By offering testing options in Spanish, ASE opens the door to additional automotive technicians.
For many fleets, finding and keeping qualified automotive service personnel is high on the list of needs. Like other industries, as the current generation moves up the career ladder or heads into retirement, a new generation of technicians needs to fill the void. These transitions don’t happen all at once, though – it’s an ongoing, overlapping process. Many shops are finding that at least a part of their solution for replacements can come from the growing Hispanic population of native Spanish speakers.
According to Census Bureau data, Hispanic individuals make up the largest minority group in the U.S. Now exceeding 60 million, the Hispanic population comprises approximately 18 percent of the total U.S. population. Due to immigration and higher birth rates, this group is also the fastest growing segment of the population. Hispanic individuals on average are younger than other population groups and are contributing significantly to the workforce.
In the repair and maintenance sector, Hispanic individuals make up 18 percent of all automotive technicians. This percentage has been on a steady increase for several years. Since much of this growth comes from individuals who have immigrated to the U.S., the lack of English language communication skills can be a major challenge for both the technicians and their employers.
Recent census records indicate that of the U.S. Hispanic population in the 18- to 64-year-old age group, 72.5 percent speak Spanish. Of that number, 34 percent are bilingual, 25 percent speak mainly English, and 38 percent prefer Spanish.
Recognizing that learning a new language does not happen overnight, the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) has begun to offer its Automobile Test Series in a bilingual format, allowing access to professional certification and training for technicians.
“Following the success of offering a Spanish-language option for the A4, A5, A6, and G1 tests, ASE has now added the remaining automobile series tests: A1, A2, A3, A7, and A8,” says Tim Zilke, president and CEO, ASE. “The light duty diesel test [A9] will be added in the future. As Spanish-speaking professional service technicians enter the workforce, it is important that ASE continues to meet their needs when it pertains to testing and certification.”
No special registration procedures are needed to access the Spanish translations because they are built into the ASE test delivery screen. Candidates who wish to view the translated version of a question will simply click on a button provided on-screen. All ASE tests will continue to have a searchable English-to-Spanish glossary of technical terms that can be helpful in resolving dialectal differences. In addition, anyone for whom English is a second language may bring a standard, published, English-to-foreign language dictionary to use at the test center.
Advice for Spanish language ASE test takers
If you are taking an ASE test that has Spanish translation available, first you will see each question in English. Between the question and answers, you will see two buttons. One has the tag “Glosario” and the other “Leer en español” (Read in Spanish).
If you click on the button “Leer en español,” you will see a split screen that shows a PDF of the Spanish translation question at the left and the English version to the right. You must select your answer on the English side. The answers are in the same order in both versions.
You can also click on the “Glosario” button to see the English/Spanish glossary. This also opens a PDF, but you can look for it to obtain additional information of the terms in Spanish. When you click on the button “Leer en español” at the left side of the screen, you will be back to the question in Spanish. After you click the “Next” button, the Spanish translation and/or Glossary will disappear, and you will have to click on the buttons to show that information for the following question.
One difficulty when taking an ASE test and using the Spanish translation is time management. You have the same amount of time as the other test takers to complete the test. If you are confident with the Spanish translation, ASE suggests you bring it up immediately and answer the question after you have read it carefully. Read the question in English only if you need to understand certain terms or concepts. If you still have problems understanding the question, use the “Mark” button at the bottom of the page to mark the question and come back later if time allows.
ASE understands that Spanish is a language with many dialects, and the organization wants to present the translation in a way that is fair for as many test takers possible. As a part of the translation process, ASE uses a committee of various bilingual technicians that represent a variety of Spanish dialects including Mexican, Central American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Castilian. As a team, the committee tries to ensure that within the context of each question, the final translation is understandable by any Spanish speaker, regardless of where they are from. Moreover, ASE provides the Spanish/English glossary to help resolve any dialect problems a test taker might encounter.
Visit ase.com to register for any ASE tests and ase.com/Spanish for information in Spanish about the new translation options.
George Arrants is the vice president for ASE Education Foundation. Arrants works with instructors and administrators to develop partnerships with local businesses and industries through program advisory committees. He is the past chair of the Technology and Maintenance Council’s TMCSuperTech, the National Technician Skills Competition, and TMCFutureTech, the National Student Technician Competition. His entire career has been in the automotive service and education industries.
Source: https://www.fleetmaintenance.com
