Due to/Because of

English: Due to/Because of

French: En raison de

To inform passengers of the reason for the delay or cancellation, we can use this very helpful expression. In English, we can say things like “the flight is delayed due to the weather” or “the flight is cancelled because of a mechanical problem”.

There are several ways to translate “because” or “because of” into French, some more common than others, and some more acceptable to international French speakers as opposed to just Canadian francophones. We recommend using this international and neutral expression: “en raison de”, literally “in reason of”.

En=In

Raison (f)=Reason

De=Of

En raison de=Because of, due to

For example:

En raison de la neige=Because of the snow

En raison d’un problème mécanique=Because of a mechanical problem

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Module 3 of Canadian French for Flight Attendants is available. Learn the French that flight attendants commonly use on the job: greet passengers, stow bags, drink and meal orders, duty-free service, seat changes, wheelchair requests, weather announcements and much more!

Modules 1 and 2: French basics and pass your flight attendant French test.

www.facebook.com/frenchforflightattendants

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Flight Attendant Souvenirs. Souvenirs d’un agent de bord. Hiroshima, Japan. February 2015. Hiroshima, Japon. Février 2015. This restaurant in Hiroshima served “Okonomi-yaki”, a savoury Japanese “pancake” with different ingredients. They would make it on the spot and you would eat it right in front of the grille. My Japanese friend insists that because I was in Hiroshima, I actually ate the Hiroshima variant called “Hiroshima-yaki”.

Air Traffic Control

English: Air Traffic Control

French: Contrôle du trafic aérien

Air Traffic Control, often abbreviated to ATC in English, is the control tower of an airport that, as the name suggests, controls the air traffic of planes departing from and arriving at the airport. When the weather deteriorates, ATC might make decisions to delay certain flights for safety. ATC gives each flight take-off and landing authorization.

As such, when delays happen, you may need to tell your passengers that ATC at the arrival airport has not given your flight the authorization to take off from the departure airport yet (perhaps because of bad weather at the arrival airport.) Or you may be en route to the arrival airport but ATC slows your flight down to regulate the traffic.

Formally, there are two expressions in French for “Air Traffic Control”.

Contrôle (m)=Control

Trafic (m)=Traffic

Aérien=Air

Contrôle du trafic aérien=Air Traffic Control

Circulation (f)=Circulation, Traffic

Alternatively, the word ‘’circulation’’ can also mean “traffic” or “circulation”, so in French, ATC can also be translated as “Contrôle de la circulation aérienne”.

The word “aérien/aérienne” is not the easiest word to pronounce for most French learners and thus Module 4 of our Canadian French for Flight Attendants audio course will use a different French expression for “ATC”.

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Module 3 of Canadian French for Flight Attendants is available. Learn the French that flight attendants commonly use on the job: greet passengers, stow bags, drink and meal orders, duty-free service, seat changes, wheelchair requests, weather announcements and much more!

Modules 1 and 2: French basics and pass your flight attendant French test.

www.facebook.com/frenchforflightattendants

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Flight Attendant Souvenirs. Souvenirs d’un agent de bord. Hiroshima, Japan. February 2015. Hiroshima, Japon. Février 2015. Making my way down south, I stopped in Hiroshima. This is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, built very close to where the atomic bomb detonated in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The dome was the only structure left standing near the detonation location. It used to be the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall.

Mechanical problem

English: Mechanical problem

French: Problème mécanique

Mechanical issues can cause delays and cancellations. When they do happen, you’ll need to inform your passengers. Many different issues can be considered as mechanical issues. Often, the pilots are notified of issues by indicator lights in the flight deck. There may be an indication of an issue with the engines, with the aircraft’s de-icing system, with the plane’s computer system, communication system, among many other things.

Also, the aircraft needs adequate emergency equipment before it’s allowed to depart. If things like the aircraft fire extinguishers, oxygen bottles, flashlights, first aid kits, etc. need replacement, maintenance personnel will also need to come to replenish them before departure.

Other examples of mechanical issues include broken passenger table trays, broken seat recline buttons, broken overhead bins, burnt-out lights, faulty galley equipment, etc.

Serious issues will need to be fixed before departure. Less serious ones can be deferred by maintenance to be fixed later so as to not delay the current departing flight.

For now, we can learn the most general term and refer to them all as a “mechanical problem.”

Problème (m)=Problem

Mécanique=Mechanical

Problème mécanique=Mechanical problem.

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Module 3 of Canadian French for Flight Attendants is available. Learn the French that flight attendants commonly use on the job: greet passengers, stow bags, drink and meal orders, duty-free service, seat changes, wheelchair requests, weather announcements and much more!

Modules 1 and 2: French basics and pass your flight attendant French test.

www.facebook.com/frenchforflightattendants

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Flight Attendant Souvenirs. Souvenirs d’un agent de bord. Nagano, Japan. February 2015. Nagano, Japon. Février 2015. Back at the Nagano train station, I saw this in the train station washroom stall and I thought it was just ingenious. Mommy or daddy is travelling alone with a baby but mommy or daddy needs a potty break. What a great idea to install a baby seat inside the stall itself. I'm sorry, but I found this so cool at the time...and still do.