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I too thought that but apparently it is not the case. https://internationalaviationhq.com/2019/11/23/language-used-by-air-traffic-control/ https://internationa

by rhcom2 4y ago

I too thought that but apparently it is not the case. https://internationalaviationhq.com/2019/11/23/language-used-by-air-traffic-control/ https://internationalaviationhq.com/2019/11/23/language-used... > The language used by Air Traffic Control is quite simple: whichever the pilot chooses to use. Normally this is between English and whatever the language is of the place that they are flying to/from. Although English is the only official language.

jeffrallen 4y ago
Interesting. I listen to lots of ATC, and I'm fluent in French. It was really noticable how much less legible French is on the radio, stuff like AF zero un and AF zero onze differ by so little you cannot distinguish them. Radio English has specific alternative prononciations, which help avoid this, like "fife" and "niner".
- jean_tta 4y ago
  French military radio procedures also have specific pronunciations to disambiguate words. The fact that it is not used (assuming it is not) in ATC radio is not a feature of the French language.
- giraffe_lady 4y ago
  Are you a native french speaker? I'm fluent in a couple languages and all but my native one are insanely hard to understand over radio. Even with the special pronunciations there are a lot of nearly indistinguishable sounds in english, and I'm not sure those sounds are even apparent to a non-native speaker who isn't specifically trained in them. It's very possible they are using an equivalent but we can't hear it without some practice.
  - t0mas88 4y ago
    It comes with practice and ATC recordings sound way worse than how it sounds in the aircraft. Because it's recorded with a basic radio on the ground (causing much more interference) instead of a much better one that's up in the air with great reception.
    - sokoloff 4y ago
      This is very true. I'm a native English speaker and ~1200 hour pilot. I have no trouble with the radio in the airplane, but many of the VAS Aviation and other recreations that do not come from released ATC tapes are quite hard to understand. There's also a defined cadence and order for many transmissions. If you read off the automated weather or a clearance in the usual order, it's easy to transcribe it. If you read it off out of order, it would sound the same [and just as difficult] to a non-pilot, but would be much more difficult for a pilot to write down.
- GuB-42 4y ago
  The official way of saying numbers in French is to spell each digit separately and 1 is "unité". So 011 is zéro, unité, unité. However if it is clear enough and there is no ambiguity, the common way of saying numbers can be used, so zéro onze is acceptable. In normal conditions, no french speaker will mistake "onze" for "un", the latter should be "unité" anyways. The main problem with "un" is that it sounds like "hein?", which means something like "huh?", the kind of meaningless words that punctuate conversations without even noticing.
- curiousgal 4y ago
  Especially when it comes to numbers! The other day I asked for direction at a front desk and the lady told me to go to the office # "trente quatre vingt", I wasn't sure whether that was "3420" or "3080".
  - detuur 4y ago
    I had a discussion with my (natively French-speaking) in-laws about this some time ago! Essentially, native speakers rely heavily on short pauses in the pronunciation of numbers, causing 3420 to be pronounced "trente quatre vingt", whereas 3080 would be "trente quatrevingt". Relatively hard to pick up on as a foreigner, but second nature to native speakers.

by rhcom2 4y ago

jeffrallen 4y ago

Interesting. I listen to lots of ATC, and I'm fluent in French. It was really noticable how much less legible French is on the radio, stuff like AF zero un and AF zero onze differ by so little you cannot distinguish them. Radio English has specific alternative prononciations, which help avoid this, like "fife" and "niner".

jean_tta 4y ago
French military radio procedures also have specific pronunciations to disambiguate words. The fact that it is not used (assuming it is not) in ATC radio is not a feature of the French language.
giraffe_lady 4y ago
Are you a native french speaker? I'm fluent in a couple languages and all but my native one are insanely hard to understand over radio. Even with the special pronunciations there are a lot of nearly indistinguishable sounds in english, and I'm not sure those sounds are even apparent to a non-native speaker who isn't specifically trained in them. It's very possible they are using an equivalent but we can't hear it without some practice.
- t0mas88 4y ago
  It comes with practice and ATC recordings sound way worse than how it sounds in the aircraft. Because it's recorded with a basic radio on the ground (causing much more interference) instead of a much better one that's up in the air with great reception.
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    This is very true. I'm a native English speaker and ~1200 hour pilot. I have no trouble with the radio in the airplane, but many of the VAS Aviation and other recreations that do not come from released ATC tapes are quite hard to understand. There's also a defined cadence and order for many transmissions. If you read off the automated weather or a clearance in the usual order, it's easy to transcribe it. If you read it off out of order, it would sound the same [and just as difficult] to a non-pilot, but would be much more difficult for a pilot to write down.
GuB-42 4y ago
The official way of saying numbers in French is to spell each digit separately and 1 is "unité". So 011 is zéro, unité, unité. However if it is clear enough and there is no ambiguity, the common way of saying numbers can be used, so zéro onze is acceptable. In normal conditions, no french speaker will mistake "onze" for "un", the latter should be "unité" anyways. The main problem with "un" is that it sounds like "hein?", which means something like "huh?", the kind of meaningless words that punctuate conversations without even noticing.
curiousgal 4y ago
Especially when it comes to numbers! The other day I asked for direction at a front desk and the lady told me to go to the office # "trente quatre vingt", I wasn't sure whether that was "3420" or "3080".
- detuur 4y ago
  I had a discussion with my (natively French-speaking) in-laws about this some time ago! Essentially, native speakers rely heavily on short pauses in the pronunciation of numbers, causing 3420 to be pronounced "trente quatre vingt", whereas 3080 would be "trente quatrevingt". Relatively hard to pick up on as a foreigner, but second nature to native speakers.