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!!
February 28th, 2008 at 3:23 am
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!
Lauren, did you REALLY score 491/2?!?! (I’m pretty gullible, but that does seem impossible)… You must have SOME story!!!
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February 28th, 2008 at 4:10 am
I got 45.
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March 3rd, 2008 at 10:05 am
OkeLAH, haha, thats so bhutanese
you can add another point
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March 3rd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Dear Stef,
I think Lauren meant 49 and 1/2.
But I might be mistaken.
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March 3rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I got 41 and half…higher than I thought.
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December 14th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I can’t believe I missed this thread?! I’m gonna take that test… lol
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December 15th, 2008 at 2:20 am
I didn’t see this before either. I got a 40.
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December 15th, 2008 at 2:29 am
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.
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December 15th, 2008 at 4:01 am
That’s where a lot of my points came from. I’m 21, and I lived outside my passport country for 17 years lol.
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December 15th, 2008 at 4:40 am
I got 42 - what I love about that is that it makes me totally average in this community… not something I experience too often.
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