# Alabama giving Drivers License exams in non-English languages. Huh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-giving-drivers-license-exams-in-non-english-languages-huh/342830 "2006-02-03T14:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-giving-drivers-license-exams-in-non-english-languages-huh/342830/21 "2006-02-04T06:12:09Z")
Heck, in China you can take a driving test in English to be able to drive here. IIRC it was 20-30 years ago that most countries in the world adopted international shapes for driving signs. Stop, yield, etc signs are the same shape in most of the world. I’m not saying that not being able to read the signs is an advantage or anything, but it also doesn’t seem to be overly important in my experience of driving in Taiwan, China and France. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-giving-drivers-license-exams-in-non-english-languages-huh/342830/22 "2006-02-04T13:33:27Z")
The same two questions are unaswered for Europe. 1. Do you have to renew over the years? 2. Do you have to test by driving a vehical at renewal time? ---
**Author:** ![mkl12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-giving-drivers-license-exams-in-non-english-languages-huh/342830/23 "2006-02-04T14:16:26Z")
> [@Harmonious Discord](#): > > The same two questions are unaswered for Europe. > > 1. Do you have to renew over the years? > 2. Do you have to test by driving a vehical at renewal time? For Germany: 1. No ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-giving-drivers-license-exams-in-non-english-languages-huh/342830/24 "2006-02-04T14:53:48Z")
> [@robby](#): > > …In any event, it was a very difficult exam, as other’s have stated… **others**! I can’t believe I typed that, as much as a pet peeve it is for me. [Bob the Angry Flower](http://angryflower.com/aposter.html) would be disgusted. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-giving-drivers-license-exams-in-non-english-languages-huh/342830/25 "2006-02-04T14:56:09Z")
> [@Ceyln](#): > > I think words are actually easier to read than picutres/funny road icons/whatever. Until you see a ‘Tank Crossing’ sign at a military base. Those get your attention real fast. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-giving-drivers-license-exams-in-non-english-languages-huh/342830/26 "2006-02-04T22:10:18Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > In Germany I had to take courses that cost A LOT of money, despite holding a valid US driver’s license. > [@Robby](#): > > I also took the exam to get my U.S. Army Europe driver’s license. I was about 19, and had been driving in the U.S. for three years. Odd that they’d make people holding a valid American license take a test; all I had to do to get a German license was trade in my Canadian license (and pay to have it officially translated). No written, driving, or eye exam was required. This was in early 2004. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-giving-drivers-license-exams-in-non-english-languages-huh/342830/27 "2006-02-04T22:21:28Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Odd that they’d make people holding a valid American license take a test; all I had to do to get a German license was trade in my Canadian license (and pay to have it officially translated). No written, driving, or eye exam was required. This was in early 2004. For US licenses, it depends on the state. Some are considered roughly equivalent so that you don’t have to take a test, but many are not. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-giving-drivers-license-exams-in-non-english-languages-huh/342830/28 "2006-02-04T22:24:49Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Per the story linked below I had no idea that drivers license exams could be taken in non-english languages. How is this a good idea for someone who supposedly has to drive on US roads and read US signs and highway directions? Judging from Europe with its umpteen dozen languages but relatively free flow of traffic across borders, I’d say it’s not such a problem. A German driving license is valid in Hungary, Portugal, and Ireland, but Germans don’t need to take their driving exams in Hungarian, Portuguese, and Irish. They just need to be able to recognize [international signage conventions](http://homepages.cwi.nl/~dik/english/traffic/signs/index.html) (triangle with red border=warning, circle with red border=prohibition, blue circle=obligation, rectangle with blue border=information, etc.). The United States doesn’t follow these conventions, but has its own system; however, as long as drivers learn it, it shouldn’t matter what language they speak. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-giving-drivers-license-exams-in-non-english-languages-huh/342830.md?page=1)