Listen to “02 – What Is Aviation English?” on Spreaker.
What is Aviation English? What is ICAO standardized phraseology? And what is plain English? These are all questions I will answer in the upcoming Episode 2 of Aviation English by Revise Before Flight. I’m Emilia Barska, a General English teacher and Aviation English specialist. My aim is to help you climb and maintain ICAO Level 5 Extended or Level 6 Expert.
Hello, dear Aviators! Welcome to Episode 2 of Aviation English by Revise Before Flight.
What is Aviation English?
What is it? I think everyone knows the answer, but not so many really understand the pure meaning behind it, because we have two perspectives here. Those who aren’t into aviation can easily relay the language of the sky with standardized phraseology, just like here. Here is a wonderful example of standardized phraseology, which was coined to improve communication in aviation. The messages are short and they give a huge sense of control over an ongoing situation. They help avoid ambiguity and they are perfectly suited for predictable situations.
According to an ICAO document, here is the aim of it: “The purpose of phraseologies is to provide clear, concise, unambiguous language to communicate messages of a routine situation.” This fragment was taken from ICAO Document 9835. Let’s stop here because we’ve got a set of keywords here which means clear, concise, and unambiguous, which means phraseologies work best in a routine situation. Everything goes according to the plan, and as long as everything is alright, a pilot or an air traffic controller uses phraseologies.
What is Standardized Phraseology?
However, standardized phraseology has also got its imperfect nature. And in the same Document 9835, ICAO puts an emphasis on this side of standardized phraseology: that it cannot provide a cure for every situation that can happen in aviation. Let’s listen to the quote: “However, while ICAO standardized phraseology has been developed to cover many circumstances, it cannot address all pilot and controller communication needs. It is widely acknowledged by operational and linguistic experts that no set of standardized phraseologies can fully describe all possible circumstances and responses.”
So, if everything goes according to the plan, the standardized phraseology should be more or less enough to cover all the language needs. On the other hand, it’s a non-routine situation that might be a trigger to use plain language. What is plain language? According to ICAO Document 9835, “Plain language is the spontaneous, creative, and non-coded use of a given language,” which means when something unpredictable happens, you need to rely on your linguistic skills and intelligence to communicate effectively and make sometimes even split-second decisions.
So that’s the thing here: if everything is okay, you just rely on standardized phraseology based on ICAO rules. And when something unpredictable happens, you need to use your linguistic skills, your intelligence, your overall knowledge to communicate effectively and quickly, precisely what’s going on and what you need, what you expect.
Let’s summarize what I’ve just mentioned.
Aviation English is a unique combination of ICAO standardized phraseology and plain English.
So neither of these as a standalone area would be desired in aviation to communicate effectively. ICAO standardized phraseology works fine until an unexpected turn of events happens. Therefore, a wide spectrum of plain language can help you to give a full view of a non-routine situation.
Okay, so it’s time for the summary. Aviation English is a unique combination of ICAO standardized phraseology for the routine situations, while plain English is the only way of communication when an unexpected turn of events happens.
Aviation English is a unique combination of ICAO standardized phraseology for the routine situations, while plain English is the only way of communication when an unexpected turn of events happens.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
