ACCENT IN CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER AND THE PILOT IN ENGLISH AS A BACKGROUND…
By: Geykina Anna
Tags: Accents, Aviation, Conversations

ACCENT IN CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER AND THE PILOT IN ENGLISH AS A BACKGROUND OF AN AVIATION INCIDENT

What is accent?

Nowadays, there are thousands of nationalities on our planet with their own traditions and customs. A distinctive feature of each nationality is its own unique language, as a consequence of which an accent appears. Let’s figure out what the accent itself is. In the linguistic sense, an accent is a pronunciation that reflects the sound features of a foreign language or adverb, less often an individual dialect. There are four types of accents: 1) regional (geographic) accent — associated with the area in which its speakers live; 2) foreign accent — associated with the influence of the native language of native speakers; 3) ethnolect — an accent associated with the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity; 4) social accent — associated with a caste or social class.

The difference in accents consists in the individual quality of the voice, pronunciation features and the differences in vowels and consonants, stress and prosody. Since the main accent is the influence of the articulatory base of the native language, its appearance follows from the following: from birth, a person gets used to talking using his usual movements in the oral cavity, as a result of which the ability to pronounce a sound with a change in the position of the tongue becomes a difficult task for him. Thanks to this, its original accent appears.

Although grammar, semantics, vocabulary and other linguistic characteristics often change at the same time as accent, the word “accent” can refer specifically to differences in pronunciation, while the word “dialect” encompasses a wider range of linguistic differences. Often, “accent” is a subset of “dialect”.

What are the accents in English?

Today English is the international language. This language has become an integral part of both the working part of our life and the entertaining one. All over the world you can find your dialects and your English accent.

Globish (that is, English that no longer belongs to native speakers) is a new language in international communication. The most difficult accents can be found when talking to peoples from Asia and India. The peculiarity of Asians is that they do not know how to pronounce the sound “S”. And the peculiarity of the Hindus is that they make all consonants soft and speak very quickly and illegibly.

Traveling through the countries of Africa, you will be surprised how many dialects they have. And although African countries use English as their native language, their speech is quite difficult to understand.

Moreover, even every English-speaking country has its own “shade of English”. Here are some examples:

1) The posh English accent is an accent that stands out for its purity and comprehensibility. All consonants are pronounced slowly and pretentiously. This accent is inherent in the upper strata of society.

2) The American English accent — an accent with a porridge-in-your-mouth speaking style. The characteristic feature of this accent is the / r / sound, which is pronounced much more clearly than in British speech.

3) The Scottish English accent. Scottish English is the language of official business communication. The Scottish dialect is known to everyone for its harder and longer sound / r / than in standard English. Differences in Scottish accents appear in each region separately.

4) Welsh English Accent is the melodic accent spoken by the people of the Principality of Wales. This accent is characterized by a song-like manner of speaking. What’s more, Welsh English is full of locally invented words.

5) The Australian English accent — With this unique accent, speech is like one long word. Australian English has evolved from the many accents of the United Kingdom. And every region in Australia has a wide variety of local words.

6) The Canadian English accent — The Canadian people have a pronunciation similar to the American language with some French flavor. This accent has a special difference — it is the use of eh.

And so on.

It turns out that even knowing perfect English, there is a high probability of not understanding foreigners, including English-speaking residents.

Influence of accent in radio communication between the pilot and the air traffic controllers on flight safety

If a radio message is misunderstood or distorted, it can lead to a violation of safety standards. The purpose of any communication is to provide unambiguous and correct information to other pilots and ATC. The International Civil Aviation Organization Manual, Chapter 2, paragraph 1, states: “The ICAO Standard phraseology is used in all cases for which it is established. Only when the standard phraseology cannot be applied in the intended transmission is a simple spoken language used.” However, the pilot or ATC receiving the message must correctly perceive the transmitted information. Russian is the language of communication over the territory of the Russian Federation, and when flying in the area of international airports, radio communication is conducted in both English and Russian, this significantly increases the risk of misunderstandings between members of the ATC, and therefore affects the safety of the flight.

One of the most common problems for the translation and perception of the speech of air traffic controllers are speech, phraseological and procedural factors. When comparing the phraseology of radio communication in Russian and English, a number of differences can be traced, such as the pronunciation of numbers, letter designations, the pace of speech, the pronunciation of call signs, etc. Political and cultural reasons may create obstacles to the use of English as the only language in the airspace intended for international use.

English is standardized — aviation phraseology is used. It is quite formalized. This is done to avoid misunderstandings of words and their meanings.

All negotiations take place over the radio, so it is extremely important: a balanced pace of speech, volume and clarity in pronunciation.

According to the Air-Ground Communication Safety Study: Causes and Recommendations conducted by the Dutch National Laboratory( NPL), the most common problems in radio communication were:

the accent of the ATC (34%)

the speed of speech (28%)

pilot distraction (25%) and pilot fatigue (20%)

Thus, the emphasis on radio communication between the pilot and the ATC directly affects flight safety.

In almost all cases of speech exchange, there is a semantic barrier that can seriously undermine the communication process. The Secretary of the ICAO Language Proficiency Study Group (PRICESG), Mr. Brian Day, noted in one of his articles that “not all listeners perceive the same meaning of the word, phrase or expression used, as people sift words through different systems of opinion, knowledge, familiarity with culture and life experience. Therefore, the meanings of words are subjective”

However, until now, it is the exchange of oral messages that remains the main means of communication between pilots and air traffic controllers.

Pronouncing words in another language and putting them in the appropriate grammatical context is the most difficult task in everyday communication. It is much more difficult for foreign crews to communicate in English under stress, especially in emergency situations. This complexity can lead to misunderstandings and negatively affect flight safety. In cross-cultural communication, even if it is carried out in a single language, it is vital to avoid misunderstandings, and scrupulously observe the standard phraseology and the corresponding rules of radio exchange.

It was found that in situations of using English as a second language, communication participants often do not have common background knowledge. This means that when two non-native speakers of English communicate, pronunciation becomes even more important. It is very desirable that in such situations, both participants in communication have a mutually intelligible pronunciation, and in the context of aviation communication, this is simply necessary.

It is considered that the starting point for making a decision on the need to strengthen the requirements for language proficiency was three aviation accidents: the collision on the runway in Tenerife (Spain) of two Boeing 747 aircraft in 1977, the collision of a Boeing 757 aircraft with mountains in Cali (Colombia) in 1995 and the mid-air collision of IL-76 and Boeing 747 aircraft near Delhi (India) in 1996.

However, the list of aviation accidents in which the lack of knowledge of aviation English has become a contributing factor, if not the main one, is much longer. Without claiming the absolute completeness of the list, below we present the facts known to date.

A high-profile accident in March 1977 at the Tenerife airport, when a collision on the runway (runway) during the take-off of two B-747 aircraft of KL and RapAm airlines died 583 people. This disaster is still the largest in terms of the number of victims in the world of civil aviation.

During the investigation of the crash, different levels of proficiency in aviation English and incorrect use of phrases from general English were found in cases where only the use of standard phraseology is provided. On this basis, significant changes have taken place in international civil aviation.

The arc incident occurred at Heathrow. Heathrow Airport controllers did not understand the emergency signal from the Italian passenger plane due to the pilot’s terrible accent.

When the Alitalia plane from Milan with 104 passengers on board flew to London, it had only one of the two automatic landing systems working. Before landing at Heathrow, the pilot discovered that the autopilot had completely failed.

Circling over the runway, the crew captain gave a distress signal to the airport ATC. They had to alert the firefighters and immediately clear a special runway for the aircraft to land manually.

However, Heathrow air traffic controllers did not understand the pilot’s message due to the fact that he spoke English with a terrible accent.

As a result, the captain still landed the plane manually, after his plight was explained to the ATC by the pilot of another plane, with whom the first managed to contact.

Below is an interview with the current air traffic controller from Yakutia

— Communication with the aircraft of Russian airlines is conducted in Russian, with foreign ones-only in English. Problems with understanding the accent were only at the very beginning of the work, but it was more my personal difficulties than the mistakes of the pilots with the pronunciation. Because I also have my own accent when I speak English. Pilots, probably, at first it was also difficult to understand the ATC, now all the accents are clear. And fast American, and elongated Chinese, where it seems that they say something completely different. I understood the English from the very beginning, they speak like a standard. The French also have their own pronunciation. At first, I personally found it difficult to understand the Americans, because they speak very quickly, in their own way, and often using jargon and colloquialisms, as if swallowing words. Chinese was also difficult to understand, but I quickly got used to it — they just lengthen the words. Italians and Spaniards don’t have English as their first language, and they learn it as well as we do. So we understand them.

Measures to prevent situations of misunderstanding of speech due to accent

In civil aviation, the English language has become an integral part in the interaction of elements of the “Air traffic controller — Crew — Aircraft — Environment” system in the process of preparing and performing flights. Because of this, any failure in the perception or transmission of information in English can lead to a serious disruption in the normal functioning of the system and, thus, poses a threat to flight safety.

The analysis of incidents related to the “human factor” in the operation of the “Air traffic controller — Crew — Aircraft — Environment” system using English has become a serious argument for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to classify aviation English as one of the risk factors along with errors in piloting, aircraft failures, difficult meteorological conditions, etc.

ICAO had to pay serious attention not only to details, but also to the proficiency of aviation English among pilots and dispatchers. The importance of aviation English was reflected in the amendments to the annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation: Aviation Personnel, Aviation Telecommunications, Safety Management. A classification appeared at the level of proficiency in aviation English and, as a result, on the content of training programs and methods, as well as on the establishment of proficiency in the relevant tests in general and aviation English. At the same time, it became obvious that teaching aviation English has rather specific characteristics that set it completely separate from teaching general English (although based on it) and even for other written or oral use in a particular aviation environment.

There are a lot of similar words in the English language and in order to somehow avoid confusion, it is necessary to strictly adhere to the phraseology of radio exchange. For example, the word “nine” in English from “nine” becomes “niner”. If the pilot wants to say “okay”, then that word is forbidden. In this case, you must say “roger”, “wilco” or other options, depending on the situation. This is done so that the controller is confident that the pilot understands the command. Upon receipt of a message, the pilot must repeat it, and the controller must listen to this very repetition to make sure that the instruction was accepted correctly. In this case, the likelihood of misunderstandings between crews and ground personnel is reduced.

After a number of accidents related to misunderstanding of speech due to accent, on March 5, 2008, ICAO requirements related to the language competence of aviation personnel were introduced.

According to the ICAO scale, the ability to ensure safety is determined by the beginning of the fourth level, called MINIMUM SAFE or WORKING, since it is from this level that you can start working. A working level score of 4 is certainly not an indication of perfect pronunciation. Pronunciation, stress, rhythm and intonation are influenced by the native language or regional characteristics, but only in some cases prevent understanding. Speakers have a pronounced foreign accent or speak a regional dialect of English. In order to understand their speech, a competent listener sometimes has to intensely concentrate their attention or ask clarifying questions.

There are several pronounced national accents of the English language, for example, American accent, French accent, Arabic accent, Chinese accent, Slavic (Russian) accent. It should be remembered that a Russian who speaks English will always understand each other, just as a Frenchman will understand a Frenchman, and that it is also difficult for a Russian to understand an Arab who speaks English, like an Arab who speaks Russian, who burns in English. The reason is that the ear is attuned to the national accent of the country in which we live. It can take from several months to several years to align with a different emphasis. That is why it is important to “polish” your pronunciation to a level where it becomes clear to the entire international community.

In addition, the implementation of the CPDLC system can be attributed to measures to prevent situations associated with misunderstanding of speech due to accent. Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC), or controller-pilot data link communications (CPDLC), is an air-ground communications facility between controller and pilot over a data link used for air traffic services. CPDLC is an auxiliary to traditional voice communications, which remains the primary means of controller-pilot communications. This technology is being actively implemented by air navigation service providers around the world.

CPDLC is used for the transmission of text messages that do not require immediate action. So, for example, by means of messages from the ATS unit on board the aircraft, pilots can receive clearance to continue performing a stepless climb or instructions to follow directly to a certain point of the route, while the radio communication channel will remain free for the transmission of higher priority instructions that directly affect flight safety.

Controller-pilot data link communication is the exchange of text messages between flight crews and air traffic controllers, which can significantly reduce the load on voice communication channels.

The use of this system helps to avoid the negative impact of the accent on the negotiations between the controller and the pilot.