 16 years old
  • danau
    Amen to that Uncle Dan.

    Besides, I think to be a 'third culture' person just means you feel like you're not fully a part of any one 'culture'.

    Also, I wonder if growing up overseas automatically makes you 'third cultured' or less prejudiced? I'm guessing not. I think it all depends on the person, situation, etc.
  • Uncle Dan
    40.5, the biggest contributor for mine was languages. I speak a some languages from countries I've never lived in, and have picked up a smattering of languages from friends.

    The thing is it's hard to actually quantify what makes a TCK. In fact, you can't.

    When I grew up, it was pretty much just in one country. 14 years in Indonesia. The traditional TCK was the type to travel every 4-5 years, and often even every 2. That's the "idealized" TCK.

    But our experiences are all across the spectrum, and doesn't make us any less TCKs.
  • Beth
    25! Many people are more "TCK" than I am, but those are enough points to have made me feel plenty odd for a long time.
  • besu-chan
    I'm a 45... it helps when the countries you lived in were all in different continents.... also when they all have different alphabets :) but yeah, the biggest factor for everyone is how many years they were outside their passport country, which makes sense, right?
  • lilian
    i scored 42.5 ...most of my points came from how many years living outside of my passport country which was 17 years...
  • Natalia
    I scored 25.
    :-)
    I'm 28 years old.
  • 25 give or take, but I Am a TCK_Lite :-p
  • danau
    seeeee. If you're 21 and you scored 40. Then that would make stef, who scored 60, about...40 yrs old or there abouts. And she is. well, she's a few years younger than that according to her profile site. but yeah, close enough. so that question doesn't work. all it does is advertise our age to everyone! aaaaaanyway.
  • DBJR
    I got 42 - what I love about that is that it makes me totally average in this community... not something I experience too often.
  • Lizzy
    That's where a lot of my points came from. I'm 21, and I lived outside my passport country for 17 years lol.
  • danau
    I tried it earlier. I think I got a 50.5...but that doesn't mean anything except I'm probably slightly older (emphasis on SLIGHTLY, ehm, lest you think i'm really old) than everyone else who tried it. Most of my points came from: How many years have you spent outside of your passport country(ies)? I think it works only if you're administering it to people who are all in the same age group (like in a classroom, the place where it was originally designed for). Otherwise, gotta take that question out.

    e.g. Someone who left Italy when he was 2 and lived in the Italian part of Switzerland, never became a naturalized citizen, and is now 75 yrs old would score at least 73 just based on that question alone. But that doesn't mean anything in terms of TCKness.
  • Lizzy
    I didn't see this before either. I got a 40.
  • Brice
    I can't believe I missed this thread?! I'm gonna take that test... lol
  • Jemila
    I got 41 and half...higher than I thought.
  • Jemila
    Dear Stef,

    I think Lauren meant 49 and 1/2.

    But I might be mistaken.
  • dilia
    OkeLAH, haha, thats so bhutanese :) you can add another point
  • Cynthia
    I got 45.
  • I'm glad people are trying the "test". Of COURSE it doesn't make you any less TCK if you score less & it's not meant to be taken seriously. It's simply a look at trends, I suppose, & if you follow TCK trends or not. I like the idea of using it as a TCK gathering ice-breaker :)

    I added the question about the country you're being born in being different than your passport country because a lot of people follow up the "Where are you from?" question with "OK, so where were you born?" as if this will explain everything & for many of us it doesn't explain much or complicates it even further!! However, if you get a passport simply from being born somewhere I can see that it isn't as simple! (Is it EVER?!)

    As for languages, they are something TCKs TEND to have more exposure to than non-TCKs. I absolutely love them, but alas, I show no talent for learning them :( As a Swiss I'm an embarrassment since I only speak English & German (NOT Swiss-German!). I only consider myself "fluent" in English as in German I still make mistakes & have to look words up & can't write beyond a Kindergarten level!

    Perhaps another question is how many languages have you studied... I only speak 2, but have studied 10 & suck at them all! :P

    Lauren, did you REALLY score 491/2?!?! (I'm pretty gullible, but that does seem impossible)... You must have SOME story!!! :)
  • IngridGiles
    I scored 39.
    It's a fun test, although I don't think a higher or lower score makes you more or less of a TCK. It would be great for raising awareness though, or maybe even for an ice-breaker at a TCK get-together?
    The question about being born outside of your passport country didn't make a lot of sense to me as many countries give you a passport for being born there. That's how I got to be a double-citizen. However I did count it as being born outside of my passport country as that is not the passport that I use.
  • Peter
    Well what if you lived in countries at different points, but then the country split up... Also how long does one have to have lived in a city to get points, since I've lived in several cities for just a short time. Or moved to neighbor cities in the same area. Or what about living in the same country, but at different non-subsequent times... Hehe...i tend to complicate everything...
  • jerry
    Hmmm... 12.5. Is this thing graded on a curve? ;-)
  • warona
    i'm 42. what deos that mean? is higher better? i don't get it.

    yeah, certain aspects are hard to judge. like language. i have found that tcks are usually split down the midle of those that speak 100 languages and those who only speak english (and not any of thisr 'mother tongues' and/r the languages of the countries they lived in). i feel like both are heavy tck traits.

    also, how many towns i lived in, spent 9 months travelling to 25 different states. what does that mean?

    its a fun test, and i enjoyed doing it and seeing others results. but i am a little scared aboutt he whole 'quantifying' the tck exprience. i have seen folks who only lived outside their passport countries a few short years, but have typical tck issues. and then on the flip side, those who lived abroad for longer but somehow manage to comfortably repatriate. sometimes quantifying feels like we are trying to exclude even other tcks, and/or see who is 'more' tck than who. something i think is impossible. (stef, i know this is not what you are trying to do, you just posted a fun little test! but i just had to put that in there.)

    but a fun test none the less....
  • mmmmmm
    only 36-_- I knew I need more experience.
  • kristine
    lol i lost track of what i got. I'll Do this again when i'm more awake.. Anyways, i think what ayako suggested would be good, about the food..
  • Ayako
    The other thing is that question about being born in your passport country...

    I was born in Japan but I left when I was 2 years old. Some TCKs leave when they're under 12 months and I don't think there's any difference with being born outside your passport country if you're this young!

    There were some other things like languages which I don't think correlate to TCKness at all because I know a lot of non-TCKs who speak more languages than me. They're just better at learning new languages!

    Oh well - the test is just for fun and it's not serious so don't listen to my blather! lol
  • Uncle Dan
    Hahaha

    I think I got 36. -.- Makes me feel less of a TCK, haha, but it's okelah. I just haven't moved as much as other people.

    You might want to add how many points per year-outside-passport-country. I counted those, so if it doesn't count I'm down quite a lot, haha.
  • Ayako
    You might add cultural factors like eating diffrent types of food at home.

    My parents were both Japanese but we ate different kinds of food since I was little - and I didn't realize that in many families - people weren't doing this!
  • lauren
    This is fun! I scored 491/2. What is the cut off? ha ha.
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