Any questions in French during the AC Interview?

flyguycanuk · Post by **flyguycanuk** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:09 pm

I just got the call for my AC interview!

For those who ticked off the Bilingual in French box on their application, is any part of the interview conducted in French? Is there a French proficiency test or anything of the sorts for pilots?

French is my second languauge, so I'm just wondering if I should devote some extra time towards brushing up my french speaking skills for the interview?

Merci Beaucoup!

pilotbzh · Post by **pilotbzh** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:44 pm

not for me.

KAG · Post by **KAG** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:03 pm

C-GGGQ · Post by **C-GGGQ** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 6:26 pm

can anyone actually tell me the point of having your pilots bilingual? especially at the airline level? I mean i can read french but would have a hard time carrying a conversation. and seeing how flight is carried (or is supposed to be) in English, especially when the english proficiency test comes into effect.

tonysoprano · Post by **tonysoprano** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 6:35 pm

It's called the the Air Canada Act. Apparantly we're a private company but someone forgot to tell the government.

The Raven · Post by **The Raven** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:05 pm

A couple of years ago I was watching the Vice-President of Flight Operations for Air Canada being grilled in front of the Transportation Committee. This committee is made up of about 10 Members of Parliament, representing all parties. The session was being broadcast on CPAC, the parliamentary channel (I know, I have to get a life).

One of the questions put to Air Canada's VP was concerning Air Canada's pilot hiring practices. The VP (by the way, it was Rob Giguere) stated that Air Canada hires the best qualified pilots available. The committee asked him how many were French. They also asked him if there were not enough qualified pilots in Quebec. He said, yes there were qualified pilots in Quebec, but they were not necessarily the best qualified.

The committee pressed him to hire only pilots from Quebec, as long as they met the minimum qualifications. To his credit he resisted, saying that he would only hire the best qualified, regardless of what part of the country they came from.

Quebecflyer · Post by **Quebecflyer** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:24 pm

C-GGGQ

I think it's pretty simple... We live in a country with 2 official languages. I understand that not everyone in this country speaks both languages... but every French speaking pilot also speaks English... the opposite is far from true.

And if you apply for a job in a major company anywhere in this country, even not in aviation, you can be sure that someone who is bilingual has better chances with the same experience.

But the bottom line is that a customer who pays thousands of dollars to get onboard an aircraft from the biggest company in his country deserves to have a PA from the front end in his language, be it English or French, and not get the translation from the FA.

And if both guys in the flight deck are French speaking, you can be damn sure the flight is going to be carried out in French, at least the part of it that's in YUL ACC.

By the way, this is not a rant on languages, I was lucky enough to be raised in both.

29chev · Post by **29chev** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:54 pm

But the bottom line is that a customer who pays thousands of dollars to get onboard an aircraft from the biggest company in his country deserves to have a PA from the front end in his language, be it English or French, and not get the translation from the FA.

Why?

What about the 2nd biggest or 3rd.
How about them?

C-GGGQ · Post by **C-GGGQ** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 2:33 am

Quebecflyer wrote:
And if both guys in the flight deck are French speaking, you can be damn sure the flight is going to be carried out in French, at least the part of it that's in YUL ACC.

oh trust me i know, flying into YUL tuned to the ENGLISH channel, french being spoken on it by pilots and ATC alike. cause they don't have their own channel and its not illegal or anything

C-GGGQ · Post by **C-GGGQ** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 2:37 am

Quebecflyer wrote:
But the bottom line is that a customer who pays thousands of dollars to get onboard an aircraft from the biggest company in his country deserves to have a PA from the front end in his language, be it English or French, and not get the translation from the FA.

and I can read french fine/ talk in it well enough to give a one way briefing, its keeping up with the guy on the other end of a conversation where my skills go to hell

Traf · Post by **Traf** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:04 am

But the bottom line is that a customer who pays thousands of dollars to get onboard an aircraft from the biggest company in his country deserves to have a PA from the front end in his language, be it English or French, and not get the translation from the FA.

Why stop at French? Why not have the crew learn every language in the world to keep everyone happy? Last time I was in Quebec, not everyone was billingual and if they were, they certainly did not attempt to meet my needs! Should the AC crews be forced to learn Ojibwe in case they fly in to a community with mainly Natives? You don't hear the people of Newfoundland asking them to learn their language do you?

YYCcrew · Post by **YYCcrew** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:13 am

I learned some cree when I flew in Manitoba,,, it helped alot.

Quebecflyer · Post by **Quebecflyer** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:30 am

That's exactly what I didn't want to happen... a rant... But what the hell...

Like I said, there are 2 (two) official languages in this country... ENGLISH and FRENCH, not Spanish, Cree or Ojibwe.

Second, I didn't say that everyone in Quebec was bilingual, I just said that pilots were... and if people did not meet your needs when you talked to them, well... too bad for you. You probably didn't make a very big effort to speak their language in their province anyway.

Why the hell should we need seperate channels??? And why do you consider it should be illegal???

And why AC and not the other companies? Well, AC used to be the national carrier, that's why. I know that's it's not true anymore, but most pax still consider it to be the case.

Inverted2 · Post by **Inverted2** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:37 am

Quebecflyer wrote: Second, I didn't say that everyone in Quebec was bilingual, I just said that pilots were... and if people did not meet your needs when you talked to them, well... too bad for you. You probably didn't make a very big effort to speak their language in their province anyway.

Ahh spoken like a true Quebecer!

C-GGGQ · Post by **C-GGGQ** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:47 am

Quebecflyer wrote:

Why the hell should we need seperate channels??? And why do you consider it should be illegal???

Flight in Canada is carried out in English, it is carried out in English in the entire world. when Montreal raised a stink about it TC gave them a french only channel, and i never said it SHOULD be illegal to speak french on the english channel, it IS illegal if anyone actually bothered to report it. Montreal is one of the few places in canada where you CAN speak french to ATC, i know places that will refuse to answer pilots until they call in in english. TC however looks the other way, with french on the english channel in montreal because of the fuss that montreal would put up if they ever challenged it. But as i said as of next year the english proficiency test comes into effect, i wonder how long till quebec asks for an exemption from that

C-GGGQ · Post by **C-GGGQ** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:51 am

Quebecflyer wrote: You probably didn't make a very big effort to speak their language in their province anyway.

then how come any time I try (or my brother who took french immersion) to speak french over there to be polite, they refuse to speak it only ever get answers in English, even when ordering off a menu. i have almost never had anyone in quebec speak french to me once they know i'm not from quebec.

Quebecflyer · Post by **Quebecflyer** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:01 am

Because most people here are really friendly, so as soon as they detect that French is not your first language, well they will revert to English if they can speak it decently.

Exactly the same in a crew... even if only one crewmember speaks English and the rest of the crew speaks French, well most of the conversations will be in English.

We are just used to the fact that we speak French, so we speak it. It's like if you had to speak another language than yours all the time, you would get tired of it too.

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:01 am

We are just used to the fact that we speak French, so we speak it. It's like if you had to speak another language than yours all the time, you would get tired of it too.

Then I guess every other pilot who speaks a language other than English as their mother tounge gets tired of speaking English?

Do they moan about it as much?

Quebecflyer · Post by **Quebecflyer** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:18 am

Yeah, I'm sure that all the Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian pilots just f**king love it.

C-GGGQ · Post by **C-GGGQ** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:25 am

they don't complain about it as much/ at all. To make international travel easy they picked one language to use, the picked english, everyone else gets it but quebec

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:29 am

Yeah, I'm sure that all the Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian pilots just f**king love it.

I bet you would be a joy to fly with.

Quebecflyer · Post by **Quebecflyer** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:40 am

How do you know they don't complain about it... are you there in their crew rooms or cockpits...?

Quebecflyer · Post by **Quebecflyer** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:43 am

You wouldn't even know I speak French Cat Driver... I don't even have a French name so don't make stupid assumptions. Like I said earlier, my intent was not to start a rant... but I am not one to turn the other cheek.

Traf · Post by **Traf** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:07 am

Well, AC used to be the national carrier, that's why. I know that's it's not true anymore, but most pax still consider it to be the case.

Key word in there is "used" to be. AC is no longer Govt owned and should therefore not have to abide by these stupid stipulations put on AC and only AC. If the Govt of Canada or the people of QC want to dictate language policies that only apply to AC to keep the frewnch happy, then maybe they should pay some of AC's overhead.

This BS of treating AC like a crown company when it works in their favour but reminding them that they are private business when it doesn't is horse shit. Reminds me a lot of a certain province in Canada.

flyinphil · Post by **flyinphil** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 3:34 pm

The math should be quite simple really. What percent of Canadian Pilots speak French? The number hired by AC/Westjet should be the same percentage. Anything else would indicate a bias or predjudice.