CRM/TEM is focused on operating philosophies which assume that pilots have significant experience and training, and a good command of the English language. But in the real world that is no longer valid. Nowadays copilots with 500 hours are sitting in the right seat of sophisticated wide body jets. For some, the B747, in fact, has become their primary trainer.
Add to that the effects of globalization: Chinese captain mixed with Philippine copilot and Tunesian captain and Malaysian copilot, all together as augmented crew, flying together long haul across many third world countries where many air traffic controllers possess no more than a 200 word English aviation vocabulary. Any conversation or phrase "outside the box" can pose a communications challenge. Because rudimentary English as the second language in many instances will compel them to mentally translate the English conversation into their mother tongue and to think and to make sense of it in their native language and culture.
Many years ago when Kentucky Fried Chicken set up shop in China, their slogan "It's Finger Licking Good" couldn't exactly be translated into Mandarin with the same meaning. The closest translation was: "It's so good that you lick your fingers." The biggest problem in aviation is communications; speaking, understanding and comprehending the English language in non English speaking cultures.
Airplane operating design logic must become even more simpler and more automated with multiple layers of fail safe system redundancies. System problems must be displayed visually and simultaneously announced aurally with voice generated alerts, . . . all this to shorten the pilots' decision making process and thinking time!
