The Hawai‘i driver’s license written exam will be available in Tagalog by the end of the month, in the first of seven translations into languages other than English.
The Tagalog version of the exam will be available statewide, City Motor Vehicle & Licensing Division administrator Dennis Kamimura said. The city also plans to translate the tests into Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Samoan, Tongan and Vietnamese.
The University of Hawai‘i-Manoa’s Filipino and Philippine Literature program delivered the Tagalog translation last week, Kamimura said.
"Our staff is double-checking it before having it go out for printing," Kamimura said. "As the other translations come back to us, we will make them available."
The University of Hawai‘i is also translating the 30-question driver’s test into Mandarin and Vietnamese.
American Samoa Community College is handling the Samoan and Tongan versions, and the Japanese and Korean Consulate offices in Hawai‘i are conducting the translations for their respective languages.
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said the written translations are being done for experienced drivers licensed to operate a vehicle in other countries, but unable to get a Hawai‘i license because of language barriers. The city offers oral driver’s license tests once a week in certain languages, but in the late 1980s stopped providing written tests in those languages because of budget restraints, Costa said.
"There are a number of people who need to drive to get to work or for job purposes, and so are driving without a license or insurance," Costa explained.
Members of an interfaith community organization called Faith Action for Community Equity pushed last year for legislation to expand the written tests to other languages.
While that bill died, a similar measure is being discussed this legislative session. The measure, which would require translations for languages used by ethnic groups that have a state population of at least 10,000 people, passed the Senate and now faces a House hearing.
