Language Barrier

[jrpilot]

IS the international language of flying English..if so good...but what about countries with pilots who don't speak good English...

[Craig.]

they arnt able to get the licenses that allow them to fly for the airlines. I believe one of the requirements is a good verbal communication of english. Some pilots use native tongue in their home airports air france and paris CDG are notorius for this and it has caused accidents in the past where other pilots couldnt understand information to another plane which has also affected them.

[Nexus]

In many flight schools, foreign students are required to take TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)test, which is like an english proficiency test.

I've taken those tests since I studied in the states, not harder than the average high school tests

[jrpilot]

Nexus for you that must not have been to hard since you are from the U.S...but if I had to learn French or German it would have been really hard...so I am glad it is English

[Nexus]

I am not from the USA, I'm born and raised in Sweden, Europe.
But I did some years in High school in the US, and that will benefit me alot when I'll go to aviation school.

[Woodlouse2002]

Don't get me wrong but isn't English practically the first language in Sweden anyway?

[Nexus]

Why on Earth would English be the 1st language in Sweden? We have our own language, just as the french and germans etc.

we still need to take english in school (mandatory), but we never use it in everyday life when we speak to our countrymen....

[ozzy72]

Woodie I hate to tell you this, but in mainland Europe language teaching is taken v.seriously, and done well. I'm often amazed at how skilled many of my students are in English yet they've never been to an English speaking country. Look at Exploder, speaks German (mother-tongue), English and French superbly, and he is still at secondary school
I think if anyone should be having the michael extracted its us Brits for being so idle

Ozzy

[Mr. Bones]

besides English, Russian and French are also international flying languages (and i'm not sure about Spanish but...) a pilot once told this on tv  ;)

[Woodlouse2002]

Why on Earth would English be the 1st language in Sweden? We have our own language, just as the french and germans etc.

we still need to take english in school (mandatory), but we never use it in everyday life when we speak to our countrymen....

My mistake. It must be like Germany, where everyone speaks good english without ever having been there.