Do You Have to Speak English to Get a CDL? 2025 Rules and Checks

Yes. To get and keep a commercial driver’s license in the United States, you need to speak and read English well enough to handle the job, and since mid-2025 that requirement is being enforced strictly at the roadside. Federal law, at 49 CFR 391.11(b)(2), has required English proficiency from every interstate commercial driver since 1937, but for most of that time it was a rule on paper. That is no longer the case. A driver who cannot pass a short English check during a roadside inspection is now placed out of service on the spot.¹

What Level of English the Rule Actually Requires

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration sets the standard, and it is a functional one, not an academic one. Under 49 CFR 391.11(b)(2), you must be able to read and speak English well enough to do four things: hold a basic conversation with the general public, understand highway traffic signs and signals, answer questions from officials such as law enforcement or inspectors, and make written entries on reports and records like your logbook.²

No one is grading your grammar. The question the inspector is trying to answer is simpler: can you read a “Bridge Out” sign, explain your route, and log your hours without help? “Sufficiently” is still a judgment call made by the officer at your window, and failing that call now carries immediate consequences.

What Changed in 2025

A 2016 FMCSA memo had told officers not to place drivers out of service solely for language limitations. An April 2025 executive order titled “Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers” reversed that posture and directed FMCSA to resume strict enforcement.³

Effective June 25, 2025, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance amended its North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria: an inspector who finds that a driver cannot read and speak English well enough to communicate with a safety official and respond to official inquiries must declare that driver out of service.¹ That means the truck stays parked and the load does not move until the violation is resolved. The violation codes are hardcoded in inspection software so officers cannot downgrade them.⁴

One geographic exception exists. A driver inspected inside a U.S.–Mexico border commercial zone who fails the assessment is still cited for the violation but is not placed out of service and is not subject to disqualification proceedings.⁴

How the Roadside English Check Works

FMCSA’s guidance lays out a two-step assessment. Step one is a driver interview conducted entirely in English. The inspector asks the kind of questions you would field in normal operations: where you are coming from and heading to, how long you have been driving, what your shipping papers say, and what equipment on your vehicle is subject to inspection. Translation tools are not allowed. No interpreters, phone apps, or cue cards.⁵

Pass that, and the inspector moves to step two: a sign recognition check using highway signs from the Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. You have to know what the signs mean, but you can explain them in any language the inspector understands. Fail step one and there is no step two. Outside the border commercial zones, you are placed out of service.⁴

English During the CDL Tests

The Knowledge Test

For years, many states offered the CDL knowledge test in languages other than English. California alone offered it in 20 languages. That is ending. In 2025 the Department of Transportation announced that all CDL knowledge tests will be given in English, bringing the test in line with the underlying rule that drivers actually understand the language.⁶

The Skills Test

The skills test has always been English-only. Under 49 CFR 383.133(c)(5), interpreters are prohibited during any part of the skills test. You must understand and respond to verbal commands from the examiner in English, and neither of you may communicate in another language during the test.⁷ That covers all three segments: the pre-trip vehicle inspection, the basic controls test, and the on-road drive.

Accommodations for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Applicants

The English-only rule is not read as absolutely oral. FMCSA has taken the position in formal guidance that the word “speak” in the qualification rule should not be interpreted so narrowly that a deaf driver who does not use oral communication automatically fails, and that “verbal” in the skills test rule should be applied broadly enough to allow non-oral communication.⁸

In practice, an examiner who knows American Sign Language can administer the skills test directly without violating the interpreter ban. Written notes between examiner and applicant are another option during segments like the vehicle inspection. A third-party interpreter still cannot be present during the driving segments themselves, but one may be used before the test starts and between the three segments to explain procedures. The applicant must still be able to read and write English.⁸

What Happens If You Fail

The penalties come from more than one direction:

Out-of-service order. Since June 25, 2025, a driver who fails the roadside English assessment cannot operate a commercial vehicle until the violation is resolved.¹
Safety Measurement System impact. English proficiency violations carry a severity weight of 4 in FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System and fall under the Driver Fitness BASIC, affecting both the driver’s record and the carrier’s safety scores.⁹
Driver disqualification. FMCSA can start a formal disqualification proceeding by issuing a letter of disqualification under 49 CFR 386.11(a), which can end in the loss of your CDL.⁴
Carrier consequences. The violation goes on your employer’s safety profile and enough Driver Fitness violations can trigger an FMCSA compliance review of the company.

Preparing If English Is Your Second Language

Federal Entry-Level Driver Training rules require all new CDL applicants to complete approved training before taking the skills test. The training rules do not force the whole curriculum into English, but providers are required to instruct non-English-speaking trainees on FMCSA’s English proficiency requirements as part of the external communications unit.¹⁰

Some CDL schools offer bilingual instruction, teaching material in both English and another language so students can absorb the content while building the vocabulary they will actually use on the road. If English is a barrier for you, look for a program that treats language development as part of the training. However the school teaches its classes, the skills test at the end will be in English, with no interpreter, and the first inspector who stops you will expect the same.

1
CVSA. Non-Compliance with English Language Proficiency Regulation
2
eCFR. 49 CFR 391.11 – General Qualifications of Drivers
3
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Signs Order Announcing New Guidance to Enforce English Language Proficiency
4
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. CVSA Training Committee Meeting (September 2025) FAQs on English Language Proficiency
5
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. What Should a Motor Carrier Do to Assess a CMV Driver’s English Language Proficiency (ELP) During the Driver Qualification Process?
6
AP News. All Truckers and Bus Drivers Will Be Required to Take Commercial Driver’s License Tests in English
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eCFR. 49 CFR 383.133 – Test Methods
8
Federal Register. Qualifications of Drivers; Applications for Exemptions; Hearing
9
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Safety Measurement System – Complete SMS Profile
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eCFR. 49 CFR Part 380 – Special Training Requirements