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wylies99

Joined: 13 May 2006 Location: I'm one cool cat!
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:29 am Post subject: Expat monitors asked to test Seoul city buses |
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Expats bring changes to Seoul buses
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2917417
March 05, 2010
When it comes to public transportation in Seoul, many expatriates who are not confident in their Korean-language skills opt to take subways instead of buses.
Although buses do contain English-language route maps, and broadcast the station stops in English, many commuters can�t locate the maps and if they don�t catch the broadcast, they have no idea whether they�ve passed their destination or not.
To address this matter, the Seoul city government will form groups of expat monitors recommended by the Seoul Global Center and foreign embassies here to evaluate the quality of buses which run in run expat-heavy areas: Hannam, Ichon, Itaewon, Seorae and Yeonnam.
Each group will be comprised of about 20 expats whose mission it will be to check the friendliness of the bus drivers and how well the English broadcast service works. The monitors will be �mystery passengers,� like mystery shoppers who visit a store pretending to be customers in order to evaluate the quality of the service.
Comments, suggestions and criticisms from the monitor groups will be reflected in Seoul�s bus policies, the city government announced yesterday.
Seoul city will make the first changes to its bus system based on the feedback from expats in June. Another round of changes will be made in October ahead of the G-20 Summit in November.
The city is also mulling over providing additional foreign-language broadcasts on buses in areas such as Seorae and Yeonnam, where English is not the predominant foreign language. Many French and Chinese expatriates live in Seorae and Yeonnam, respectively.
By Kim Mi-ju [[email protected]] |
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Bucky
Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Location: Vancouver (formerly Yongsan-gu, Seoul)
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:56 am Post subject: |
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Before anything else, they need to be consistent with the English services before taking the next step. Example: in my area, the bus to my place has NO English. The several bus routes to my area with English only has it HALF of the time.
They need to fix that before taking the next step. They're trying to go from A to C while bypassing B. |
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nosmallplans

Joined: 10 Oct 2008 Location: noksapyeong
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 8:58 am Post subject: |
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1. Broadcast the stop in English for the upcoming and following stop like they do in Korean.
2. Keep the broadcast volume high. On some buses the drivers like to turn it down and turn up the radio and you simply cannot hear the bus stops being called out in Korean or in English.
3. The new buses all have those flashy LED display screens at the head of the bus. How hard can it be to flash the stop name across it? |
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fustiancorduroy
Joined: 12 Jan 2007
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 10:21 am Post subject: |
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In Ichon, the buses already include announcements in Japanese.
Buses in Seoul may not be ideal for non-Korean speakers to ride, but they have gotten better even since I came here less than four years ago. Back then there were no English maps or announcements at all. I'm actually surprised by how much English there is on the buses these days.
But really, I think the city should encourage people to, you know, learn more Korean. Learning how to read the Korean bus maps, understand the Korean announcements, and talk to the bus drivers would take, like, literally a few days of dedicated study. If you are living in a foreign country, I would think that you would be compelled to learn a bit of the local language to help you get around and such, wouldn't you?  |
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Illysook
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:37 am Post subject: |
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Place names don't really sound different. Most of us are smart enough to figure out what the announcer is saying. I would be happy if buses consistently had the place names along the route in English as well as Hangul. A lot of people use this sort of thing to help learn the language. |
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wylies99

Joined: 13 May 2006 Location: I'm one cool cat!
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:30 pm Post subject: |
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fustiancorduroy wrote: |
In Ichon, the buses already include announcements in Japanese.
Buses in Seoul may not be ideal for non-Korean speakers to ride, but they have gotten better even since I came here less than four years ago. Back then there were no English maps or announcements at all. I'm actually surprised by how much English there is on the buses these days.
But really, I think the city should encourage people to, you know, learn more Korean. Learning how to read the Korean bus maps, understand the Korean announcements, and talk to the bus drivers would take, like, literally a few days of dedicated study. If you are living in a foreign country, I would think that you would be compelled to learn a bit of the local language to help you get around and such, wouldn't you?  |
Remember, many foreigners in Seoul are tourists. Korea is supposed to be working on becoming tourist friendly. |
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jvalmer

Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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wylies99 wrote: |
fustiancorduroy wrote: |
In Ichon, the buses already include announcements in Japanese.
Buses in Seoul may not be ideal for non-Korean speakers to ride, but they have gotten better even since I came here less than four years ago. Back then there were no English maps or announcements at all. I'm actually surprised by how much English there is on the buses these days.
But really, I think the city should encourage people to, you know, learn more Korean. Learning how to read the Korean bus maps, understand the Korean announcements, and talk to the bus drivers would take, like, literally a few days of dedicated study. If you are living in a foreign country, I would think that you would be compelled to learn a bit of the local language to help you get around and such, wouldn't you?  |
Remember, many foreigners in Seoul are tourists. Korea is supposed to be working on becoming tourist friendly. |
I think Korea does a pretty good job with English signs on most things.
Maybe put those subway style LED displays on every bus which indicates every stop when it's about to come up. Not sure about the practicalities of that.
Or for buses that do stop at major stops, tourist interest sites, put big big English signs up on the buses that go there. |
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toonchoon

Joined: 06 Feb 2009 Location: Gangnam
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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most expats will not even try to take the first step in learning Hangeul, which is easy to read.
given that fact of such lazy, complacent attitude, they should not be allowed to take the bus where signs are not posted in English.  |
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wylies99

Joined: 13 May 2006 Location: I'm one cool cat!
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 4:21 pm Post subject: |
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This is an article about how the Seoul City government is taking a positive step towards making public transportation more accessibile for foreigners in Seoul. Some of you are just so hung up on "I hate waygookins because..." that you can't see that this is a positive step and COULD lead to better public transportation facilities for everyone in Seoul.
There are so many issues involved with this but "Everyone should learn Korean or just die" is NOT the attitude a SMART city government can take, especially with MILLIONS of tourists who visit the city every year. Plus, even many Koreans come from out-of-town to visit Seoul and they may have problems understanding the bus announcements and they may have to deal with surly drivers. Plus, maybe this will help some Koreans become more comfortable with learning English- especially when they get to hear, read, and use it in a public setting.
Yeah, it's a GOOD THING that the Seoul City government wants to get feedback to IMPROVE things for foreigners and visitors to the city. Why criticize them for doing this? |
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Gaber

Joined: 23 Apr 2006
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 4:58 pm Post subject: |
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I've always found the signs on buses fine. I stick to the subway 'cause traffic in this city is crazy and you can never be quite sure of trip times unless it's along a bus lane route. |
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enerjohn
Joined: 07 Feb 2010
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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Gaber wrote: |
I've always found the signs on buses fine. I stick to the subway 'cause traffic in this city is crazy and you can never be quite sure of trip times unless it's along a bus lane route. |
that's true. Also, I was unsure about using the buses at first but it gets easy pretty quick. |
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fustiancorduroy
Joined: 12 Jan 2007
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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wylies99 wrote: |
This is an article about how the Seoul City government is taking a positive step towards making public transportation more accessibile for foreigners in Seoul. Some of you are just so hung up on "I hate waygookins because..." that you can't see that this is a positive step and COULD lead to better public transportation facilities for everyone in Seoul.
There are so many issues involved with this but "Everyone should learn Korean or just die" is NOT the attitude a SMART city government can take, especially with MILLIONS of tourists who visit the city every year. Plus, even many Koreans come from out-of-town to visit Seoul and they may have problems understanding the bus announcements and they may have to deal with surly drivers. Plus, maybe this will help some Koreans become more comfortable with learning English- especially when they get to hear, read, and use it in a public setting.
Yeah, it's a GOOD THING that the Seoul City government wants to get feedback to IMPROVE things for foreigners and visitors to the city. Why criticize them for doing this? |
If the city wants to put more English on buses that go to major tourist areas, such as the yellow buses that go up to Namsan, that's fine. But, aside from Itaewon, none of the places where they are conducting this field test are tourist spots. That's nice that they want to make buses more "expat friendly" but I still stand by what I said: The city should encourage people to learn more Korean. Why even LIVE in a foreign country if you are going to surround yourself in an English bubble? Or maybe the city doesn't actually want people to learn even basic Korean, I guess? In any case, the city will do what it wants to do regardless of what I think. |
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djsmnc

Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Dave's ESL Cafe
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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I've always felt you have to earn the privilege to ride the bus here. Like "You have mastered a certain subset of the Korean language and therefore you can freely threaten your personal safety by riding on our buses"
Buses aren't meant to be figured out easily. They are the second step wherever you go. Subways are for tourists and urban folk looking for an easy and convenient way to get from point A to B. Buses are for people who can't afford cars, people who have lost their right to drive cars, people who are not old enough to drive cars and don't live near a subway, mentally unstable individuals, the elderly, drug addicts, and some completely random people with highly questionable situations. They are what abstract independent film is to the subway of Hollywood, for lack of a better comparison.
Subways give you time to plan your excursion. You can look at carefully planned colorful maps, figure out pricing, purchase cards that give you unlimited travel. Buses give you a matter of seconds to pay for the ride, a "map" that consists of straight lines or a circular figure, and the likelihood that you will be hurt in case of any slight emergency.
Anyone can ride the subway. You learn to ride the bus. And it should stay that way. |
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crossmr

Joined: 22 Nov 2008 Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul
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Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:29 am Post subject: |
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the problem is the bus maps are useless unless you're going to a subway station.
They're just a list of stop names not overlayed on an actual map. without looking on the internet if you were looking at route 143 and the stop labeled "hyundai apartments" would you have any idea where that was? not unless you'd been there. |
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nautilus

Joined: 26 Nov 2005 Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!
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Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:54 am Post subject: |
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wylies99 wrote: |
Remember, many foreigners in Seoul are tourists. Korea is supposed to be working on becoming tourist friendly. |
Not to mention the whole "hub of asia" plan.
To their credit though I have found Korea features a lot more english than e.g. Japan or China on their public transport. Road signs and subway signs are in english everywhere. Try finding that in another asian country. |
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