I am just wondering at what point are you considered bilingual to airlines?

I did French immersion for two years and have completed high school French as an option up to grade 12. If I go onto the French section of Avcanada I can understand about 95% of what they are talking about, and I can hold a conversation. I don't know if this is enough though, because my French accent is terrible and although I can hold a conversation, anything advanced I would have trouble saying, although I can read it.

Thanks

If you say you speak french on your resume, maybe the airline will test you at the interview. I grew up going to french school, took it in high school and a little bit in university. Im dont speak it like a Quebecer, but I do consider myself bilingual. I can make french PAs, watch french tv and understand most it, the only thing I can't do is pick up a french girl

At Air Transat, french seems to be pretty important. I did my best to make a french resume. During the phone and face-to-face interviews, they asked me a few questions in french to test my level.

If you're not too comfortable with your french, then just put on your resume "limited french knowledge" or something along those lines.

It's pretty simple, if you can answer a few questions during an interview with the airline in question , they would consider you bilingual enough to hire. Of course your second language isn't as good as your first, but from what you have said, your french would meet the bilingual standards anywhere. Any Quebecer I've ever met is usually more than happy to help an Anglo with their french, and there are lots of them in aviation outside of Quebec. Practice, practice, practice. It paid off for me, bigtime.

Thanks a lot for the info. I plan to practice speaking French as much as possible. I am trying to think it French as well. My French teacher always said that when you start having dreams in French, that is when you know you're truly bilingual.

Along the topic of this thread... Air Transat is again accepting resumes for YYZ based pilots!
Deadline is Jan 20.
A resume in english is fine, but I'd suggest at least trying a french cover letter.

How difficult are the questions in French during the interview for AT? I would assume prospect pilots need to be fairly knowledgable in both English and French.

Dude,

Worry about graduating from high school first, then getting your CPL, then getting enough experience to earn an interview with Air Transat, and *then* worry about your French skills...

Sorry I was just wondering. Its mainly because I am doing French in High School, and I was wondering if it's enough. But worrying about French right before an interview is probably a bad idea saying it takes many years to learn.

jackg737 wrote:Sorry I was just wondering. Its mainly because I am doing French in High School, and I was wondering if it's enough.

Dude you are on the right track, if you want to work for Transat one day keep on with your french. Even if you don't work for them you will know another language which is never a bad thing. Good luck!

Mclovin wrote:

jackg737 wrote:Sorry I was just wondering. Its mainly because I am doing French in High School, and I was wondering if it's enough.

Dude you are on the right track, if you want to work for Transat one day keep on with your french. Even if you don't work for them you will know another language which is never a bad thing. Good luck!

Thanks for the info. I am not saying I want definitely want to work for AT. Its just at the top of the spectrum in terms of how much French a person would need to speak to get hire, so I was just interested at where that level was.

Well jackg737, it's somewhat complicated. If you were to take a look at let say Jake Gyllenhal and Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain you'd have to say that the character who was a happily married man with kids yet spent all his free time on the down low was at the very least bilingual, if not a full fledged closeted homosexual.....wait a minute.......my online dictionary is trying to tell me something.......oh. Oh dear. It seems I've made a terrible mistake. Excuse me, I have to type an apology to my son's french teacher.

- Toeless.

jackg737 wrote:How difficult are the questions in French during the interview for AT? I would assume prospect pilots need to be fairly knowledgable in both English and French.

They asked me where I learned my french, then they switched to english for the rest. They give people the choice to do the interview in french or english, but they'll probably ask you at least 1 question to get a general feel for your french level.

If you're still in high school, continue with your french studies. My dad was a french teacher and I went to french school, so it was always engrained in me at a young age. I took a couple french courses while I was in University too, the language courses always have a very high girl-guy ratio as well, so that's even more motivation to stick with it You can always teach yourself at a slow pace, get some beginners french books or Rosetta Stone. I've taught myself basic Spanish that way, it works ok.

WetJet wrote:Of course your second language isn't as good as your first, but from what you have said, your french would meet the bilingual standards anywhere.

That isn't completely true...
I was born in the Netherlands and lived there for 16 years, after that we moved to Canada, and right now (I'm 21) and I know English better than Dutch..

I think if you understand the language and can have a basic to pretty good conversation, I'd consider you to be bilingual.

Okay thanks for all the help everybody. I really appreciate it.

Carli v.A. wrote:

WetJet wrote:Of course your second language isn't as good as your first, but from what you have said, your french would meet the bilingual standards anywhere.

That isn't completely true...
I was born in the Netherlands and lived there for 16 years, after that we moved to Canada, and right now (I'm 21) and I know English better than Dutch..

I think if you understand the language and can have a basic to pretty good conversation, I'd consider you to be bilingual.

I've always found the Dutch to be among the most bilingual of the European people I've met. Some people from Holland I've met speak English so well, I mistook them for being from North America. And these folks spoke several languages: Dutch, English, French, Spanish, German, you get the idea... Scandinavians, in general are also quite good. Germans, Spaniards, and Portugese are, based on my experience, pretty decent at having several languages.

Pretty much when you annoy the anglos and the francos don't hate you for being an anglo