I agree with the comments about French ATC, no other country uses their native language to the same degree in the air.
Hmmmm.... a bit narrow-minded, I am afraid to say.
Have you ever flown in Central & South America?
You almost need to know Spanish, because certain ATC controllers' English proficiency is surprisingly low. Airliners and IFR traffic conduct their ATC in their native language = Spanish.
As for the statement that the French language on ATC caused the accident at CDG I would be careful. Runway incursions happen very often (one needs to look @ LAX). Speaking and reading back English does not mean
understanding it. If you are proficient in another language other than your native language you'll understand.
I am absolutely horrified at the potential and actual loss of situational awareness caused by rapid-fire French speaking on French ATC
True... but ORD, LAX, BOS and JFK (that's in English
) aren't any less "rapid-fire spoken", especially in IMC.
Regarding languages other than English permitted to be used for ATC, I believe that they are French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese. I mentioned this before in another thread, but I haven't found the time to find the reference yet (please stand by).