It would be interesting to know how many non European ATCOs whose first language is not English speak anything other than technical English, i.e. standard phaseology to get the job done.
I know that most people (except the Brit's
) make an effort to learn a little more than the essentials if they have to use a second language for work, but even if they did, I wouldn't expect them to be fluent and understand everything when used in a technical environment.
Under the circumstances to which this thread pertains, the ATCOs concerned could not be blamed.
It was the failure of the B757 crew to use standard phraseology and their airline's training/standards departments failure to adhere to proper procedures, led to them not recieving the priority that they would otherwise have got.