Originally Posted by
Uplinker
It doesn't really matter what the languages were, but having to continually flip between native and words translated in their head was a big factor in this incident.
I don't disagree, but the question of how to mitigate that for the best remains. Mandating a single non-native language is a red herring, in my view.
Had they stayed in one language, this mis-translation would not have occurred.
Speaking again here from a professional perspective, I don't think it's really a "mistranslation". More likely, as someone posted upthread, a 'brain fart', I think it could have happened in either language, but that it was more likely in a non-native language.
Secondly, I can't remember what was said now, but if ATC gave the French QNH as "one thousand eleven" rather than "one zero one one" then this could have been another potential factor in the cock-up.
Note that the 'cock-up' was in
English...
In a busy TMA, it must be very tempting to use abbreviations, especially if one has to say "unité zero unité unité" (11 syllables, and a right old mouthful), hundreds of times, rather than the much easier and shorter "mille onze" (2 syllables), but therein lies an elephant trap. If individual digits are spoken - in any language - instead of verbal shorthand, then fewer mistakes will occur.
It's certainly much less counterintuitive for the respective native speakers to say "one zero one one" than to say "unité zéro unité unité"; and from that perspective the use of English is much better. But it isn't a panacea.