Cubdriver usenet AT danford DOT net writes:

Spoken like a true monophone American!

No, spoken like someone who is bilingual and teaches ESL for a living.

Accents are VERY important. You might try landing at Liverpool with a
controller speaking clearly in a Liverpudlian accent. You wouldn't
have a clue what he was saying.

A minority of British accents are very strong, but most are not, and most
American accents are mild compared to British accents.

It's not enough to speak clearly. The controller should speak a
standard English, like that used by network announcers and news
readers.

That would certainly be ideal, but in this case he wasn't that far from the
standard.

I wrote a recommendation for a graduate student
applying to Harvard for a PhD program. I had no doubt whatever that
she could handle the work with ease, but I had to admit that I was
sometimes mystified by her speech. ("Wolf" for example. She pronounced
it with a long O, and it became another word entirely.)

I feel sorry for any students she ends up teaching.