Taking PSM I as a Non-Native English Speaker
Separate assessment language from study language, work through twelve Scrum terms and practise three examples where wording changes the interpretation.
You can understand Scrum well and still lose time deciding what an English question means. A familiar word such as commitment, ordered or may can lead you toward a different answer if you read it too loosely.
The PSM I assessment page currently lists English, Japanese and Simplified Chinese, with the Chinese option through scrum.org.cn. French is not listed as a native assessment language. Preparing in French and reading a browser-generated translation are different from taking an officially localized French assessment.
This guide explains those distinctions, gives you twelve Scrum terminology checkpoints and works through three original examples. The French explanations illustrate a method you can adapt to another study language.
Language guidance checked on 19 October 2026. Check the linked official pages again before your assessment.
In this guide
- PSM I assessment languages
- Study language versus assessment language
- What the translation guidance says
- Twelve terminology checkpoints
- Three examples where wording matters
- A bilingual preparation routine
- Before-assessment checklist
- Next practice step and sources
Which languages is PSM I available in?
Use the PSM I certification page to check the language list for this specific assessment.
At the date checked, it lists:
- English.
- Japanese.
- Simplified Chinese through the linked Scrum.org China option.
A French translation of the Scrum Guide does not add French to that assessment list. Similarly, a training provider offering a French course or French practice questions does not establish the language in which Scrum.org delivers its test.
For the broader certification overview, including the assessment format and preparation resources, see the CertOnyx PSM I certification guide.
French study materials, translated screens and the official assessment
Three activities can look similar while serving different purposes:
| Activity | What it helps you do | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Study the French Scrum Guide and French explanations | Build understanding in a familiar language. | That a native French PSM I assessment is available. |
| Compare the English guide with your study language | Recognize the terminology and sentence structure you may need to interpret. | That memorizing equivalent words is enough to apply Scrum. |
| Consider browser translation for the assessment | Follow the translation approach described in current official guidance, subject to its limitations. | That translated wording is guaranteed accurate or technically trouble-free. |
Scrum.org’s language FAQ recommends studying the guide in your native language and then reviewing the English version. That is a useful distinction: learn the idea, then become comfortable recognizing it in English.
Independent bilingual preparation, including CertOnyx material, can support that process. It does not change the assessment’s official language options.
What Scrum.org’s translation guidance actually says
The PSM I page links to instructions for using Google Translate in Chrome.
Those instructions specify Chrome’s built-in translation capability, rather than installing a separate extension or plugin. They also identify when translation should be enabled on the assessment start screen, before proceeding to the first question. Follow the current official instructions for the exact procedure; browser menus can change.
The PSM I page does not guarantee translation quality. There is also a genuine inconsistency to know about: Scrum.org’s general technical recommendations discourage translation software because it can affect answer display.
Before relying on translation: read both current pages and ask Scrum.org support if you need clarification about your intended setup. Do not assume that an older tutorial mentioning a plugin describes today’s supported procedure.
Translation can help you read a sentence. It cannot resolve a misunderstanding of the underlying Scrum concept. It may also make two distinct English expressions look interchangeable in your language.
Twelve Scrum terms to understand in context
Use the English Scrum Guide alongside its French translation.
The French guide retains several established names in English, including Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers and Definition of Done. Keep those names recognizable. The French wording below is a learning explanation, not an official translation of an assessment question.
People, decisions and expectations
| Term | French meaning aid | Interpretation pitfall | Tiny example |
|---|---|---|---|
| accountable / responsible | Distinguer la responsabilité conservée et le travail confié. | Assuming delegation transfers the Product Owner’s accountability. | Someone helps describe an item; the Product Owner retains accountability. |
| self-managing | Une équipe qui organise son travail. | Reading this as "the Scrum Master allocates everyone’s tasks." | The team works out how to organize delivery. |
| Developers | Les personnes qui créent l’Increment utilisable. | Restricting the term to software programmers. | Testing or design expertise can contribute to the Increment. |
| Product Owner | Conserver le titre ; comprendre sa responsabilité. | Treating the name as a committee or a job that must perform every activity personally. | A Product Owner can receive help with backlog work. |
| ordered | Un ordre de traitement explicite. | Assuming one mandatory numerical scoring method. | A dependency can influence which item comes first. |
| forecast | Une prévision, pas une garantie. | Reading a selection of work as an unconditional promise that every item will be finished. | New information changes a delivery forecast. |
Goals, quality and time
| Term | French meaning aid | Interpretation pitfall | Tiny example |
|---|---|---|---|
| commitment | Lire ce à quoi porte l’engagement. | Confusing a goal commitment with a frozen task list. | Work changes while the objective remains meaningful. |
| timebox | Une limite de temps, selon l’événement. | Assuming every event must consume its maximum duration or that a Sprint can end whenever convenient. | Sprint Planning has a maximum; the Sprint retains its fixed length. |
| Definition of Done | Les conditions de qualité pour un travail Fini. | Treating "almost finished" as equivalent to Done. | An unfinished quality check prevents an item being treated as Done. |
| Sprint Goal | L’objectif du Sprint. | Confusing the purpose with the complete list of selected work. | An alternative solution can support the same objective. |
| Product Goal | L’objectif de produit à plus long terme. | Treating it as another name for the current Sprint’s tasks. | Several Sprints can contribute toward the product objective. |
| Increment | Un résultat utilisable ; vérifier la Definition of Done. | Assuming it exists only after release to users. | Work can be Done before its planned release. |
This is a selected interpretation aid, not a complete glossary. For wider terminology, Scrum.org provides its Scrum Glossary; use the guide to distinguish Scrum requirements from complementary practices.
A useful habit is to ask what the term changes in a decision. If your note only says "forecast = prévision," add a situation in which treating it as a guarantee would produce the wrong conclusion.
Three examples where wording changes the interpretation
These fictional micro-scenarios are original learning exercises. They are not actual Scrum.org assessment items.
Example 1: delegating work does not answer the accountability question
Scenario: Maya is the Product Owner for a booking service. She asks a colleague to help write descriptions of Product Backlog items. Maya continues to make the product decisions and ensure that the backlog is managed effectively.
Consider this English statement:
Maya delegates some backlog-description work.
A natural French reading is:
Maya confie une partie du travail de description des éléments du backlog.
Does that statement mean her Product Owner accountability has transferred?
No. The sentence describes delegation of an activity. It does not establish a transfer of accountability. The guide permits delegation of Product Owner work while keeping the accountability with the Product Owner.
The opposite error is to conclude that Maya must personally write every description. Neither conclusion follows from the scenario.
Language checkpoint: when you read does, delegates, is responsible for or is accountable for, identify what work or accountability the sentence actually describes. Do not replace the entire distinction with one broad dictionary translation of "responsible."
Example 2: the selected work and the Sprint Goal are different things
Scenario: During a Sprint, Developers discover that a selected item is more complex than expected. The Sprint Goal remains relevant. They discuss a narrower solution with the Product Owner that can still achieve the goal without lowering quality.
Consider two statements:
- The team may renegotiate the scope of the work.
- The team may abandon the Sprint Goal whenever work becomes difficult.
Do they express the same permission?
No. The first concerns adapting the work with the Product Owner while protecting the objective. The second invents permission to discard that objective merely because delivery is difficult.
In French, translating both scope and goal loosely as "ce qu’il faut faire" removes the distinction. Use périmètre du travail for scope and objectif for goal when explaining this example.
The sentence also says may: it describes a possibility, not an instruction that the team must remove work whenever an estimate changes.
Language checkpoint: identify which noun a permission applies to. A flexible work plan is not the same as an optional goal.
Example 3: usable, Done and already released are not synonyms
Scenario: A product improvement meets the Definition of Done on Wednesday and is usable with the existing product. Its release to customers is planned for the following week.
Must it wait for the Sprint Review to count as an Increment?
No. Its status does not depend on having been released already or on the Sprint Review authorizing it. The guide separates the creation of usable, Done work from the release decision; a review is not a mandatory release gate.
This does not mean the team must release it on Wednesday. "Can be released" and "must be released immediately" express different things.
In French, distinguish utilisable, Fini selon la Definition of Done and déjà mis à disposition des utilisateurs. A single word such as "livré" can hide which state you mean.
Language checkpoint: check whether a sentence describes a quality state, a capability or an action that has already occurred.
Five small expressions worth reading carefully
These are illustrative practice-reading cues, not a claim that every assessment uses identical wording.
| Expression | What to check |
|---|---|
| must | Is the sentence expressing an obligation? |
| may | Is it allowing a possibility rather than requiring it? |
| only | Which person, action or condition is being restricted? |
| not | Does the question ask for an exception or reverse the statement? |
| select two | Have you selected the exact number requested in this exercise? |
Marking these words can help during practice, but it is not a substitute for understanding the whole sentence.
A practical bilingual preparation routine
Use bilingual material to connect meaning across languages, rather than build two separate collections of memorized answers.
1. Start with one concept you can explain clearly
Choose a short topic: an accountability, the purpose of an event or the relationship between an artifact and its commitment.
Read it in the language in which you reason most comfortably. Explain it as if a colleague had asked what it changes in everyday work. If you cannot explain the idea, adding more English vocabulary is unlikely to solve that gap.
2. Compare the English reference
Find the corresponding English passage. Note the term, the actor and the relationship: who does what, under which condition, for which purpose?
Write down the small differences that affect meaning. Compare goal with scope, for example, rather than translating every sentence word for word.
3. Explain it without the translation
Close the French explanation. Describe the English idea in your own words, using whichever language lets you test your understanding.
Then make a short English explanation. Grammatical perfection is not the objective of this exercise; recognizing the concept and its limits is.
4. Try an unfamiliar application
Change the people, product or timing of a practice example. Ask yourself whether the same reasoning still applies and which fact would change your conclusion.
You can use Scrum.org’s free Scrum Open as one learning resource, alongside the guide and its suggested PSM I reading.
Scrum Open is a learning assessment, not the PSM I certification. A familiar question can test recall more than interpretation, so pair repetition with explanation and new examples.
5. Classify the mistake before choosing the next activity
| What happened? | Likely gap | Useful next action |
|---|---|---|
| You understood the scenario in French but misread an English restriction. | Language interpretation. | Compare the original phrase with your reading, then try a different sentence using it. |
| You understood every word but could not explain the Scrum reasoning. | Conceptual understanding. | Revisit the guide’s relevant section and explain the relationship in your own words. |
| You recognized a memorized answer but could not justify it after one fact changed. | Application or recall dependence. | Create a contrasting example and explain the changed decision. |
| You missed both the term and the concept. | Mixed gap. | Clarify the concept first, then practise recognizing its English wording. |
Keep a compact review record:
- English term or phrase:
- Meaning in this situation:
- My mistaken interpretation:
- Scrum idea to revisit:
- A different example to test next:
For example, replace "I need better English" with "I read may as a requirement and overlooked that the sentence concerned scope." That note gives you a specific practice task.
This routine is a CertOnyx learning suggestion, not a required official sequence or a promise that a candidate will be ready within a fixed number of days.
What to check before the assessment
Before your planned attempt:
- Recheck the assessment-specific language list.
- Read the current translation and technical guidance if translation is part of your intended setup.
- Clarify any unresolved setup question with Scrum.org.
- Make sure you recognize the central Scrum names in English.
- Practise reading permissions, restrictions and negations without skipping the surrounding context.
- Check whether you can explain an unfamiliar scenario, not only recognize a familiar answer.
There is no English-language level or practice score prescribed by this article. Do not treat a vocabulary checklist as a validated prediction of passing.
If you are considering an accommodation, use Scrum.org’s official process. Studying in another language does not by itself establish entitlement to extra time.
Next practice step and sources
Try the free CertOnyx PSM diagnostic for a short independent practice sample. The current page describes 12 questions without registration and a raw score at the end; it does not promise a question-by-question answer key or a pass prediction.
Afterward, use your notes to decide whether your next activity should focus on language, Scrum understanding or applying the two together.
Official references checked on 19 October 2026:
- PSM I certification: assessment languages and linked translation guidance.
- Assessment-language FAQ.
- Using Google Translate in Chrome.
- Assessment technical recommendations.
- English Scrum Guide, November 2020, by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, and its French translation.
- Scrum.org’s suggested PSM I reading.
The terminology aid, fictional scenarios and study routine are original CertOnyx teaching material. The brief English/French statements in the exercises are explanatory examples, not official assessment translations.
CertOnyx is an independent preparation resource and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Scrum.org.