One morning last month, Guylain Lumbu, a recently-arrived immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was behind the wheel of a white Toyota Camry. He was headed down a residential street in Lewiston, as an instructor with Bourge's Driving School gave directions in French.
Lumbu gripped the wheel at ten and two, dutifully scanned his mirrors, and kept a consistent speed, just below the posted limit.
But Lumbu is no stranger to the driver’s seat. He said he worked at a gas company for thirteen years before coming to the U.S., driving tanker trucks through what he described as the crowded, often chaotic streets of Kinshasa, the Congolese capital city of 17 million people.
He said driving in Maine is really different.
"The road is a lot safer," he said in French. "There are a lot of rules that you must respect at all cost."
A course at Bourge's Driving School runs $550, and students without work authorization often get financial support from a handful of local nonprofits.
That includes Lumbu, who said he wants to get driver’s license to make the job search easier once his work permit arrives. He chose this school so he could learn in French.
Saint Clair Biro is the school's owner. He said it’s not uncommon to be juggling a mix of languages in the classroom. He has students who speak French, Portuguese, and Lingala, and course material is largely written in English.
"It’s kinda hard," Biro said. "I have to make sure the information goes out with everybody."
Biro, originally from the Central African Republic, said he opened the school a few years ago specifically to meet the needs of multilingual students.
He said teaching certain English words is also part of the curriculum.
"So you must know, like, 'left, right, reverse' all those things," he said.
Beth Stickney, an immigration law and policy consultant, said getting a driver’s license is an important step for new arrivals looking to build a life in Maine.
"Just as it is for any Mainer," she said. "I mean, that is just hugely important for work and family mobility."
Still, she said there are pitfalls beyond language barriers for immigrant student drivers. For instance, understanding that after getting a learner’s permit, they still need another licensed driver in the car.
"Because they're like, 'I've been driving for decades, why do I need [...] my 21-year-old who learned how to drive only two years ago, in the front seat with me?'" Stickney said.
And Stickney said the consequences of an infraction can be more severe for certain immigrant learners, because even civil violations could count against them in immigration proceedings.
Multilingual driver education programs are not the only option for English language learners. The Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles said it provides interpreters free of charge to students enrolled at approved driver education programs in the state.
But Rilwan Osman, who runs S&A Driving School in Lewiston, said he sees steady demand for direct instruction in Somali.
"The older generations" of the Somali community, he said, often seek out instruction in their native language, adding that there are also "a lot of new people coming into the city, and a lot of them don't speak English."
But he said language barriers remain an issue outside the classroom.
The BMV does not allow interpreters to ride along during the road test. It says the lag time in communication could present a safety hazard, and that since a driver’s license allows someone to take the wheel independently, the road test should also be taken without assistance.
Osman said he encourages his students to call him the day of their driving test to review key vocabulary, such as e-brake and high beams. His hope is to keep students from failing based on a language mix-up alone.
"I will give you one hour to kind of go through the things that they might ask you when you go for your road tests," he said. "So that at least you have an idea of those basic things."
Meanwhile, Guylain Lumbu, the truck driver from Kinshasa, was finishing up his practice session.
Instructor Saint Clair Biro asked how he was feeling.
"Good," Lumbu responded in French. "Full of confidence."
