LOL. What a small world! My love of French comes from not being able to study it at school, so I am rather evangelical about giving it a go, much to the disgust of every Parisian I’ve ever met. I am unashamedly terrible.
I had a crap French teacher at school, but the basic thing is that when flying within the “international system” one has a reasonable expectation of English being spoken, to a reasonable standard (whatever that means). It is like you have a reasonable expectation of airport data being in the AIP+NOTAMS.
That is how the “system” is supposed to work!
I have often heard English spoken by French ATC which would be unintelligible to anyone except those who a) know what will be said or b) are French.
And I don’t think I am the only one aware of this. Recently one ATCO was promptly replaced after I said to her “sorry but I can’t speak French” 
She had ELP4, no doubt, by a French ELP examiner… She got quite p1ssed off but whoever else was monitoring the radio up there knew exactly what I was talking about.
Personally I would be more wary of speaking French in the air than in a restaurant, unless I had a really bad food allergy.
Yes, kwlf, you need to be careful as someone may point out one’s pomposity in public! :-D
@Winston mostbnon Parisian French would be just happy you tried. You don’t have to be perfect jûst as long as you are understood and treize( trehzz) is a lot different to trente et un however it is pronounced.
I suppose the only thing a pilot who doesn’t understand French ATS speaking in English on the radio even though they are limited by a set phraseology can do is either learn French or stop flying there. I cannot see the situation changing as I can’t see the French authorities employing Brits to run our ATS service. And if they did I think French pilots would be a bit pxxsed off.
Pompous or not, I wouldn’t criticise anybody for not wanting to speak French in the air if they didn’t feel comfortable with it.
I speak reasonable French but I would want to know the aeronautical terminology backwards before joining the circuit and making the calls.
I suppose the only thing a pilot who doesn’t understand French ATS speaking in English on the radio even though they are limited by a set phraseology can do is either learn French or stop flying there.
I don’t agree. The correct solution is what ATC in the rest of Europe has managed to do: speak English without the very strong drawn-out accent. I am most reliably informed (in fact it was posted openly by a French-based guy active on here, but not posted on here) that most French kids do speak English exactly like that (due to normal exposure to the language) but they get lampooned by their classmates for it; they are supposed to “ridicule” English with the strong accent. Like the comedian John Cleese impersonating Germans in the WW2 comedies which were popular in the 1970s-1980s.
I cannot see the situation changing
That I am sure is true – or will be for many years, since “language protection” is an inherent part of the culture. Much discussed before, and legally safeguarded within ATC also.
as I can’t see the French authorities employing Brits to run our ATS service.
They absolutely don’t need to do that. I have known lots of French people and all of them were completely capable of speaking completely intelligible English.
I would want to know the aeronautical terminology backwards before joining the circuit and making the calls
Totally agree – I’d regard that as obvious. One can learn cribs but what if somebody replies? It could be damned dangerous. I have had two cases where ATC cleared me on right base (in English) and cleared a local pilot on left base (in French) concurrently. One was at LFAT (many years ago; would not happen today as they are way too good now) and it was a very close miss. I was with an FI who understood the French calls but it was too late to do much.
Peter, the rest of Europe are not French. Maybe we do like to guard our language. But kids at school being lampooned if they speak with an English accent is the biggest load of garbage I have ever read.
The kids try the best they can, some become fluent but the majority struggle.
Even if they do manage to become fluent in English, not everyone wants to go into ATS.
Everybody has a choice to fly to France but I have to tell you @Peter, with your attitude I zl not surprised you have problems flying here.
I think that’s my lot for Euroga. Bye all.
Perhaps, take up this argument with a chap down your way, who you probably know, whose job is ELP testing
I didn’t invent this.
After much time I found the post. It is on FB, posted with global access.
Nobody will attack that chap because he is a French pilot, he lives there, and does ELP examinations for a living, so he is better informed than anybody.
