Foreigners who want to drive a car in China have to get a Chinese Driver’s license as foreign and international licenses are not recognized by the government. The good thing is, that the multiple choice test you need to do for it is available in English nowadays. There is a problem however. The translation of the Chinese questions is sometimes rather weird.

Examples:

When driving, the driver may spit to the road or street out of the window.

Answer: Wrong

The traffic control department of the public security organ should notify the driver who has violated the traffic regulations after drinking of the test result by telephone.

Answer: Wrong

If the driver, owner or manager of a detained motorized vehicle fails to accept the punishment within 30 days and still fails to accept the punishment ____ after the public announcement by the traffic control department of the public security organ, the vehicle shall be sold by auction.

A. 1 month
B. 3 months
C. 6 months
D. 12 months

Answer:  B

What to do about it?

Don’t waste your time complaining about translation mistakes in case your failed the test. It won’t help you and only make you lose face. As the test is a multiple choice test, the only way to learn for it, is to prepare for the expected answers. That means if there is a question which does not make sense or even has a wrong answer – you have to learn it wrong. The good thing is, the translation mistakes in the examination computer are the same as in the official test material. So there are no unexpected problems if you prepare for all questions carefully.

If you do not want to go through endless questions lists again and again and still be not sure if you know enough, check out the Chinese Driving License Trainer which includes all questions and answers at http://www.howchinaworks.com/shop/software/chinese-driving-license-trainer/prod_5.html. It will get you ready as fast as possible by using an spaced repetition systems which asks you all the questions you make mistakes on more often than others.