WW1950... I am doing the same thing not too far away from you and we are another state trying to comply with ICAO recommendations.
It is true that not all is wonderful out there in Language proficiency land, but aviation must be the worst industry for rumours. France did not give Level 6 to pilots in English, only a grandfather rights style of endorsement. I am told by a pilot who has a French licence that his LPC test lasted over an hour and he got Level 5, but apparently it depends on which RTF Centre you go to! French pilots were given a Level 6 in French as does the UK to most pilots in English without even employing properly trained and qualified assessors. Italy apparently uses the Mayflower test, so I believe, which is assessed only via the sent recording not face to face, so a little dubious that one too!
Level 6 however is not the hallowed turf of native speakers. Many non-native speakers speak worse than those who have perfected their English as a foreign language. I have heard and assessed many non-English native speakers, so I can vouch for it. An ex colleague of mine back in the UK (english was his first language, although he wasn't British) had such bad pronunciation that we had many complaints about him. Language should be "intelligible to an international community of aviation users". From wherever thou shalt originate!
