5 Languages worldwide + ICAO
Most spoken language is CHINESE then SPANISH next ENGLISH followed by RUSSIAN and FRENCH at the end.
This are the five ICAO languages. Fly in chinese airspace and then go ahead and make a request..... goooood luck if you understand what the people on the ground are talking to you. I flew recently to HKG and I we had a very "british" voice , indeed a high professional, at the other end and I enjoyed the quality of service and handling but the F/O had his problems with it as he uses fractured english in his communication. As we arrived in the korean airspace he felt comfortable but not me anymore..... he wonders why? but not me. I have a real phobia to have a medical emergency in the Air and want to tell those people what is really going on and get the best available assistance for the PAX but I have my concerns that we can explain what is going on. So if You complain about the french then think about twice, they are still gold when I compare some in far east with them. And, I remember a explainaition from a LAX controller, there is NO english! People speak Texas, Atlanta, Australia, and and and ..
NG