it's the english phrase. all pilots and ATC in the world are required to use english.
it seems like the use of "number 1" made them think they were ready to take off, not that it sounded like a similar phrase. someone please correct me if i'm wrong.
it seems like the use of "number 1" made them think they were ready to take off, not that it sounded like a similar phrase. someone please correct me if i'm wrong.
Though nowadays most major airports probably are English only, it wasn't so long ago that pilots were complaining that most of the traffic at CDG was in French for instance.
For what it's worth, I believe Japan is very strict in the English only however.
This is not strictly true, is it? They should be able to speak English, but they are not required to use it. https://aviation.stackexchange.com/a/14254