Arc,
Good for you that you can grasp a bit of Brazilian, not me. English isn't my first language either, and I make a point of speaking english only on the radio, although I know enough french and italian too. I do not believe just by changing the hold-short calls and T/O and Ldg clearances will solve any problem on the long term. Today everyone can see what a disastrous situation it can be with runway incursions. Tomorrow language barriers will trigger new situations that we have overlooked for years, maybe because the accident is still too weak to be noticed, or because the traffic has not grown enough yet to reveal the next flaw in dual language operations. Runway incursion is not the ONLY safety factor concerned by language differences.
What Johnbr was referring to in his example (stop me if I misunderstood) is not the problem about the controller who should be able to manage the dual language situation: it is the bloody pilot who elects to speak brazilian, and leaves all other foreign traffic out of the loop!
Another one could be an aircraft on fire on a taxiway, and the pilot calls to stop right away, calls emergency services and firetrucks in his/her native language, while another "foreign language" (english) is on a crossing taxiway in poor visibility. Not aware of the situation the "english" aircraft end kissing the native and burst in flames with it.
Feel free to send donations for this script. I should be writing scenarii for Hollywood!
By the way, congratulations on the french language from which we inherited the PAN-PAN, the english language traded it for a few other ones that the French are using everyday: barbecue, bazooka, blue-jeans, caddie, chips, ketchup, jogging, jackpot, laser, and many more.
