BALTIMORE — Maryland residents can soon take their learner's permit in nine more languages, making for a total of 17 languages that are being offered by the Motor Vehicle Administration.
STarting in September, both the learner's permit and the Maryland Driver's Manual will be offered in Yoruba, Tagalog, Amharic, Arabic, Russian, Urdu, Hindi, Farsi, Portugese and American Sign Language.
That's on top of the current languages offered - English, Spanish, French, Nepali, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese.
About 19.5 percent of Maryland residents speak a language other than English at home,according to U.S. Census data collected from 2017 to 2021.
MVA Administrator Chrissy Nizer said in a statement:
Improving accessibility for the driver’s knowledge test and study materials is critical to serve Maryland’s linguistically diverse population...We are committed to the safety of all our new drivers and we want all our applicants to understand the materials clearly and have a positive testing experience.
The announcement is part of several new initiatives around the state to reflect its growing and diverse non-English-speaking population, includingBaltimore City's efforts to offer 911 services in 140 languages and the state's 211 line for hate-crime reporting being offered in more than 150 languages.
