A language learners’ forum

In-flight announcements (many are fun for language-related reasons)

Let's also make this the thread for discussing air travel (unless you have specific questions that require a separate thread).

Some of those are really funny

I'm flying from Lisbon to Madrid in a couple of weeks, which I think will be the first time I fly between two different countries neither of whose languages I speak. I'm hoping if the plane is going to crash, they'll announce it in English

Radioclare wrote:Some of those are really funny

I'm flying from Lisbon to Madrid in a couple of weeks, which I think will be the first time I fly between two different countries neither of whose languages I speak. I'm hoping if the plane is going to crash, they'll announce it in English

But ignorance is bliss, no? I suppose other passengers might give it away though

I think most crews use their country's language and English. This even happens on flights between Russia and Belarus, though if there are no foreigners onboard, using English is just a formality and they speak so fast that I can barely understand them.

I don't know what the regulations are, especially for lowcost airlines' flights that don't involve the country where they are registered. I flew Ryanair from Gdańsk to Warsaw and the crew appeared to be Polish natives.

I'm following a Russian pilot's blog btw. He said they sometimes use(d) English in the cabin just to practice Nowadays he works for Oman Air and he only uses English. There's no requirement for announcements in Arabic.

I love the Irish airline Aer Lingus. They have announcements in Irish and English, which is super interesting given that Irish is only a minority language. Sure, this has to do with the official status of Irish as the national language of Ireland, but I always wonder how many people actually understand what the crew is saying to them. On the other hand, Irish busses, trams, and trains also have bilingual announcements, so it seems only consequent.

Radioclare wrote:Some of those are really funny

I'm flying from Lisbon to Madrid in a couple of weeks, which I think will be the first time I fly between two different countries neither of whose languages I speak. I'm hoping if the plane is going to crash, they'll announce it in English

I made this exact same flight 5 weeks ago with TAP. Announcements were in Portuguese and English. (Maybe Spanish too, I don't remember). And we didn't crash.

Also was on a flight from Seville to Barcelona with Vueling. Announcements were in Spanish and English throughout the flight, until we landed, when they also added Catalan when making the welcome announcement.

I've taken this flight too (with TAP Express/Portugalia)

stelingo wrote:I made this exact same flight 5 weeks ago with TAP. Announcements were in Portuguese and English. (Maybe Spanish too, I don't remember). And we didn't crash.

Seems like this is a popular flight It's good to know that there are announcements in English. And that it didn't crash

I've flown to Australia via Doha or Dubai a few times, and I quite enjoy the Arabic announcements as a non-speaker. It sounds cool, but I don't know if I'll ever get around to learning it.

The first ~20 hour journey was pretty long, but now that I've done it a few times, it's pretty easy and all other travel pales in comparison It would probably be horrendous on a budget airline, though. Qatar Airways and Emirates are really nice.

English is mandated for flight crew involved in international flights:

http://www.aviation-esl.com/ICAO_English.htm

http://mentalfloss.com/article/55677/what-universal-language-skies

And expected in air traffic control too (see Language section of this Wikipedia article):
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_traffic_control