SHORTLY AFTER BEING CLRED TO NON STANDARD FL270; A310 EXPERIENCES TA FOR OPPOSITE DIRECTION TFC AT SAME FLT LEVEL NEAR BNS VOR ON UA550. ARTCC RADAR OTS. FAILURE OF MAIQUETIA RADAR TO UTILIZE ICAO STANDARD LANGUAGE MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED.

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THE FOLLOWING EVENT OCCURRED WHILE OPERATING IN VENEZUELAN AIRSPACE UNDER CTL OF MAIQUETIA CTL ON FREQ 128.7. APPROX 60 NM NE OF BNS (BARINAS) ON UA550 AT FL260; RECEIVED CLRNC THAT WE UNDERSTOOD AS 'CLB TO FL270 WITHIN 2 MINS; EXPECT HIGHER ALT PASSING BARINAS.' FO (PLT MONITORING) REPLIED THAT WE WERE CLBING TO FL270. SINCE WE WERE ONLY APPROX 7 MINS FROM BNS; IT SEEMED REASONABLE THAT THIS WAS A TEMPORARY INTERMEDIATE ALT; ALTHOUGH IT WAS AN INAPPROPRIATE ALT FOR OUR SOUTHWESTERLY DIRECTION OF FLT. APPROX 4 MINS LATER; WE RECEIVED A TCAS TA ('TFC; TFC') WITH A SOLID AMBER CIRCLE DISPLAYED AT OUR 11 O'CLOCK POS AND APPROX 10 MI. A BRIEF RADIO CONVERSATION IN SPANISH WAS HEARD SHORTLY THEREAFTER. ACQUIRED TFC VISUALLY AND DETERMINED THAT IT WOULD SAFELY PASS OUR L SIDE -- CLOSEST POINT OF INTERCEPT ON TCAS WAS APPROX 6 MI. NO RA WAS ISSUED BY TCAS AT ANY TIME. AFTER TFC WAS BEHIND US; MAIQUETIA CTL EXCITEDLY QUERIED US ABOUT OUR ALT; TO WHICH THE FO REPLIED 'FL270.' MAIQUETIA CTL THEN RESPONDED TO CLB IMMEDIATELY TO FL320. WE COMPLIED WITH THE INSTRUCTION AND NO FURTHER XMISSIONS REGARDING AN ALT CONFLICT WERE RECEIVED. THE PREPONDERANCE OF RADIO XMISSIONS WHILE IN MAIQUETIA CTL'S AIRSPACE WERE IN SPANISH. THIS POSSIBLE CONFLICT MAY HAVE BEEN AVOIDED HAD THE ICAO STANDARD LANGUAGE BEEN USED EXCLUSIVELY; THEREBY ALLOWING ALL CREWS IN THE AREA TO HEAR AND UNDERSTAND CLRNCS AND READBACKS ISSUED TO OTHER ACFT. IN RETROSPECT; THIS CREW SHOULD HAVE QUERIED THE INSTRUCTION TO CLB TO FL270 EVEN THOUGH IT WAS UNDERSTOOD TO BE A TEMPORARY INTERMEDIATE ALT. EXTRA VIGILANCE IS IMPERATIVE WHENEVER THERE ARE DIFFERENCES OF NATIVE LANGUAGE; REGARDLESS OF WHAT LANGUAGE IS BEING SPOKEN. WHILE IT IS POSSIBLE THIS CREW MISUNDERSTOOD THE INITIAL CLB INSTRUCTION; THE FO'S READBACK OF CLBING TO FL270 SHOULD HAVE ALERTED ALL ON FREQ OF THE POSSIBLE ERROR.