Originally Posted by socalterp
This issue always never ceases to amaze me. Only 2 language speakers required for a flight staffed with what, at least 10-12 FAs? The number of non-English speaking FAs on Cathay, JAL, Lufthansa, Air France, etc. has been 0, at least in my experience, on flights to/from the US.
The Tokyo bound, domestic flight, I was on in Australia only had one Japanese speaking FA out of the 10-12 that were probably on that 763. That's QF for what it's worth.
Many cultures do learn to speak English at a young age, even though it isn't their native language. I don't think the same can be said for Mandarin or Cantonese unless it IS your native language.