B757 FLC MISUNDERSTANDS CLRNC.

Narrative

IT SEEMED TO START AT PUSH AS GND WAS SPEAKING SPANISH TO ALL ACFT AND IT WAS DIFFICULT AT BET TO DETERMINE IF IT WAS GIVING OUR CLRNCS OR TAXI INSTRUCTIONS AS BOTH OCCUR ON THE SAME FREQ. IT TOOK 10 MINS TO RECEIVE PUSH CLRNC THEN ANOTHER 10 MINS TO GET TAXI INSTRUCTIONS WITH NO OTHER ACFT IN THE INTL RAMP AREA. THIS WAS MORE THAN COMMONLY EXPERIENCED BEFORE. WE RECEIVED OUR CLRNC; MARES 1 AND SQUAWK. TKOF WAS UNEVENTFUL AS WAS OUR TURN OUT TO A HDG OF 290 DEGS. JUST BEFORE INTERCEPTING THE 320 DEG RADIAL; WE RECEIVED A CLRNC TO CLB TO AND MAINTAIN 12000 FT. I CALLED IT BACK AND HAD NO QUESTION AS TO WHAT WAS SAID IN THE CLB INSTRUCTIONS. WE STARTED OUR CLB AND PASSING 7500 FT; DEP ASKED OUR ALT AND WE STATED 7500 FT CLBING TO 12000 FT ASSIGNED. THERE WAS SOME CONFUSION AND CHATTER IN SPANISH FOLLOWED BY LEVEL AT 7000 FT. WHICH WE COMPLIED WITH AND SAW SEVERAL ACFT IN OUR AREA OF FLT -- 1 ABOVE AND 1 BELOW BOTH AROUND 500 FT. ONE DSNDING; THE OTHER APPEARED LEVEL AT 7000 FT. WE HAD 1 TA; BUT THE CPA WAS NO CLOSER THAN 3 MI. JUST THE SAME; SHORTLY THEREAFTER; WE RECEIVED CLRNC TO CLB TO FL350 AND ONCE AGAIN RESPONDED AND CLBED BACK UP. I AGAIN HAVE NO QUESTION AS TO THE CLRNC TO CLB AND WAS GLAD THIS OCCURRED IN THE DAYLIGHT. THE DEP SHOWS A 4000 FT CLRNC LIMIT UNLESS CHANGED BY DEP. AGAIN; WE WERE GIVEN CLRNC TO CLB TO 12000 FT. FO STATED THAT HE WASN'T SURE THAT THEY HAD SAID AS IT WAS IN BROKEN ENGLISH; BUT I AGAIN HEARD CLB TO AND RPTED IT BACK VERBATIM. IN RETROSPECT AND IN PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES; THE LANGUAGE DOWN IN CCS HAS BEEN A PROB; SOMETIMES REQUIRING REPEAT TO INSURE WHAT INSTRUCTIONS WERE MADE. IN THIS CASE; AS IN THE PAST; YOU HAD TO BE CAREFUL. OBVIOUSLY; THE CLB WAS NOT WHAT THEY WANTED US TO DO; BUT THEN THE LANGUAGE ON OUR READBACK MAY HAVE EQUALLY NOT BEEN UNDERSTOOD. OBVIOUSLY; THE CLRNC WAS NOT WHAT THEY WANTED; AND LEVELING MADE THE MATTER WORSE. NO CLOSE CALLS; BUT THE POTENTIAL WAS THERE.