How the ADF uses the MLAT

The Australian Defence Force uses the MLAT to determine members' ability to learn a foreign language. This will determine whether they are suitable for a posting to the ADF School of Languages. This is used for both recruits and current members. The roles that are most commonly encouraged to learn foreign languages are intelligence, special forces and electronic warfare operators but the test is open to everyone and all kinds of corps/specializations have succeeded. Your results on the MLAT will fall into one of five categories:

Not suitable. This means you have not scored high enough on the MLAT to show that you can learn a language well enough within certain time restraints. Most people fall into this category. We believe this has a lot to do with just not being ready for the MLAT. It's a difficult test and people are not ready for the fast-paced pressure of some sections.

Category 1. This includes Spanish, French, Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Afrikaans, Danish and Italian.

Category 2. This includes German, Indonesian, Malay and Romanian.

Category 3. This includes a total of 79 different languages. These can be grouped into central Asian, South Asian, South East Asian, Slavic, Mediterranean (non-romantic), and African.

Category 4. This includes just four languages which are the most difficult for English speakers to learn: Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Historicaly, only 9% of people who sit the MLAT achieve this level (figures from ADF Directorate of Occupational Psychology and Health Analysis).

As you might expect, languages are highly valued by the ADF.

Pay increases

A language allowance is paid to encourage and assist members to maintain proficiency in an approved foreign language and for the performance of linguistic duties. How much extra you are paid depends on your level of proficiency in that language and the difficulty or value of that language to the ADF. There are various caveats to payment, but the basic information is as follows.

These are the language groups, you can see that the languages become more difficult as you go up in group.

These figures are from 2021 and have since increased significantly.

So if you'd like paid language study and the subsequent language allowance, why not apply?

Interested in studying for the MLAT? Choose your plan.

MLAT study has no affiliation with the ADF and the above information is general in nature.