Richard,
I apologize if I came across as a little curt.
I normally do not side much with the company given their treatment of the rank and file, rostering practices etc. I am however in full agreement of the way they filter candidates based on their lack of understanding of English and how it applies to aviation. For the most part I find it is pretty decent but there are some occasions where some of our guys and girls (of ANY color or background) have an abhorrent disregard for RT standards.
The controller in Iran will be unsure why the American flight is climbing to "three-five-ohh"...what does that mean? Is he climbing in 35 minutes? What is his current level? Maybe it was his airspeed? It makes the controller unsure and puts doubt in the whole exchange. Might work in North America but not here.
When I first arrived here too many years ago, I was called out on my RT which pissed me off a little at first. As I gained more experience with the route network I realized that the "old Aussie" was actually correct and so made it my mission to do it correctly. Think of flying to Moscow with CB's all around, complicated altimetry procedures and adding some poor RT to really crank up the workload.
Much like the SOP's, if you learn it correctly the first time, there is no fear when the 6 month check comes around.