5 steps to good English communication in aviation

Effective English communication is a powerskill for aviation. Mispronounced words or poor fluency can quickly lead to confusion, frustration, or unsafe situations. Interactions between passengers and air stewards therefore must not only be easy-to-understand, but also engaging and direct.

Here are some key ways to make sure your staff are communicating effectively in aviation English.

1. Perfecting pronunciation (not accents)

One of the most important aspects of effective communication is pronunciation – as poor pronunciation can cause real issues.

Saying “New York” in an unclear way, for example, might lead passengers to the wrong gate or even miss their flights.

?“Was that Newark or New York?”

However, it’s important to note that pronunciation isn’t about a person’s accent. In fact, there is no correct or incorrect version of an English accent.?

What’s far more important is being understood by people from all around the world. There are lots of ways for airline staff to work on pronunciation alone:?

• Through “shadowing” or speaking along to people speaking English well (for instance, while watching Netflix shows with subtitles)
• By learning and singing along to song lyrics
• And even by reading books aloud, along with audio books as a guide

But for a more controlled and directed approach, they can use ELSA Speak. ELSA is an AI coach that helps users gain confidence so they can be heard clearly. It offers instant feedback on how you speak. For example:??

• If you say “Please reman setted” instead of “please remain seated,” the ELSA app will tell you which sounds are more or less clear and give you a % of how correct you are
• If you’re having trouble with certain vowels or those annoying English diphthongs, ELSA will give you specific advice on how to correctly pronounce these sounds.
• Whether you say “sat” instead of “that” or “brogress” instead of “progress,” ELSA will help you become a clear and confident airline steward. It can especially help with words which have misleading spellings like “fasten” where the “t” is silent.
• And much more!

Experience ELSA now and see how accurate your pronunciation is!

2. Working on word and sentence stress?

How you stress a word or a sentence in English is very important for clear communication. Take the words “photograph” and “photographer”, for example.?

Although they are spelled almost exactly the same, they have significantly different stress patterns. “Photograph” has a stress on “PHO”, while “photographer” has stress on “TO” (notice the “o” in “photographer’ makes an /ɑ?/ sound not /?/ at least in a standard American accent). You can click on the words to hear the difference. If you want to test your own pronunciation, try the ELSA tool here.

For this reason, word stress can be really confusing in English. Get it wrong, however, and the meaning can be unclear.?

While there are no rules that cover all stress patterns in English, there are some general patterns you can use:

Some quick word stress rules:

1. The first syllable is usually stressed
2. Prefixes/suffixes are usually unstressed
3. Words that can be both nouns and verbs have different stress patterns (nouns O o, verbs o O)?
4. Unstressed vowels often make an ‘uh’ sound called a schwa /?/. If you want to learn more about this, check out this article on word stress by the British Council.

Stressing words in sentences

It’s also important to stress the right words in sentences. If you emphasize the wrong words, you can sound patronizing or sarcastic. Compare the differences:

• “Please, go back to your seats in preparation for landing.”

In this instance, emphasizing seats and landing is correct and keeps the communication clear.

• “Please, go back to your seats in preparation for landing.”

In this instance, it sounds like the speaker is worried the passengers might swap seats.?

Here is another example:

• “Could you please fasten your seatbelt?”?

Most people would correctly stress ‘could’, the verb ‘fasten’ and a small stress on “please.”?

However, if you put too much stress on “please,” you will sound angry like a parent scolding a child:

• “Could you PLEASE fasten your seatbelt?”?

The general rule In English is that we usually stress the most important words and don’t stress less important ones. These are all elements of pronunciation that ELSA Speak will help your team members master.?

3. Navigating the ups and downs of Intonation

Good intonation is essential for English in aviation. There are two really important intonation patterns to keep in mind:?

• Questions go up

This means your voice should start low for a question, but your last few words should be at a higher pitch. “Would you like something to drink?”?

• Statements go down

It’s important to go down at the end of your statements because it lets the other speaker know that you’re finished with your idea and it’s their turn to speak. “Please return to your seat.”?

Getting these mixed up could easily lead to miscommunications between crew members and passengers.?

4. Finding fluency with passengers and crew

Fluency is all about confidence – it’s the ability to speak and communicate meaning clearly, without too much hesitation or repetition.?

Cabin crew members with less fluency can struggle in everyday, unscripted interactions with passengers – even when their grammar and pronunciation is great.?

The best activities for improving fluency are ones that don’t focus on grammar or the right pronunciation. That means conversation practice with friends and colleagues is needed.

The key is to focus on a task where you are encouraged to speak a lot and communicate clearly. Playing board games like Monopoly or Pictionary with friends in English can be a great way to get your mouth moving faster than your mind.?

Online games like Minecraft or Apex Legends are another great way to have fun while practicing fluency.

As well as practicing isolated examples in the ELSA app, you are also able to improve your fluency using the Spontaneous Speech activities. These give you the opportunity to respond freely to a question or statement and then receive feedback on things you can improve.?

5. Making the most of mediation in aviation English

Mediation is the most advanced language skill for aviation staff. According to The Way Experience, linguistic mediation is “a type of interaction that takes place among people that are unable to communicate, when speakers do not speak the same language, or when speakers do speak the same language, but one of them has wider or more specific knowledge of the common language.”

Oftentimes, you will need to communicate something important to a passenger, but they might not understand just from the announcements or their travel guide. Or maybe you need to deal with a conflict between two passengers that speak different first languages.?

Many people who will be traveling with your airline will not be fluent in English or they may just not be familiar with flying in general.

You will need to explain, summarize and demonstrate information in different ways. Some people will understand better with the visual aid. Others will need to be told slowly with simple vocabulary or using gestures.?

Staff can improve these skills by:

• role playing different scenarios they might come across while flying?
• summarizing or paraphrasing information so that it can be understood in another way
• using knowledge of other languages they speak (e.g. a staff member that speaks Spanish might be better using this language when talking to an Italian person with a low level of English
• practicing using gestures and visual aids while explaining important things

Good communication leads to better passenger experiences

Remember, flying can be stressful for many passengers. It’s essential that you reassure them with clear communication.?

Learn more about how ELSA can help your cabin crew speak English more confidently, collaborate better with cockpit staff and learn technical aviation terminology.?