How smart are you? The BBC visibly isn't very...

[Maciamo]

I have checked what kind of questions the BBC's How smart are you? - French quiz had. Listen to the questions. Q9 is "Je viens de visiter ma soeur", which is not even correct French. It's a literal translation from English "I've just visited my sister". In French, that would mean at best (metaphorically) that you've had sex with your sister. The correct way would be "I viens de rendre visite a ma soeur". The last question about monopoly obviously doesn't test language skills (even a native speaker like me could not answer, as I have never played the French version of the monopoly).

Their geography quiz was as much geology and meteorology as pure geography (so why not mention it ?). They also have question about British topographic symbols, that are not international. It's not very cultural fair. That's where I see that the BBC is still quite Britain-biased, and not as international and neutral as it seems - especially that the quiz are available on the World Edition, not just UK edition.

Then, their 10th question is "which one of these cities was the world's first city to reach 1 million people : New York, London, Paris ? They believe it is London, but it was in fact Edo (i.e. Tokyo) in the 18th century. Such mistaken tests remind me so much of school and university, where the teachers were not competent enough to make proper multi-choices with the valid answer in it (or only one valid answer, for that matter).

[Tsuyoiko]

The BBC - and popular culture in general- is so dumbed-down these days. Have you seen The Weakest Link? The questions on there are pathetic. And I can't watch documentaries on the BBC any more as they treat you like a child. I think we're intellectual snobs Maciamo! And I don't apologise for it!

[RockLee]

Such mistaken tests remind me so much of school and university, where the teachers were not competent enough to make proper multi-choices with the valid answer in it (or only one valid answer, for that matter).

It still is this way, sometimes I ask myself why the heck I go to school.Just like I ask myself why I'm in school right now.