Testing Bilingual?

[Chadwick]

Hello, I was just curious how do most departments decide if your qualified for bilingual pay? I currently speak some Spanish, Portuguese, and ASL, but I'm definitely not a master of any of them, but I could communicate with someone long as they talk or sign slow.

Is it a written test?

Thank you

[ask80]

it'll vary between departments. i think most require you to have an interview in that language to see how well you speak. and most require a language that is going to be used. spanish... yes... portugese...i doubt it. some officers i know don't want to be certified bilingual even with the 5% extra pay. you'll be called on to translate a lot of stuff and you better be proficient because if you translate wrong stuff, you'll look dumb on the stand in court.

[PJ06]

Hello, I was just curious how do most departments decide if your qualified for bilingual pay? I currently speak some Spanish, Portuguese, and ASL, but I'm definitely not a master of any of them, but I could communicate with someone long as they talk or sign slow.

Is it a written test?

Thank you


When i tested for a PD in NY i did the bilingual test (spanish) and what they had me do was transalte some text and they tape it.
I had to tranlsate like i was explaining rules to a person and also when a parent/guardian gets a letter from school or any other place,i had to translate to them what the letter said.
The test felt like i was testing to work in a school because of the questions they asked.