Florida Drivers Test for Foreign Language Speakers

[NavarreMan 10]

In Florida you can only take the test in English or Spanish. I did some research when my husband was going to take his test because he didn't know English when he arrived from Brazil. The DMV allowed him to take the test with a translator (though it couldn't be me) since he couldn't take it in English yet. He did so, but didn't pass - he said he thought that the translator (our neighbor) didn't know how to translate everything very well. So for about a week my husband studied the Spanish test and then passed the computer test and driving test on the same day. I was really proud of him, especially since he speaks Portuguese, not Spanish.

Although I believe that immigrants should learn the language of the country they live in (be it in the U.S. or any other country), I don't think it is fair to expect someone to know the language before/when they arrive. My husband was not working for his first 4 months here because he didn't have his EAD - he was BORED. He was so happy when he got his DL because he gained a lot of freedom and loves to drive. That would not have been possible the first year had he not been allowed to take the test in Spanish (though not his native language).

Yes, this is confusing me. A friend here locally said that 4 years ago she was given the test in Russian but it seems now that they do not do this. The info from our friends in Nebraska is interesting but obviously does not apply here in Florida. Given time and a translation dictionary, Tanya was able to take and pass the on-line 4 hour Drug & Alcohol test that is required by the state. A major accomplishment and I also am very proud of her and her tenacity. It took her all day to do it.

Thanks for your insight and help.

[NavarreMan 10]

Helpful answers are what was requested. If you can't supply one, I don't need you. Plain and simple. I bet you can understand that English now can'tcha?

да, Това́рищ.

Also, that WAS my helpful answer. Is she gonna have a translator with her anytime she's driving, to read the road signs to her?

Further, "I bet you can understand that English now can'tcha?", is really craptacular syntax, and I'm not talking about the "can'tcha" part.

It was intentional Einstein!

A helpful answer might include something about the availability of picture tests or Russian language tests in the State of Florida. Your answer was in no way helpful other than making you feel somehow superior. It involved Texas & German situations and is in no way related to Florida Statutes or law.

She won't need a translator to understand roadsigns but it is highly probable that she would have difficulty with "Which way should you turn your wheels when parking facing uphill where there is a curb? Which way should you turn them where there is not a curb?" Now I'm just guessing here, but I'm thinking she is not going to see that printed on a road sign.

Stick to what you know. Stay away from things you know nothing about.

Я не ваш друг, я не ваш товарищ, вы тщеславный свинья

A friends wife in Ft Lauderdale was allowed to bring a Russian interpreter.

Know what you mean as my wife did fine with the "signs" part of the exam, but had to take the second written part a couple of times even though her English is great. We came up with a Russian/English version of a driving test somewhere and studied that a lot.

Thank you very much. I will check with the DMV next week to see if they will allow me to be there with her.

(Now that was a helpful answer!)

Where are the tricks in those questions? I can't see any, it's plain and simple. Now, the USA has ONE official language: english. Learning it is part of the immigration process and integration effort. I am sorry but speaking english is more than mandatory when driving, the test is just an anecdote. What if she gets pulled over by the police, will she need an interpreter?

Exactly which Florida Statute makes it mandatory to speak English while driving? She is learning English. She speaks it very well actually. But reading a DMV test is difficult for her. If she did get pulled over by the police I am sure she could communicate well enough to deal with the situation. By your standard, all foreigners who travel to America must speak English to drive. I feel certain there are millions of tourists who a fully capable of handling the task of driving without speaking the English language just as I am capable of driving in numerous countries overseas without speaking their native language.

If you insist on going down this road I encourage you and a couple of others to go and start your own thread about who should or should not have the right to posses a driver's license in America. That is not what this thread is about. It is about an immigrant who is here legally, trying to get information about alternative methods of taking the State of Florida Learners Permit Exam so I can get her on the road and teach her how to drive. This will enable her to become a more productive part of our society, and allow her more freedom to do things she needs to do without depending on me for her transportation. As a matter of fact, it will allow her to drive herself to her ESL classes. I am not alone in this endeavor. There are thousands of people like my wife who are working hard to learn the language and assimilate into our society. And there are folks like you who are eager to prevent that from happening.

Your profile does not specify where you are from but I am guessing that you too are not from Florida and therefore probably have little to offer in the way of constructive advice. Thankfully, there are states out there that recognize that not everyone in the world was born speaking English and there are legal immigrants, who, with a little consideration and help, can become productive members of our society.

I checked the Florida DMV website, and they have the handbook written both in Spanish and English. So I assume they give the test in both languages. Here where I live in North Carolina, the test is given in Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and I believe in Russian too. I know it does not help you whether North Carolina let you take it in different languages or not, but it will give some people an idea that speaking English is not a requirement to drive in the US. Good Luck.

Thanks for the info. Some people will find it helpful I am sure. I hear that they give the Florida test in Spanish also but have not verified that. If that is the case then I have hope that they have devised some way to accommodate other languages as well or face possible discrimination issues. I believe this might be why Nebraska offers the picture test.

[NavarreMan 10]

And now insults, better and better and on top of that, absolutely not my point -

And this post has gone to Hades in a hand basket and well away from my original point. Welcome to my world and thanks for helping it go astray.

It would be nice for ya'll to climb off your soap boxes and get back to the topic at hand. I did not throw the gauntlet but I am certainly man enough to pick it up and meet the challenge. If you have useful information, great, if not, start a rant in your own thread. It would seem that OT is designed just for this purpose. So far you and our beloved couple from Texas have not offered one iota of useful information that could in any way be beneficial to the cause of this website or the immigrant seeking helpful information here. You should consider that fact as you continue to post in VJ.

[Kar98 0]

[NavarreMan 10]

I'll give you that one. There's hope for you yet!

[chrissiemissie 0]

The problem is the switch from the Cyrillic to the Arabic alphabets.

off topic interjection: but whoaaa, i'm pretty sure she'll be taking the test in latin script? would be really cool to read english in an arabic alphabet.

[Neonred 3,562]

NavarreMan

I was just discussing this with my wife and she thinks our friends in Ft Lauderdale spoke with someone in Tallahassee to get permission to have a Russian translator for the exam. This exam was an oral exam in place of the written exam.

My wife said that questions about distances gave her particular trouble especially as she thinks in metric terms (like most of the rest of the world) instead of feet. I tried to help her take the online practice exams but found out I did not know all the answers (unlike so many geniuses that post here). She will just have to spend some time studying. My wife had a Russian/English copied study guide from NY? but said it really did not help much as the Florida test was much different. Hope the Wash. State guide will prove to be more helpful for your wife.

Thankfully we don't live in Miami (we're on the other side of the state), but don't get me started about the "English language as a requirement for drivers license" issue. Some people can be so stupid!!

[sj5 4]

Helpful answers are what was requested. If you can't supply one, I don't need you. Plain and simple. I bet you can understand that English now can'tcha?

да, Това́рищ.

Also, that WAS my helpful answer. Is she gonna have a translator with her anytime she's driving, to read the road signs to her?

Further, "I bet you can understand that English now can'tcha?", is really craptacular syntax, and I'm not talking about the "can'tcha" part.

It was intentional Einstein!

A helpful answer might include something about the availability of picture tests or Russian language tests in the State of Florida. Your answer was in no way helpful other than making you feel somehow superior. It involved Texas & German situations and is in no way related to Florida Statutes or law.

She won't need a translator to understand roadsigns but it is highly probable that she would have difficulty with "Which way should you turn your wheels when parking facing uphill where there is a curb? Which way should you turn them where there is not a curb?" Now I'm just guessing here, but I'm thinking she is not going to see that printed on a road sign.

Stick to what you know. Stay away from things you know nothing about.

Я не ваш друг, я не ваш товарищ, вы тщеславный свинья

A friends wife in Ft Lauderdale was allowed to bring a Russian interpreter.

Know what you mean as my wife did fine with the "signs" part of the exam, but had to take the second written part a couple of times even though her English is great. We came up with a Russian/English version of a driving test somewhere and studied that a lot.

Thank you very much. I will check with the DMV next week to see if they will allow me to be there with her.

(Now that was a helpful answer!)

Where are the tricks in those questions? I can't see any, it's plain and simple. Now, the USA has ONE official language: english. Learning it is part of the immigration process and integration effort. I am sorry but speaking english is more than mandatory when driving, the test is just an anecdote. What if she gets pulled over by the police, will she need an interpreter?

Exactly which Florida Statute makes it mandatory to speak English while driving? She is learning English. She speaks it very well actually. But reading a DMV test is difficult for her. If she did get pulled over by the police I am sure she could communicate well enough to deal with the situation. By your standard, all foreigners who travel to America must speak English to drive. I feel certain there are millions of tourists who a fully capable of handling the task of driving without speaking the English language just as I am capable of driving in numerous countries overseas without speaking their native language.

If you insist on going down this road I encourage you and a couple of others to go and start your own thread about who should or should not have the right to posses a driver's license in America. That is not what this thread is about. It is about an immigrant who is here legally, trying to get information about alternative methods of taking the State of Florida Learners Permit Exam so I can get her on the road and teach her how to drive. This will enable her to become a more productive part of our society, and allow her more freedom to do things she needs to do without depending on me for her transportation. As a matter of fact, it will allow her to drive herself to her ESL classes. I am not alone in this endeavor. There are thousands of people like my wife who are working hard to learn the language and assimilate into our society. And there are folks like you who are eager to prevent that from happening.

Your profile does not specify where you are from but I am guessing that you too are not from Florida and therefore probably have little to offer in the way of constructive advice. Thankfully, there are states out there that recognize that not everyone in the world was born speaking English and there are legal immigrants, who, with a little consideration and help, can become productive members of our society.

I checked the Florida DMV website, and they have the handbook written both in Spanish and English. So I assume they give the test in both languages. Here where I live in North Carolina, the test is given in Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and I believe in Russian too. I know it does not help you whether North Carolina let you take it in different languages or not, but it will give some people an idea that speaking English is not a requirement to drive in the US. Good Luck.

USCALOOSA, Ala. — Manuel Castillo was driving a truck through Alabama hauling onions and left with a $500 ticket for something he didn't think he was doing: speaking English poorly.

Castillo, who was stopped on his way back to California, said he knows federal law requires him to be able to converse in English with an officer but he thought his language skills were good enough to avoid a ticket.

Still, Castillo said he plans to pay the maximum fine of $500 rather than return to Alabama to fight the ticket.

"It just doesn't seem fair to be ticketed if I wasn't doing anything dangerous on the road," he said.

Federal law requires that anyone with a commercial drivers license speak English well enough to talk with police. Authorities last year issued 25,230 tickets nationwide for violations. Now the federal government is trying to tighten the English requirement, saying the change is needed for safety reasons.

Most states let truckers and bus drivers take at least part of their license tests in languages other than English. But the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has proposed rules requiring anyone applying for a commercial drivers license to speak English during their road test and vehicle inspection. The agency wants to change its rules to eliminate the use of interpreters, and congressional approval isn't required.

/**/ Drivers could still take written tests in other languages in states where that is allowed, and they wouldn't have to be completely fluent during the road test, said Bill Quade, an associate administrator with the agency.

"Our requirement is that drivers understand English well enough to respond to a roadside officer and to be able to converse," said Quade, who heads enforcement. Drivers need to be able to communicate with authorities about their loads and their vehicles, he said.

A handful of states and organizations are supporting the change, and no one opposed the new rule in comments submitted to the agency.

The rule change, which Quade said would likely take effect next year, could particularly affect the nation's fast-growing Spanish-speaking population.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated last year that more than 17 percent of the nation's 3.4 million truck drivers were Hispanic, as were more than 11 percent of its 578,000 bus drivers. It's unknown how many speak both Spanish and English.

The issue of English-speaking drivers also could become larger if the Bush administration succeeds with efforts to make it easier for trucks to enter the United States from Mexico. Trucks already are allowed to enter border areas under a pilot program.

An Alabama state trooper thought Castillo, 50, couldn't speak English well enough to drive an 18-wheeler when he was headed back to California from picking up onions in Glennville, Ga. A driver for 20 years, Castillo was stopped in west Alabama for a routine inspection.

Castillo, who says he speaks English at roughly a third-grade level, said he understood when the trooper asked him where he was heading and to see his commercial driver's license and registration. He said he responded in English, though he speaks with an accent.

Castillo wasn't speeding, and the inspection and computer check turned up no offenses, so he was surprised to get a ticket for being a "non-English speaking driver."

"I had heard that Congress had passed that law, so I knew people were getting tickets," he said in an interview in Spanish. "But it didn't seem fair to me because I was communicating fine with him. I don't know a lot of things, but when it comes to my work I understand everything people say to me."

Castillo, a permanent U.S. resident who lives in a farming community near Fresno, said he took his California license test in Spanish because it's the language he's most comfortable speaking.

Jan Mendoza of the California Department of Motor Vehicles said the state gives the written test in both English and Spanish, but the roadside portion of the exam is in English only because of the federal rule.

Limiting the road portion of the CDL test to English-only conversation would help eliminate drivers who don't speak English well enough to talk to an officer on the roadside, Quade said. He sees no conflict in continuing to let applicants take the written test in languages other than English.

"The level of English proficiency we are looking for at the roadside is basic. The (written) CDL is a whole different level. There's multiple choice, fairly in-depth quarters that require more of an understanding of the English language."

English-only testing for commercial licenses is limited to just seven states, according to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which tracks the issue. Those include Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming and Missouri, which recently passed the rule, according to the group.

The OOIDA supports the English-language rules for commercial drivers, as does the American Trucking Association, said spokesman Clayton Boyce.

"It doesn't require them to be super fluent, just to follow road signs, directions and be able to comply with an officer," said Boyce. "It's not a cultural requirement, it's a safety requirement."

Boyce's group teamed with another industry organization, the Truckload Carrier Association, in recent years in a driver recruitment campaign that included trying to bring more Hispanics into trucking amid a driver shortage.

Deborah Sparks, a spokeswoman for the Truckload Carrier group, said the driver shortage has eased now, she said, but language and driver recruitment could become an issue again.

"Once the economy picks up we'll have a shortage again," she said.

[Kar98 0]

Well, in all fairness, a commercial drivers' license is a different animal altogether and has much higher requirements in the language department.

[NavarreMan 10]

The problem is the switch from the Cyrillic to the Arabic alphabets.

off topic interjection: but whoaaa, i'm pretty sure she'll be taking the test in latin script? would be really cool to read english in an arabic alphabet.

I stand corrected! Even that was a helpful post. Thanks

I now understand Kar's earlier post about that statement. I completely missed that one. My bad

[sam1 1]

Well, in all fairness, a commercial drivers' license is a different animal altogether and has much higher requirements in the language department.

I agree with kar98 that a commercial driving license is completely different subject. It is clearly stated in the hand book that one has to speak and write English well to get a CDL license.

Edited May 24, 2009 by sam1

[NavarreMan 10]

Talked to DMV today regarding this issue. All I have to do is make an appointment and inform them that I will be supplying a translator and they will administer the test. Done deal. It would seem that they do not worry too much about the language barrier.

[Kar98 0]

Awesome!

[Kinito_2k3 5]

Awesome!

[NavarreMan 10]

Taking Victor down today for his Driver's License. He has been working hard at the on-line prep test and thinks it is time to try it. Today we will go without the translator. He wants to see what he can do on his own. If that fails then we will reschedule with a translator. I think that he will do just fine on signs and the road test but I have my doubts about the reading/writing portion but we will see what happens.

Tanya is going to follow his lead after he reports back on what she should expect.

Keeping fingers crossed...