European Airlines assesment process - english accent
 

So guys I have a question (not sure if posted on correct forum but I guess this one fits best). One of the instructors in flight school that I'm doing my ATPL told me that my accent sounds very American, other people also told me that I sound like I would spent last few years in USA (never been there by the way). Maybe that's because I've learned English all by myself and most of 'aviation English' came from various videos from youtube where most of valuable channels about aviation are hosted by pilots from USA. And that instructor also warned me that I should get rid of that accent in favor to some... 'normal English' (I'm guessing he meant like British English). And this is because, he said, during assessment speaking skills are also being evaluated and speaking American Accent will for sure take few points out of my final result.

And this is really surprising for me because I've always thought that main thing that can go wrong with your accent in English would be rather something like speaking Indian accent (which as we all know is really hard to understand) or to your local accent to wherever are you from (in my case Poland - so basicaly many people here tend to speak with similar to Russian accent). And yes question is directed mostly to pilots from Europe - is it really a thing that is penalized during assessments within European and maybe middle east airlines?

Ask him what he smoked. I want some, too.

Don't worry about your accent.

And change instructor. Don't fly with stupid posh Nigels.

Seriously, considering the situation that aviation is facing worldwide, the last thing that should worry you at the moment is your accent. We have far bigger problems.

Your written English looks very fluent. Well done! Some development feedback for you: try not to start a sentence with “so”, or “and”. Anyway, your English is far better than my Polish! I wouldn’t worry about your accent. Good luck with your career.

Well that's a relief what you are saying.

It is still long way until I get into 'looking for job pilot' market and still have some other options to do that may eventually end up for me flying a lot but not in an airline. But if American accent would be a thing here in Europe I'd be better to figure out how to get rid of it. Since it seems that this is just false rumor I may just use that time for anything else - if it has to be language then my next goal - Spanish ;] However you need to understand my concerns. Because situation that we have in aviation and that you just mentioned forces me to for best preparation possible in case I'll look for a right seat in any airline since at the time when I'll be looking there may be hundreds cadets with frozen ATPL for every seat.

eckhard thanks for your tips! I'll do my best and I'm totally aware of that starting with 'So', 'well' and 'and' is an issue if it goes about me.

I've been knocking about with a Septic accent for 40 or so years unfortunately. It hasn't done me any harm. I had the misfortune of growing up in America for many years, and it's hard to drop the twang. I would ignore your instructor. He's clearly got a chip on his shoulder.

Just get on with it, far, far bigger problems in aviation than your accent at the moment.

Lots of eastern European people sound a bit like that due to the way they learnt English, just try listening to the Eurovision. It can be a bit jarring but more so due to American phraseology that doesn't sound right in Europe.
Best accent is Irish not English anyway!

I wouldn’t worry , as for the Irish accent , charming as far as women are concerned , not sure about the rest ! Accent is a minor point , full comprehension , you mentioned an Indian accent , and there are many others , can take a little time . Not worth a second of anxiety , good luck ..

As long as your speech is clear enough to be understood by the average person to whom English is not native, accent doesn't matter at all. There are multiple accents in any language across its native country, let alone throughout the world. Well over 90% of the aviation people you will be working with will never raise an eyebrow about your accent, largely because it's a multicultural industry and they've heard everything, up to the point where they're already desensitised to it.

ask your instructor whether he ever flown in Skudish (Scotish) airspace..

It's not that school in general told me that American accent may be an issue in Europe. It's just an opinion of one particular instructor. I like that guy and he taught me many great things about aviation but that accent thing was bit suspicious to me. That's why I decided to ask around.

If you can speak English well enough to be understood, and meet the required ICAO level of proficiency, that is good enough. I've never heard of anyone losing out on a job because of their accent.


And Banana Joe:

Some of us Nigels are stuck with proper Esssix accents, and proud of it. That said, having just read the requirements for ICAO level 6, I'm really not sure I meet the standard. :)

Normal Nigels are OK.

Never heard anything so ridiculous.

Forget your accent, no one gives a damn so long as they can understand you

The Irish seem to have a bit of trouble pronouncing the "viles".

say "ay","ee", "eye", "oh", "you"😊