MSFS team members blogs:

Post by **DaveB** » 27 Aug 2006, 16:56

Hi Toby,

They're very valid points mate and I agree that those folk on t'other side of the pond have no incling of just how b1oody anoying it is to listen to American ATC the world over. It would be the same for us here if the accent were purely English (UK accented). Fine while in the UK but a bit out of context when landing at JFK!!!

I doubt very much if ATC would ever be truely regional specific (French language in France, German language in Germany e t c) but at least English with reagional accents would go a long way to improving our lot.. everyones lot.

ATB

DaveB :tab:

TobyV · Post by **TobyV** » 27 Aug 2006, 17:06

Hi Dave,

Yes I didnt mean having every nation using their own language, just various different accents using english, with the possible exception of France ( :roll:

) who are to my knowledge, the only country whose ATC will regularly use their mother tongue (and purely) that to communicate with pilots.

English with regional accents though, that has possibilities.

"Speedbird ###, Eh Up, Leeds tower, cleared for takeoff"

"Ryanair ###, you're cleared to land to be sure"

"Speedbird ###, Cardiff tower, look you boyo, I told you turn right onto alpha. Theres silly isnt it :roll: "

Toby

PeteP · Post by **PeteP** » 27 Aug 2006, 17:58

TobyV wrote:...with the possible exception of France ( :roll: ) who are to my knowledge, the only country whose ATC will regularly use their mother tongue (and purely) that to communicate with pilots.

Hi Toby,
I think you're being just a little hard on the French (not that I have a problem with that

) in suggesting that they're the only country regularly to use their mother tongue. There are many others including Spain, Greece, Russia, China (outside of Hong Kong) and parts of South America where this is standard practice. As I pointed out yesterday, this is perfectly legal under ICAO rules although whether it is desirable - or safe - is an entirely different matter!

I agree with you and Dave that it really is time that MS acknowledged that US procedures and phraseology are not used in the rest of the world and I'd love to see specifically American procedures such as altimeter settings in in/hg, an 18,000ft Transition Altitude and the blanket 250 KIAS speed limit below 10,000ft removed. I noticed a recent NTSB report recommended that the FAA adopt ICAO RT phraseology on safety grounds so maybe there's hope in that direction for FSXII.

PP

Post by **DaveB** » 27 Aug 2006, 18:18

Hi Toby,

Yup.. that was already taken as read mate

The point was raised by ChrisT earlier saying that (for want of a better expression.. National Versions, eg. French versions of Fsim being spoken in French e t c) was too big a mountain to climb as it would require different ATC speech engines to form sentences in the correct manner. I think I would agree with that but the much less costly option of regional accents (no.. not Geordie or Scouse e t c) spoken in English would have been a winner from the word go and surely not so complex as to be discounted from the word go because of cd/dvd space

I don't believe for one minute that M$ would have to hire actors either as a company of this size must have just about every nationality under the sun already on the workforce!!

Pete.. Rgr that too mate. We live in hope

ATB

DaveB :tab:

AndyG · Post by **AndyG** » 27 Aug 2006, 19:10

DaveB wrote:
I don't believe for one minute that M$ would have to hire actors .....

Oh I don't know Dave, that opens up all sorts of possibilities; the Big Yin for Glasgow Airport, the delectable Miss Church for Cardiff, Bob Hoskins for Heathrow ....

AndyG

TobyV · Post by **TobyV** » 27 Aug 2006, 19:36

AndyG wrote:the delectable Miss Church for Cardiff

:k:

I dont want to listen to Charlotte Chav thanks... I'd suggest Katherine Jenkins instead

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 27 Aug 2006, 19:42

DaveB wrote:I don't believe for one minute that M$ would have to hire actors either as a company of this size must have just about every nationality under the sun already on the workforce!!

That may be true, but are you sure they all have the right "kind" of voice? If I were doing it, I'd want to ensure that they can be understood after being recorded, and voice actors would be a good way of ensuring it short of just hiring controllers from around the world to do it for me (although that would be a good way to go as well).

Also, as I said, even just doing regional accents is difficult because you have to have thousands of samples and phrases that must be recorded for each voice which takes a LOT of space. It doesn't matter which way you go, as was the point in the Blog I pointed you to - space was a big key in the decision to not including regional accents.

speedbird591 · Post by **speedbird591** » 27 Aug 2006, 20:15

DaveB wrote:...and instead, we get wildlife sounds and animals. I'd really like to see the results of that worldwide survey they did as I'm sure wildlife wasn't high on anyones wish list

Oi!

AndyG · Post by **AndyG** » 27 Aug 2006, 20:23

TobyV wrote:
AndyG wrote:the delectable Miss Church for Cardiff
:k:

I dont want to listen to Charlotte Chav thanks... I'd suggest Katherine Jenkins instead

TobyV · Post by **TobyV** » 27 Aug 2006, 20:35

speedbird591 wrote:

I didnt know John Prescott flew.