BMV offers driver’s test in 11 foreign languages

The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles says it will begin giving its written driving test in 11 foreign languages. BMV Commissioner Don Snemis says this is the first time the agency will give what they call a “knowledge test” in languages other than English.

The 11 languages are:

Arabic
Burmese
Chin
German
Japanese
Korean
Simplified Chinese
Punjabi
Russian
Spanish
Vietnamese

In announcing the change, Snemis referenced a statistic that says 6.5 percent of private sector jobs in the Indianapolis metro areas are created by foreign companies. He says the languages were chosen based on data from the Indiana Department of Education about what primary languages are spoken in Hoosier homes. BMV officials say tests in all languages will be available by mid-August in branches with computerized touch screen testing stations.