ChristiaanJ:
"The fact that French is not really a technical language doesn't help matters...."
Completely free, easy attack towards a language. In addition if we look into it, like you force us to do, let's compare the Nuclear industry in UK versus France, Car industry in UK verus France, Aviation industry in UK versus France, space industry in UK versus France, let's not go there...
Again you ChristiaanJ:
"What's the difference between "tangage" et "profondeur", in an aircraft context? None.... both translate to "pitch"...."
Again, don't attack this language with, as a weapon, your own shortcomings, in an aircraft context tangage has a very accurate meaning and refers to pitch movement around y (lacet(z)-tangage(y)-roulis(x)), "profondeur" refers to "gouverne de profondeur", which is the elevator, the device. You are completely confused here.
Finally, in french pitch is "assiette", and funny enough this word doesn't appear in your post when you try to translate pitch in french.
While we are all here arguing about languages and translations, the new booming aviation country-you know the country where one fifth of the humanity lives which makes their language the most spoken in the world-this country i don't name domestically do all the radio com in their language, atis in their language, approach plate in their language, SOPs-callouts in their language, checklist in their language, documents/information/NOTAM/weather... In their language, and this language is not french (even if they use their meters/kilograms...) nor english. Yet it is forseen to be the first economic power within 15 years (some say it is already today), and it is forseen to be the most dynamic aviation area in the world in terms of order and developement within years.
CAAC (their civil aviation authority) told the airlines in 2005 that by 2008 every communication-documents would have to be in english by 2008, and everybody in this country ignored it.
Something new, i even hear now (more and more everyday) foreigner crews landing in their capital or just crossing their airspace trying to say some words like "good morning" or "byebye" in the "local" (local today, global tomorrow?) language...
Argue as much as you want about Air France wanting to translate their document, still remember as a fact (to keep everything in perspective) that Air France and France itself was yesterday one of the pionneer in aviation/industry and today is still a leader in aviation industry and especially space -they are the world leader when it comes to put sattelites into orbit- and french is the second mother tongue spoken in europe after german and before english.
What is funny in this kind of argue and debate, in addition to be close minded and blind concerning the evolution of the international developement and reality, this is that the most stubborn are almost always the ones who are able to speak only one language in a cockpit (and the funniest is the ones complaining are not even affected...).
Now, on the historical/philosophical side of the issue:
100 years ago english was not an international language (french was), and today nobody can affirm that 100 hundred years from now (or before!) english will still be an international language, so here is my comment: nowadays the persons, among our pilot community, who were born in an english speaking country (or simply could speak english before they became pilot) shouldn't complain but at the opposite should be happy, it is good time for them.