It's amusing how this language issue keeps popping up. Equally often another issue pops up. Last year I've been plowing European skies flying short sectors mostly 4 a day on my work days, quite a change from long haul really.
Instead of spending about an hour or so over the busy central Europe as when on the 747 I know spend all of it in the area.
What I have noticed is the horrendous amout of yapping on 121.5 and a lot of it pilots that are on wrong frequency or do not have one. In my experience majority of these French. Flying on Tuesday this week I counted 3 flights on the first sector to LTN, coming back 5 and next 2 sectors to DTM another 4 AF flights that where looking for a frequency or being searched by another AF flight with a new frequency.
I am not trying to stir up a pissing contest regarding the use of English as the language of choise in aviation, and it is, but I am wondering why the French airlines, mostly AF, are so well represented in what is becoming a very congested 121.5 over Europe.