By I really don’t see how this will help foreigners out?:
The government will make road signs more foreigner-friendly, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security said Friday. The government will spend 100 billion won ($76 million) to add English abbreviations such as “Blvd.” (Boulevard), “St.” (Street) and “Rd.” (road) to traffic signs across the nation this year.
Under the plan, “daero” in Korean and referring to a road with more than eight lanes, will bear a bracketed “Blvd.” “St.” will be written beside the Korean `ro” for roads of two to eight lanes, and “Rd.” will be added for smaller roads, or “gil.”
The government believes the new signs will be helpful to foreign drivers. “The English abbreviations will help foreign tourists find out what kinds of roads lie ahead,” said ministry official Oh Dong-ho. [Korea Times]
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First of all not many foreigners drive anyway in Korea, and secondly if you are driving you should know what the Korean words “daero”, “ro”, and “gil” mean anyway. If you don’t know that much about Korea you probably shouldn’t be behind the wheel in the first place.
12:50 pm on January 3rd, 2009 1
Half of the signs already have so much damn colored 100mph tape all over them from Romanization changes and construction that they could use the overhaul.
However, if this just means more friggin' colored 100mph tape plastered all over the existing signs, fuggetaboutit.
1:00 pm on January 3rd, 2009 2
First, I think Koreans have gone to great lengths in an attempt to make the roads friendly to foreigners. Kudos to the Koreans!
Before throwing money at yet another scheme (however well intended) put some forethought into it; maybe actually ask some foreign drivers what they would find helpful. Of course the number one answer would likely be driving etiquette lesons for the populace.
How about putting the signs in logical locations so one can tell where the hell the turn is and what intersection the sign is referring?
It has gotten better, I remember at one time Engrish signs were often placed AFTER the intersection they were supposed to mark. So, we are making progress.
It still helps a lot to read Hangul…
2:17 pm on January 3rd, 2009 3
"if you are driving you should know what the Korean words “daero”, “ro”, and “gil” mean anyway…"
GI Korea apparently doesn't know. In these cases what you believe to be an "r" is actually an "n." Ask about Hangang-ro or Tehran-ro and people will look at you cross-eyed.
3:37 pm on January 3rd, 2009 4
Like the signs along highway 1 going from Pusan to Seoul "Tunnel turn on light."