Can you take the Life in the UK Test in your own language?

The Life in the UK Test is in English. The Home Office's caseworker guidance adds two exceptions: Welsh at a centre in Wales, and Scottish Gaelic if you take it in Scotland. Urdu, Arabic, Bengali and every other language are not options, and no document we could find describes an interpreter.

That does not mean you have to learn everything in English from the first day. The test checks what you know about the UK and whether you can recognise it in English on a screen. Those are two different skills, and you can train them in that order.

What makes the English hard

The test is not a language exam, but the book is written in dense English, with legal and historical words most people never use at work. You have 45 minutes for 24 questions, which is a little under two minutes each. That is plenty if you read comfortably, and tight if you stop to work out every sentence.

Most of the difficulty sits in a small group of words:

Learn it in your language, finish in English

A practical way to split the work:

1. Understand first. Read each part of the handbook with a translation beside you, or use study material in your language. You remember what you understood, and it is hard to understand a parliament in a language you are still learning.
2. Keep the English term. Learn "jury" as "jury", with the meaning in your language next to it. The test will never show you your own word for it.
3. Answer in English, check in your language. Read the question in English first and try to answer. Look at the translation only if you are stuck, then look at it less each week.
4. Finish in English only. In the last week or two, sit full mock tests in English with no translation, in 45 minutes. This is the only rehearsal that matches the day.

Be careful with translated books

Unofficial translations of the handbook are on sale. They can be useful, with two warnings. GOV.UK says you are only tested on the official Guide for New Residents, so check that a translation follows the third edition. And a book in your language on its own leaves out step 4: you can know every fact and still lose time on the English.

Your English is a separate requirement

Passing this test does not prove your English. Most applicants also need an English qualification at B1 or above. GOV.UK's list of exempt countries is closed, and Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nigeria are not on it, even though English is widely used there. More on who needs what in who does not have to take the test.

Guides in your language

We write separate guides, with the details that matter most to each community, rather than translating this page:

• اردو: Life in the UK ٹیسٹ اردو میں
• العربية: اختبار Life in the UK بالعربية
• বাংলা: Life in the UK টেস্ট বাংলায়

How our app handles this

Our Life in the UK app follows the same order. Each question is in English, with the question and options translated underneath and the explanation in your language, in one of 14 languages. You can hide the translation when you are ready. The mock test has no translation, because the real one does not. It is an independent app, not a Home Office product.

Sources

• Home Office — Knowledge of language and life in the UK, caseworker guidance, version 31.0, 18 December 2025: languages of the test.
• GOV.UK — Life in the UK Test: special requests when booking. What happens at the test: 24 questions in 45 minutes. Prepare for the test: official materials.
• GOV.UK — Who does not need to prove their knowledge of English.

Rules change. Check GOV.UK before you book or apply.