I'm assuming whoever is receiving a plane is the standard language for ATC interactions, not the departure side. So that stands to reason ATCs in texas must be multilingual. I wonder if we sound as bad to them.

I would like to think our clear, staccato English would benefit most countries trying to understand us, but it could be wishful thinking.

Found the following on a airline nerd web site. It appears English the universal ATC language, but the local language is also spoken. For instance, Spanish is spoken in Mexico, but English is used when pilots don't speak Spanish.

ICAO defines this:

"In which languages does a licence holder need to demonstrate proficiency?"
Amendment 164 to Annex 1 has introduced strengthened language proficiency requirements for flight crew members and air traffic controllers. The language proficiency requirements apply to any language used for radiotelephony communications in international operations. Therefore, pilots on international flights shall demonstrate language proficiency in either English or the language used by the station on the ground. Controllers working on stations serving designated airports and routes used by international air services shall demonstrate language proficiency in English as well as in any other language(s) used by the station on the ground.

http://www.icao.int/icao/en/trivia/peltrgFAQ.htm#20

Thanks for that Simon. What is interesting is when anime are trying to make a stab for "realism," scenes of any airport are almost always done in (heavily accented) English even at a domestic airport and even when flying domestic in Vietnam and Spain, I heard a lot of English from the pilot side. So I just figured that all air communication for international flights was done in English, much how Maritime is.