it was about 10 years ago that I flew there and it was with FIS that I tried to contact, NOT a French-only airfield. Especialy the gal at FIS Paris :yuk:

And one guy at a field we landed at spoke English ok, but there were so many misunderstandings, he almost caused us to fly into the track of a single seater aerobatic jet trainer (long story). After our landing he looked a bit nervous... the next day we found out he spoke perfect German (former ATC at Berlin Tegel). :*

P.S. we were two female pilots flying a PA28... not very "gentlemanly" :p

That's what you wrote earlier:
You story seems a bit different now...


My advice: if you live and work in germany, learn german, this is the minimum you can do to be polite and respectful. Unless it means nothing to you.

KAG, I've been living in Germany for 40 years and speak the language fluently! It's French (and every other language in this world) that I don't speak. I am very much for people learning the language of their host countries... but that's a theme for Jetblast....

Ok I see. It seems our respective viewpoint are quite similar eventually.

I stumbled on this thread while researching similar topics.

As an English teacher who works with pilots, I can say that, in my experience, French ATC have good English language skills (at least in my region!)

On "practical" language sessions, involving flying circuits at BDX, ATC has been more than willing to speak with my student in English, despite the strong gallic twang and F-registered aircraft!

On the other side of the coin, as I train for my PPL down here, all RT is done in French, regardless of whether or not we are using an "English" field. I feel that since I can speak French, I should, out of respect.

Aviation has chosen to use one language for reasons of safety. It is no surprise that if everyone on the frequency can understand all of the conversations taking place then everyone will have a much clearer mental picture of what is occuring at any given time. To errode this for reasons of misplaced ideas of respect does no service to aviation. Everyone in aviation today knew well before getting involved that English would be the common international medium for communication. If you live and work in another country then by all means learn and speak their language, but do not bring it to the aviation arena.

@nuname
You're missing the point completely.
If you require people to use one language on the radio for international flights, that does not stop there from being two or more languages on the radio, because not all flights are international.
You have no right to tell a person of country X that they have to learn a different language so they can fly even if they never leave their own country.

This would be the same as saying that in order to get a drivers license in the USA, you have to learn to speak Chinese.

Have it your own way, I stand by my post. If you don't understand the meaning of it there is no point in further comment.

Except, if you live and work in the USA you may not fully appreciate how many language changes there can be in a very short space of time when flying in Europe.