Languages spoken by AF crews
#3
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Spanish of course but also German, Italian, Portuguese...
However, crews not being assigned to a specific route, you will find the same mix of spoken languages almost wherever you fly to.
However, crews not being assigned to a specific route, you will find the same mix of spoken languages almost wherever you fly to.
#4
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French FAs speak French. They all have some English skills, some good, some just basic.
If they learned another language in high school, or have some non-French family origins, they might speak other languages.
On longhaul, AF tries to make sure that there is at least one FA fluent in the destination language (i.e. Japanese for Japan, Mandarin for China or Mandarin+Cantonese for Hong Kong, ...). On LAX-CDG you will be sure to have at least one FA fluent in English, and all with reasonable to basic skills.
Don't be fooled by their good ability to address you with good English in the several sentences basic to their service. Asking fast and complicated English questions might not be fully understood by some/many of them.
If they learned another language in high school, or have some non-French family origins, they might speak other languages.
On longhaul, AF tries to make sure that there is at least one FA fluent in the destination language (i.e. Japanese for Japan, Mandarin for China or Mandarin+Cantonese for Hong Kong, ...). On LAX-CDG you will be sure to have at least one FA fluent in English, and all with reasonable to basic skills.
Don't be fooled by their good ability to address you with good English in the several sentences basic to their service. Asking fast and complicated English questions might not be fully understood by some/many of them.
Last edited by brunos; Oct 17, 17 at 10:00 am
#5
Join Date: May 2017
Location: LYS
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On multiple AF long-haul flights, I heard around 4-5 supported languages at the cabin crew anouncements. My last CDG->ATL flight, supported languages were: French, English, Italian, Spanish, and another one that I don't recall.
#6
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Additionally, as brunos mentioned, there are destination language specific crew rostered on trips to a number of Asian and Latin American routes (Chinese world, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Latin America off the top of my mind). Those are crew members from those countries who are native in the language and there will often be at least 2-3 of them in the plane (at least one in Y and one in J).
#7
Join Date: Sep 2014
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Just flew this route today and the crew spoke (or claimed to speak) French, English some Spanish and German. Obviously the mix will change each day...
#8
Join Date: Dec 2007
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French/English and whatever Mother tongue or route-language capability those assigned to that flight are qualified in. As such, there are probably no special language requirements for a flight to the US/Canada other than FR/EN.