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ippy
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
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 Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 11:54 pm Post subject: Learning to Drive in Korea advice |
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Im determined to do this. But i have no korean ability.
Ive already passed the written test, so moving into the hagwon step (driving the obstacle course and then practicing on the road before finally taking the test).
I obvioulsy have friends who can accompany me at some of the points, but it would be nothing short of rude to ask them to come to all my lessons. So i need something that will make both of our lives easier. That something is language 
What are the key words and phrases im going to need to memorize in order to be able to pass this thing with as little input as possible required from my mates? Surreal question maybe, but it might just get me to finally complete this next step (i passed the written test 5 months ago). |
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Skippy
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 12:25 am Post subject: |
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| Where you live really depends on your situation. I was told that a school I lived near (Daejeon) had a teacher that spoke English. Maybe you might get the same. Check out schools and ask if anybody can do English! Maybe you will be lucky. |
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ticktocktocktick
Joined: 31 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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| I've done it. Basically you need to get a Korean to teach you all the driving words, and you're good to go. A lot of car parts are just Konglish anyway. PM me if you like. |
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ippy
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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dont what? Since you can probably drive ill take your opinion under advisement.
ticktocktocktick still dont have access to send pms (its been around a year now ), but am curious what kind of vocab it would entail. If you wouldnt mind throwing up some of the more common phrases that would be a great help starting me out |
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vDroop
Joined: 25 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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You can't just trade your licence from back home for a Korean one anymore?
I did that 2 years ago anyway.. Just an eye test. |
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Troglodyte
Joined: 06 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Has anyone here used a Korean drivers licence (car or motorbike) in another country? If you get a licence here in Korea, can you exchange it for a local licence in, say Japan or China? |
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ticktocktocktick
Joined: 31 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 11:20 pm Post subject: |
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I know you can trade the Korean licence for a UK one, but I don't know about 3rd countries. vDroop, learning to drive in the UK is prohibitively expensive. It would cost about $3000 compared to the $800 I paid here. Also, in the UK you pay by the hour, in Korea, that $800 is for as many lessons as you need.
OP, I've pretty much forgotten what the words are in Korean now, but here's a list of words to look up. * denotes a Konglish word:
left
right
backwards
forwards
steering wheel*
indicator
seat belt
gearstick*
brake*
accelrator*
horn
hazard lights
traffic lights
stop
slow
numbers 1-5 (il, e, sam, sa, o)
If I think of any more I'll add them. Also, about a year back I made a more detailed post if you check my post history. |
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ticktocktocktick
Joined: 31 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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Here's that post:
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You will have to learn some rudimentry Korean to learn. If you can't read, learn now, and practice. Some Korean road signs are only in Korean, particularly those written onto the road surface. After that, get a Korean to sit down with you, and go through the various car part vocab, and vocab for things you can do with a car (mirror, reverse, left right etc...)
Now you're ready. They can teach either auto or manual. I did manual. They'll teach you to drive a Kia Bongo truck or similar, not a regular car if you take this option.
If you do automatic, it's about $150 cheaper, and you'll learn in a regular car. The drawback is you'll only be able to drive an automatic car, no motorbikes, no trucks etc.
How it works:
Sign up to a driving hagwon (you'll need a Korean for this!). At the same time, they'll give you an eye test.
Go to the DMV/DVLA type place and buy a copy of the Korean highway code. Study it. I spent about 5 hours studying it.
Take a written test. If you read the book, and remember the oddy-soddy bits of info, you'll be fine. The test is available in English.
Take your test result back to the hagwon. You can now start. Firstly, you'll watch a safety video for about an hour, entirely in Korean. It's mandatory. It's all stuff any halfwit could figure out, even in a foreign language. I think I played sudoku on my phone for an hour.
Next, you'll have to do 2 or 3 hours on a computer simulator, a bit like the racing games you get at arcades.
Now you're ready for an actual vehicle. The hagwon will have an obstacle course, which you have to master. I'm told that the obstacle course is the same at every hagwon. You have to complete 15-20 hrs of this before you can take the next test. For the first 8 hrs or so, you'll have an instructor with you. When you're reasonable on your own, you'll be left to practice by yourself. The course and the vehicles are fitted with sensors to see how well you do on this. There's a display in the car that can make some truly annoying noises. Every time you make a mistake, you lose 5 points. You start with 100, and 80 is the pass mark for manual, 70 for automatic. If you fail this, you have to do another 5 hrs of lessons before you can try again. They don't charge extra for these extra hours, you should just pay one set price upfront when you sign up (I paid approx w800,000).
When you pass the obstacle course test, you'll then go out on the road with an instructor. You'll drive a set course on the road that'll last about 10 mins. You have to complete 15 hrs of this road practice before you can take the road test.
When you pass the road test, it takes a few days to get the licence. Each test you take is around w40,000. |
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red_devil
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 1:20 am Post subject: |
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| FYI if you want to buy a foreign imported car you need to have a co-signer (Korean citizen) or you can't get one, doesn't matter how much money you make...unless of course you pay for the entire car up front cash. |
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ippy
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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| cheers for the info. Actually if i remember right it was that post that made me understand the system before i even started on this process Thanks for that! |
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ED209
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Troglodyte wrote: |
| Has anyone here used a Korean drivers licence (car or motorbike) in another country? If you get a licence here in Korea, can you exchange it for a local licence in, say Japan or China? |
Take your Korean license to your cities DVLA and ask for an international license. They're around 7,000won |
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ippy
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 2:22 am Post subject: |
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Amazingly i was cycling outside my town and decided to go a different way than normal and stumbled upon a driving hagwon about 15 minutes away from my house. I was just gonna cycle past it, but figured it was worth a shot, so popped in with my cheeriest "hello!" and the dude spoke back in English
Whee, managed to sign up and have my first lesson today I might have this all done before the end of the year.
One question though: They signed me up for the automatic course. I kinda wanted to go manual because i figure i need that for the IDP (my aim is to drive in korea for a year or so then maybe head to japan). Still, i remember reading somewhere that after a year on an automatic license you automatically upgrade to a full license. Is that true? I dont mind being on an automatic license for a year since its honestly a doddle, but if it isnt ill probably need to change and learn to drive one of those stupid trucks |
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ippy
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 2:38 am Post subject: |
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while i was hunting for an answer to this odd question, i stumbled on this. If you live in daejeon and are looking for a school that teaches in english:
http://www.hsdrive.com/notice/view.asp?key=851 |
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giraffe
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 7:47 am Post subject: |
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| Ah thanks for that link. Might be useful for me next year. ! |
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ippy
Joined: 25 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2010 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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What on earth was it that i read? Im sure i saw somewhere the notion that if you learn automatic for one year, it becomes a manual license after a year automatically. I have a feeling that this is absurd and ive either fabricated the idea, or ive misunderstood something i read.
Automatic felt really easy, and honestly im kinda curious how im supposed to spend my next 12 lessons in truth, so maybe i should switch it to manual They wont mind will they? |
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