Top 10 Languages Tested

For Beyond Words readers who know ALTA primarily as a translation company, it may come as a surprise to learn that we are national leaders in the Language Testing sector. Since ALTA does not develop academic language tests (like the TOEFL & SAT, which get so much attention) it’s not surprising that our services might fly under many people’s radar. Our leadership in medical, government, and corporate language testing, however, keeps us busy with interesting projects for clients and partners who you’ve definitely heard of: Kaiser Permanente, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the City of Los Angeles, major US airlines, financial institutions, and non-profit organizations throughout the world.

We test nearly 100 languages, but just as our top translation services provide an interesting glimpse at language trends for business and government, the top languages we test reflect much about current political and economic conditions, and the importance of valid and reliable language skill verification for business, health care, and national security. Here is the data on the top languages we tested in 2009:

Top 10 Languages Tested (2009)

Rounding off the list, the next 10 most-tested languages after Russian are: German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Portuguese, Somali, Turkish, Cantonese, and Sorani.

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Psychometricians: What They Are, and What They Do

What is the Angoff Method?

Norm Referenced vs Criterion Referenced Testing

Multiple Choice Test Development 101

The Value of Independent Language Testing

Other Resources

Language Testing for Education

Language testing geared for education provides indicators of the language abilities of a student or teacher. Education uses several types of language testing to examine people in different roles for language proficiency. Determining the role of the person who could...

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Language Testing for Immigration

In order to become a U.S. citizen, applicants must pass a two-part naturalization test. Part one is an English test aimed at assessing immigrants’ language skills, including their ability to read, write, listen, and speak in English. Part two is...

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How to Conduct Language Testing for Employment

Recruiters can test language proficiency to determine which candidates are the best fit for certain roles. ALTA offers language testing for employment in over 100+ languages. Employers need to know how well a candidate can communicate in a certain language...

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