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    $\begingroup$ @RockPaperLizard Germany as well. Germans struggle with the English "th", it often comes out as "sri" as mentioned above. This is why it is consistently taught as "tree" in Germany for aviation purposes, when English is used in ATC/(A)FIS communication. The Aviation.SE blog will have a series on stuff like this... we are working on it. :) $\endgroup$
    – SentryRaven
    Commented May 20, 2015 at 8:57
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    $\begingroup$ @RockPaperLizard I've known Irishmen who pronounce 3 as "tree". It wouldn't surprise me if the whole country has a similar dialect. $\endgroup$
    – Gabe
    Commented May 20, 2015 at 16:00
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    $\begingroup$ Adding the extra syllable to "foh-er" and "niner" means that the vowel patterns OH, UH, OO, EE, OH-IH, AY, IH, EH-EH, EY, AY-IH, are all distinct even without any consonants. I don't know whether radio static played a role in the choice of phonetics, but I think vowels are often less likely to be misinterpreted than consonants. As for "t" versus "th" for "3", even if the ideal pronunciation were an English "th", some non-English-speakers might say something closer to that if asked to say "t" than if asked to say "th". $\endgroup$
    – supercat
    Commented May 20, 2015 at 16:16
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    $\begingroup$ Surely, "niner" helps to distinguish 9 from 5. I'd've thought that most of the time, context would make it obvious whether you meant fire or 5 or whether you were saying 'no' in German or 9. But it's surely as easy to mistake a 9 for a 5 as it is to mistake a B for a D, say. $\endgroup$
    – Au101
    Commented May 20, 2015 at 16:41
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    $\begingroup$ @Au101 This is why they went ahead and dont use single letters by themselves, but have the ICAO alphabet: Bravo and Delta. $\endgroup$
    – SentryRaven
    Commented May 20, 2015 at 21:42