English language skills and training

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jan_olieslagers
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English language skills and training

Post by jan_olieslagers »

Aviation will and has to change
Sigh

Commercial air transport will and has ...

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Conti764
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Re: Brussels Airport (BRU) infrastructure: future

Post by Conti764 »

jan_olieslagers wrote: 22 May 2019, 21:20
Aviation will and has to change
Sigh

Commercial air transport will and has ...
Are you going to repeat this over and over again...? :roll:

jan_olieslagers
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Re: Brussels Airport (BRU) infrastructure: future

Post by jan_olieslagers »

Yes, as long as required. A chair is a chair and a table is a table. And aviation is more than commercial air transport. But I agree some people are slow to see.

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luchtzak
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Re: English language skills and training

Post by luchtzak »

My contribution, the mistakes I used to make ;-)

One aircraft - two aircraft
One piece of luggage - two pieces of luggage

jan_olieslagers
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Re: English language skills and training

Post by jan_olieslagers »

:)

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Conti764
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Re: Brussels Airport (BRU) infrastructure: future

Post by Conti764 »

jan_olieslagers wrote: 22 May 2019, 21:30 Yes, as long as required. A chair is a chair and a table is a table. And aviation is more than commercial air transport. But I agree some people are slow to see.
I understand the difference, but I don't think it's worth the frustration.

jan_olieslagers
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Re: English language skills and training

Post by jan_olieslagers »

The real frustration is the number of people round this "aviation" forum who have caught nothing of the spirit of an aviator. Some even consider themselves "aviation geeks" - I would not fear handing them the keys of my little plane, they'd be too dumb to even start the engine I am sure. Geek?? Haha.

Edited to add: please forget the above paragraph. I was mistaken in the word "geek", as explained later. (And again, why cannot we have a strike-through option here like most forums have?) Still, my below paragraph still stands!

Expressing one's self unambiguously yet in few words is one key aspect of aviation, I expect it as self-evident from anyone in aviation, also on this forum. Those who cannot or won't are (for me, at least) "wannabe's". And yes, I'll tell them, from time to time.
Last edited by jan_olieslagers on 23 May 2019, 22:23, edited 1 time in total.

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KriVa
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Re: English language skills and training

Post by KriVa »

Code: Select all

geek
/ɡiːk/

INFORMAL

be or become extremely excited or enthusiastic about a subject, typically one of specialist or minority interest.
Why would, according to this definition, an “aviation geek” have to be able to pilot a plane? There’s a lot more to aviation than just being a pilot.
Thomas

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Re: English language skills and training

Post by jan_olieslagers »

Yes yes, of course - this remark had to come, of course - that is exactly my point: many round here are narrowing down "aviation" to "commercial air transport" and there is indeed much more to it.

No, one does not have to be a pilot - but if interested in cooking, I expect people to try and learn from cooks, and to try and follow their example. People interested in aviation, I expect to take their example from aviators, be they pilots or cabin crew or ATC staff. All of these know the importance of concise precise language - "the meaning of the word".
Last edited by jan_olieslagers on 24 Jul 2019, 23:02, edited 1 time in total.

convair
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Re: English language skills and training

Post by convair »

jan_olieslagers wrote: 23 May 2019, 17:32 Yes yes, of course - this remark had to come, of course - that is exactly my point: many round here are narrowing down "aviation" to "commercial air transport" and there is indeed much more to it.

No, one does not have to be a pilot - but if interested in cooking, I expect people to try and learn form cooks, and to try and follow their example. People interested in aviation, I expect to take their example from aviators, be they pilots or cabin crew or ATC staff. All of these know the importance of concise precise language - "the meaning of the word".
Keep on nitpicking, Jan. I learn something every time: I have no connection with the aviation world and English is not my mother tongue.

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luchtzak
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Re: English language skills and training

Post by luchtzak »

I am always open for improvement, looking at the following comment it is necessary :-D

https://www.aviation24.be/airports/trip ... ment-56665

jan_olieslagers
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Re: English language skills and training

Post by jan_olieslagers »

Those interested in discussing linguistical matters in aviation may well take a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... t_Aviation Two livid discussions going on now:

* Yours truly is quite active against a handful of over-zealous "politically correct" chaps and chapesses who want to replace "maiden flight" by "first flight" wholesale through all of en:wikipedia.

* Another discussion wants to decide when an aircraft type is to be described as "was" vs. "is" - this matter left me totally flabbergasted, so I remained silent. Yes yes that happens to me! though, admittedly, rather rarely.

I'll not hide the fact that I enjoy assuming/expressing multiple personalities, even in daily life but especially on the www and its forums; but on wikipedia I use the same nickname as here - for the sake of clarity ;)

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Re: English language skills and training

Post by Homo Aeroportus »

convair wrote: 24 May 2019, 04:35
jan_olieslagers wrote: 23 May 2019, 17:32 Yes yes, of course - this remark had to come, of course - that is exactly my point: many round here are narrowing down "aviation" to "commercial air transport" and there is indeed much more to it.

No, one does not have to be a pilot - but if interested in cooking, I expect people to try and learn form cooks, and to try and follow their example. People interested in aviation, I expect to take their example from aviators, be they pilots or cabin crew or ATC staff. All of these know the importance of concise precise language - "the meaning of the word".
Keep on nitpicking, Jan. I learn something every time: I have no connection with the aviation world and English is not my mother tongue.

And so do I for the learning part.

I can only agree with jan_olieslagers about the need to express oneself correctly especially focussing on the important part of the communication : be understood correctly. Whatever your mother tongue and the language used.
This is why, however good our command of the English language is, we are taught in the aviation community to pronounce the number 3 as “tree” and not “three” and say “niner” instead of “nine” (nein?).

This may be perceived as nit-picking but it is not when you consider the importance as being correctly understood.

In another vein, misspelling for example kilowatt as KW, kw or Kw instead of kW is disqualifying for an engineer although too often considered by others as non-important (“well you know what I mean, give me a break”).
But in some cases, the use of lower-case letter instead of upper-case may lead to some alteration of the initial intention.
For example in “I’m helping my uncle Jack off the horse”.

Well, I guess that in both cases the horse is ... relieved.
;)

H.A.
Aviation24 Candidate Deputy Nitpicker-in-Chief

Sebas_2006
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Re: English language skills and training

Post by Sebas_2006 »

Dear All
My son is 18 and is very eager to start following an atpl training next year, when he's done with secondary school.
However I'm afraid his English skills are quite basic and would like him to obtains a decent level is the shortest possible time. He is expected to finish school in July and we are looking for different options? One I saw is ETC International College in Dorset (UK) but options seem quite limited. Any ideas? In advance many thanks for your helpful comments. A six month-time investment would seem quite viable. Thanks!

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