ATC accents

Have anyone of you had a problem with the accents of various ATC chaps
around the world? The German guy in our office always has a problem
picking up words I (an Indian) pronounce, and I can't fault him for
that, because most Europeans can't figure Indians' pronounciation.

But I guess this problem is with a few Spaniards and Italians too, the
way they speak English, with accentuated guttural sounds and all that.

Is this a trivial problem, considering the standard phraseology in use
in ATC communications, or can it lead to something worse?

Ramapriya

There have been a number of incidents and a few accidents
that were caused by or in which language was a factor. The
747s that collided on the runway at Tenerife was one of
those accidents. NASA safety reports cite many language
problems http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

"Ramapriya" wrote in message
oups.com...
| Have anyone of you had a problem with the accents of
various ATC chaps
| around the world? The German guy in our office always has
a problem
| picking up words I (an Indian) pronounce, and I can't
fault him for
| that, because most Europeans can't figure Indians'
pronounciation.
|
| But I guess this problem is with a few Spaniards and
Italians too, the
| way they speak English, with accentuated guttural sounds
and all that.
|
| Is this a trivial problem, considering the standard
phraseology in use
| in ATC communications, or can it lead to something worse?
|
| Ramapriya
|

On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 07:09:11 -0600, "Jim Macklin"
wrote:

There have been a number of incidents and a few accidents
that were caused by or in which language was a factor. The
747s that collided on the runway at Tenerife was one of
those accidents. NASA safety reports cite many language
problems http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/

Just before Xmas I flew with an instructor, from Tenerife North (Los
Rodeos), and he said the other factor was one transmission stamping on
the another:-(

When I flew I did most of the radio calls with ground, tower, approach
including La Gomera. There were no problems and their English was
pretty good (100% better than my Spanish!).

I have flown either solo or with an instructor in a number of coutries
with no problems (Finland, Spain, Portugal, Canada, USA, New Zealand,
Bahamas, St. Lucia). Any problems have been due to local procedures or
names. e.g. the Hawaiian language has very few letters and
pronunciation of place names is interesting.

To be honest I've found some of the UK Military very poor and I've
sometimes reported difficuly copying, but that's usually been due to
distortion on their transmission.

The best solution, until everybody speaks with a USA Midwest
dialect, is to say, "Unable to understand the clearance,
please speak slower and use "words twice" please."

I think when language becomes an issue, missed radio calls
and blocked transmissions are more of a problem because the
frequency congestion is not noticed.

The use of a good headset is very important, cabin speakers
are generally terrible.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

wrote in message
...
| On Mon, 2 Jan 2006 07:09:11 -0600, "Jim Macklin"
| wrote:
|
| There have been a number of incidents and a few accidents
| that were caused by or in which language was a factor.
The
| 747s that collided on the runway at Tenerife was one of
| those accidents. NASA safety reports cite many language
| problems http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/
|
| Just before Xmas I flew with an instructor, from Tenerife
North (Los
| Rodeos), and he said the other factor was one transmission
stamping on
| the another:-(
|
| When I flew I did most of the radio calls with ground,
tower, approach
| including La Gomera. There were no problems and their
English was
| pretty good (100% better than my Spanish!).
|
| I have flown either solo or with an instructor in a number
of coutries
| with no problems (Finland, Spain, Portugal, Canada, USA,
New Zealand,
| Bahamas, St. Lucia). Any problems have been due to local
procedures or
| names. e.g. the Hawaiian language has very few letters and
| pronunciation of place names is interesting.
|
| To be honest I've found some of the UK Military very poor
and I've
| sometimes reported difficuly copying, but that's usually
been due to
| distortion on their transmission.

"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
news:rRbuf.38900$QW2.10373@dukeread08...
The best solution, until everybody speaks with a USA Midwest
dialect, is to say, "Unable to understand the clearance,
please speak slower and use "words twice" please."

I think when language becomes an issue, missed radio calls
and blocked transmissions are more of a problem because the
frequency congestion is not noticed.

The use of a good headset is very important, cabin speakers
are generally terrible.


worst problem I had was with trying to get an IFR clearance at Hawthorne. It
took four attempts before the guy with a thick Hispanic type accent got the
clearance across. I would have kept him all day until I could understand
him.

Jim Macklin wrote:
The best solution, until everybody speaks with a USA Midwest
dialect,....

dialect is the keyword as opposed to accent.

I had been in England years ago
but when I went a few years ago I realized how different
a language the Queen's English is from North American English.
Further, each region of England is very different. I further
realized how different the dialects are within the US.
I'm from NY, live in the Republik of Kalifornia and probably
a few times a week I still get asked to repeat something due to
my accent (I usually reply, "Accent? What f**kin' accent? I
ain't got no accent. Where's you's accent from? ).

Gerald

wrote

Just before Xmas I flew with an instructor, from Tenerife North (Los
Rodeos), and he said the other factor was one transmission stamping on
the another:-(

chuckle
Although I understood exactly what you meant in the above exchange, upon
seeing your posting location, I thought I would clear up one thing for you,
for use when you are talking to US pilots.

Here, in the US, when two people try to transmit at the same time, we call
it "stepping" on the other's transmission, rather than "stamping."

Perhaps if we step on someone's transmission really hard, we could call it
"stamping." g

Funny thing, this language we Brits and US citizens supposedly share, eh?
g
--
Jim in NC

("Morgans" wrote)
Perhaps if we step on someone's transmission really hard, we could call it
"stamping." g

Funny thing, this language we Brits and US citizens supposedly share, eh?
g


I like their term "orbits" better than our term "circuits".


Montblack

closed traffic



--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

"Montblack" wrote in
message ...
| ("Morgans" wrote)
| Perhaps if we step on someone's transmission really
hard, we could call it
| "stamping." g
|
| Funny thing, this language we Brits and US citizens
supposedly share, eh?
| g
|
|
| I like their term "orbits" better than our term
"circuits".
|
|
| Montblack
|

Jim Macklin wrote:
There have been a number of incidents and a few accidents
that were caused by or in which language was a factor. The
747s that collided on the runway at Tenerife was one of
those accidents. NASA safety reports cite many language
problems http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/

The problem is compounded if English is not the native language of
either party. This was a factor in the Tenerife incident. It is bad
enough if only one side of the conversation is with a nonnative
English speaker.

Some years ago I was based at a busy Class C airport that seemed to
have a good number of visiting pilots with a limited command of English
(this was pre - 9/11).
Coming or going on a busy VFR weekend day was interesting, to say the
least.

David Johnson