My humble contribution to this international fracas was only intended to amuse....Ron Liddle of the Times is entirely responsible for the unforgettable description of the French "clinging like deranged limpets to their strange language......"
The only times I have ventured in my PA18 and encountered vent arrier, terresage, etc. I nearly met a 152 as we both turned final at the same time but from opposite directions. He was right, I was wrong, the French were very kind and forgiving.
Later on on the same journey, becoming seriously uncertain of my position, Tours guided me along a river under a lowering sky until a small airstrip showed up beneath me; the locals were graciously hospitable.
And when leaving Le Mans, and telephoning Le Touquet to say my radio was behaving badly, the kind lady controller had no problem in assuring me in the most charming English "No problem, Madam, we shall give you ze green light!"
Do you suppose these charming differences will ever be submerged into a single continental system of control....and a single international language?
Don't hold your breath.