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I lived in the UK for a couple a years and I was surprised by how widespread is the usage of NATO alphabet among civilians. Obviously all pilots and military personnel use it, but I live in Spain and nobody here uses NATO alphabet, at least not the "common" version that appears in Hollywood movies.

So I was wondering if NATO is used in any other country that does not speak English and is part of NATO, such as France, Germany, Italy...

carkod
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about travel. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo Jan 27 '18 at 17:26
  • well, don't you need to spell your surname if you travel to another country? – carkod Jan 27 '18 at 17:33
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    Hardly anybody uses the NATO alphabet where English is spoken. – DJClayworth Jan 27 '18 at 19:01
  • @carkod No. Why should I have to spell my name when travelling to another country? And even if I know the NATO alphabet, why should I use it if I had to spell my name e.g. on the phone since whoever I am talking to most likely don't know it? – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo Jan 27 '18 at 19:07
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    I have found many more people will recognize than remember to use the NATO alphabet. Last time I had trouble to spell my name across language borders it was to book a holiday. And spelling my name for phone hotel/hostel reservations is/was a usual pain. – Willeke Jan 27 '18 at 19:12
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    i assume those individuals who speak english would get the nato alphabet, but many wouldn't be able to spell in nato since they never learned it (and just picked up from US pop culture). i believe all european languages have their own spelling alphabets - e.g. german anyway needs extensions for äüöß and has some for "st", "sch", "sp", "ch" (though i would always spell these out individually). but it has happened to me that a phone operator in italy once asked me to spell my name in NATO (while i was just starting to read from the italian spelling alphabet i had printed out for those occasions) – pseyfert Jan 27 '18 at 19:23
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    Within Germany, a different (German-specific) spelling alphabet is commonly used on the phone. No one who isn’t into aviation, military, amateur radio, etc. will use or even know the NATO alphabet. – chirlu Jan 27 '18 at 19:30

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When we happen to know the NATO alphabet we will use it in international situations, where the other one is speaking a different language from our own.

But most of the people I know are not that familiar with it and will have to think hard beforehand or need to substitute at least some of the letters.

What I see in the Netherlands, people (still mostly men) who have been in the army use it almost full time, people who work in international situations often know it. The people who have been into radio communication (ham radio and its brothers) will know it. And that is about it.

The rest of us uses first names in the longer form, hoping that the names are spelled with the same initial for the people we talk with.

Willeke
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