How to interview bilingual candidates and assess language skills fairly
On this page
- Define the language requirement before you screen
- Keep the requirement job-related
- Questions to ask, and questions to avoid
- Run a task-based language segment
- Score it with a rubric
- When nobody on the team speaks the language
- Mistakes and the fix
- Notes, transcription and the record
- Questions people ask
To interview bilingual candidates fairly, start from the language tasks the job actually involves, decide the level each task needs, and assess it directly with a short task in the language, scored by someone qualified against a written rubric. Do not rely on self-ratings like "fluent" or "conversational", and do not score accent, only whether communication works for the task.
This page covers the whole process: defining the requirement, questions that stay job-related, a task-based language segment you can run in 10 to 15 minutes, a scoring rubric, and what to do when nobody on the team speaks the language. For the general steps that keep interviews consistent, see how to reduce bias in interviews.
Define the language requirement before you screen
"Bilingual Spanish preferred" tells candidates and interviewers almost nothing. Replace it with the tasks, the language skill each uses, and how often.
LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT: [Role] Languages: [English + ____]
Task Skill How often Level needed
[Answer inbound customer calls] Speak + listen [Daily] [ ]
[Explain a bill or a policy] Speak + listen [Daily] [ ]
[Reply to written messages] Write + read [Weekly] [ ]
[Read documents customers send] Read [Weekly] [ ]
[Translate a form or notice] Read + write [Rarely] [ ]
[Interpret between two people] Interpret [ ] [ ]
Required at hire or trainable? [ ]
Who can assess it? [ ]
Pay differential (if any): [ ]Two distinctions matter more than the level. Being bilingual is not the same as interpreting: interpreting between two people in real time is a separate skill, and in some fields, such as healthcare and courts, it has its own training and credentials. And spoken and written skills often differ: someone who speaks a language at home every day may never have written a formal email in it.
Keep the requirement job-related
Not legal advice. In the US, the EEOC's enforcement guidance on national origin discrimination (as of September 2026) addresses language requirements, fluency and accent. State and local laws and other countries' rules add to it. Confirm your approach with HR or employment counsel.
As commonly summarized from that guidance:
- Language requirements should be tied to the job. The guidance describes English fluency requirements, and requirements for other languages, as permissible when they are needed for effective performance of the position, and says the level required can vary from one position to the next.
- Accent is not a proxy for ability. The guidance distinguishes a merely noticeable accent from one that materially interferes with communication the job requires, and treats decisions based on accent with particular care. Customer or coworker preference is not a justification.
- Apply the same standard to everyone. Test every candidate for the bilingual role, including those whose names or backgrounds suggest they speak the language, and those who do not.
Do not double-count English
A bilingual role has two language requirements, and each should be assessed at the level the job needs. A common failure is an interviewer who marks a candidate down on every competency because their English is less polished than the interviewer's, even though the English tasks in the role are simple. Score English once, against the English tasks in the requirement, and score the other competencies on the substance of the answers. If the candidate would find it easier to answer a behavioral question in the other language and you have a qualified assessor present, that is also an option, applied the same way for everyone.
Questions to ask, and questions to avoid
| Ask | Avoid |
|---|---|
| "This role involves explaining billing questions by phone in Spanish every day. Can you do that?" | "What is your native language?" |
| "Tell me about a time you used [language] at work. What was the task?" | "Where did you learn to speak it?" |
| "Have you written work emails or documents in [language]?" | "Where is your family from?" |
| "Have you interpreted between two people in a work setting? How did it go?" | "Is that accent Mexican or Puerto Rican?" |
| "Do you hold any language or interpreter certification relevant to this role?" | "Do you speak it at home?" |
Self-descriptions vary a lot. "Fluent" from one candidate and "conversational" from another may describe the same ability. Treat the answers as a guide to the assessment, not a substitute for it. The illegal interview questions page covers national origin questions more broadly.
Run a task-based language segment
Give 10 to 15 minutes of the interview to tasks from the requirement, conducted in the language by a qualified assessor. Tell the candidate in advance that part of the interview will be in that language and roughly what it involves. Surprising people measures nerves.
LANGUAGE SEGMENT (example: customer service, English + Spanish)
Before: "For the next ten minutes we'll switch to Spanish. I'll play a
customer, then ask you to read something and write a short reply."
1. Role-play (5 min, speaking and listening)
Assessor plays a customer confused about a late fee.
Candidate explains the charge and the options to resolve it.
Assessor asks one unexpected follow-up question.
2. Read and summarize (3 min, reading)
Candidate reads a short customer letter in Spanish and summarizes
it in English for a colleague.
3. Written reply (5 min, writing)
Candidate writes a four- or five-sentence reply to the letter in
Spanish.
4. Interpreting (only if the role requires it, 3 min)
Assessor and a colleague run a short exchange; candidate
interprets in both directions.Use tasks from the real job, at the real difficulty. If customers ask about insurance deductibles, test that, not a conversation about hobbies. For call center roles, the call center screening questions page has other scenarios you can translate into the language.
Score it with a rubric
Score each task separately, against what the task needs. The rubric below is an example; adjust the descriptions to your tasks.
| Score | Speaking and listening | Reading | Writing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4: Exceeds the task | Explains clearly, handles the unexpected question, adjusts wording to the listener | Accurate, complete summary including details and tone | Clear, correct, appropriate register for a customer |
| 3: Meets the task | Customer would understand and know what to do; minor errors do not change meaning | Main points and key details correct | Understandable and polite; minor errors do not change meaning |
| 2: Partly meets | Main point comes across but the customer would need to ask again | Main point correct, important detail missed | Meaning mostly clear; errors would confuse some readers |
| 1: Does not meet | Customer would not understand the charge or the options | Main point missed or wrong | Meaning unclear |
Notes should record what was communicated and where meaning broke down, for example "explained the fee correctly; could not explain the payment plan option". Do not write comments about accent, dialect or where the candidate seems to be from. The general structure matches the behavioral interview scoring rubric.
Regional variation
Most widely spoken languages have regional differences in vocabulary and pronunciation. Score whether the candidate communicates effectively with the people the job serves, not whether they use the assessor's variety. If your customers mostly use particular terms, a candidate can usually learn those quickly; it is a training point, not a rejection reason.
When nobody on the team speaks the language
- A qualified colleague from another team, briefed on the tasks and the rubric. Choose someone who uses the language at work, not only someone who speaks it at home.
- A professional language assessor or interpreter to run and score the segment.
- A third-party language proficiency test for the relevant skills. Many use recognized scales such as the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) speaking scale, which runs from 0 to 5, or the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2024, with major levels from Novice to Distinguished. Map the tasks in your requirement to a level before you set a cut-off.
Whichever you choose, use the same method for every candidate for that role, and keep the results with the rest of the interview record.
Mistakes and the fix
| Mistake | What goes wrong | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Accepting "fluent" on the resume | Hire cannot do the written or technical part of the job | Task-based segment for everyone |
| Assuming from a name or background | Untested hires, and unequal treatment | Test all candidates the same way |
| Chatting about hobbies in the language | Measures small talk, not the job | Use real job tasks at real difficulty |
| Scoring accent | Legal risk; rejects people who communicate well | Score whether the message was understood |
| Treating bilingual as interpreter | Errors in high-stakes conversations | Assess interpreting separately when required |
| Requiring a second language "just in case" | Shrinks the pool for no job reason | Tie the requirement to tasks and frequency |
Notes, transcription and the record
If you record or transcribe interviews, tell the candidate at the start, including for the language segment, and follow the consent rules for where they are; the consent guide has wording. Check that your notes or transcription tool handles the language you are testing before you rely on it, and keep the assessor's rubric scores as the record of the language assessment rather than an automated transcript of it.
After the interview, the scorecard should show the language scores next to the other competencies, so the debrief weighs them in proportion to how much of the job they are.
Questions people ask
Can I ask a candidate what languages they speak?
You can ask whether they can speak, read or write a language the job actually requires. Avoid asking how they learned a language, what their native language is, or where their family is from, which point toward national origin rather than the job.
What if nobody on the hiring team speaks the language?
Use a qualified colleague from another team, a professional interpreter or language assessor, or a third-party language proficiency test for that part of the process. Brief whoever does it on the job's actual tasks and give them the same rubric for every candidate.
Is 'conversational' good enough for a bilingual role?
It depends on the tasks. Conversational ability may be fine for greeting customers and taking simple requests, but not for explaining a bill, a medical instruction or a legal notice. Define the tasks first, then decide what level they need.
Should bilingual employees be paid more?
Many employers pay a differential when a second language is a regular job requirement. Whatever you decide, write it down, tie it to the assessed requirement rather than to who happens to speak a language, and apply it consistently.