danielcg:Now back to your phrase: If the fact that you are obviously a human being does not deter them from killing you, why would it matter that you are American?

Or are you suggesting that Americans have more right to life than other human beings?

Please, read with comprehension - the answer was for an American. For you it would be: I am Argentine, do not kill me.

Just in case: in Polish (Arabic would be better, but I don't use it)

"jestem Argentyńczykiem, nie zabijaj mnie"
"jestem argentijĉikjem nje zabiaj mnje"

geo63:Do you remember what happend to Polish citizen, Robert Dziekanski, who did not speak English, walked for hours in the Vancouver Airport and in the end was killed like a rat by the police, because they could not understand him. Here is the whole story:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/s...

[/quote]

CBC:He is clearly agitated, yelling in Polish, and appears to be sweating. He can be seen taking office chairs and putting them in front of the security doors. He then picks up a small table, which he holds, while a woman in the arrivals lounge calmly speaks to him in apparent effort to calm him down.

Before police arrived, Robert Dziekanski picked up a small table and put it in the doorway between the customs exit area and a public lounge. (Paul Pritchard)
In the second segment, Dziekanski picks up a computer and throws it to the ground. Three airport personnel arrive and block the exit from the secure area, but Dziekanski retreats inside and does not threaten them.

This alone would have caused a security scare. It sounds like he was trying to barricade himself, and police officers tried to taser him to neutralise any possible threat that barricading could have involved. However, it seems like the cops, to be frank, were idiots and didn't know how to use the taser and gave him a heart attack and killed him, or the taser malfunctioned, or the man had a major heart condition (perhaps that was already in progress and put him into shock thus scaring him into barricading himself out of fear?), or the least likely reason, the cops were racist/belligerent idiots and had no problem accidentally tasering someone to death.

But why he was tasered when they had him up against a wall is interesting. They must have been badly trained or scared sh*tless, either way they weren't confident with the suspect and let it screw around with their judgement. Perhaps the comments by bystanders about "He speaks Russian" caused problems, perhaps the cops thought he was from the Russian mafia?

Overall, a problematic situation. I want to find out more about it...

====

Back on topic.. slightly - I'd say the most important phrases to learn in a foreign country in a planned touristy holiday would be:
"Help"
"Hello, I not speak your language" (with intentional bad but understandable grammar to drive home the point )
"Police"
"Ambulance/Hospital/Doctor"
"Is this a toilet or a photo booth?" ()

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About "I'm American, don't kill me", I'd avoid saying your nationality unless you're talking to a clearly trustworthy person if you're in a dangerous country

"I am a (humble?) traveller, please do not mind me".

Or better yet, hide/get out of the country

3rdblade:Speaking of French, here's this. Just to cheer you up.

Very funny!

Tidalias:One possibility that occurs to me is the fact that the publisher may consider itself unable to properly proofread and fact check exactly what the printed Esperanto dialogue translates to. Not so with French, as getting in touch with a French proofreader would be much easier for them, in their mind.

This does make sense as a possible reason. I'd imagine they wouldn't want people writing in languages they can't verify and telling kids to take illicit drugs or be terrorists, since it seems the middle class these days is just as anal as usual about such things and they'd be afraid of getting sued....

geo63:"jestem Argentyńczykiem, nie zabijaj mnie"
"jestem argentijĉikjem nje zabiaj mnje"

The ń disappeared Votre langue est très compliquée!

ceigered:This alone would have caused a security scare. It sounds like he was trying to barricade himself, and police officers tried to taser him to neutralise any possible threat that barricading could have involved. However, it seems like the cops, to be frank, were idiots and didn't know how to use the taser and gave him a heart attack and killed him, or the taser malfunctioned, or the man had a major heart condition (perhaps that was already in progress and put him into shock thus scaring him into barricading himself out of fear?), or the least likely reason, the cops were racist/belligerent idiots and had no problem accidentally tasering someone to death.

But why he was tasered when they had him up against a wall is interesting. They must have been badly trained or scared sh*tless, either way they weren't confident with the suspect and let it screw around with their judgement. Perhaps the comments by bystanders about "He speaks Russian" caused problems, perhaps the cops thought he was from the Russian mafia?

Mr Dziekanski was a normal Pole, not educated, he didn't speak English and could not get out of the airport - he was tired after 10 hours flight and more hours of pointless walking in the airport. Nobody understood him and nobody was even interested why he walked there. So he got irritated, he called for police and when they finally arrived they just killed him for no reason. Such a man needs help, not to be paralised with electricity - in Poland he would be taken to a police station and a translator would be found to comunicate with him.

But if this happened in a normal, civilized country, then imagine what could happen elsewhere...

The irony is that Mr Dziekanski was looking for a better life in a better place, but all he found was death. His last words were:

Dlaczego? Czyście powariowali?
Why? Are you mad?

No comment.

ceigered:

geo63:"jestem Argentyńczykiem, nie zabijaj mnie"
"jestem argentijĉikjem nje zabiaj mnje"

The ń disappeared Votre langue est très compliquée!

Underneath there is a fonetic esperanto transcription - not very precise, but will do.

As for the complexity of Polish - you can't even imagine unless you start learning - even after 20 years I will almost immediately recognize that you are a foreigner. This is the case with all slavic languages.

geo63:As for the complexity of Polish - you can't even imagine unless you start learning - even after 20 years I will almost immediately recognize that you are a foreigner. This is the case with all slavic languages.

And what makes them so beautiful to hear

geo63:Mr Dziekanski was a normal Pole, not educated, he didn't speak English and could not get out of the airport - he was tired after 10 hours flight and more hours of pointless walking in the airport. Nobody understood him and nobody was even interested why he walked there. So he got irritated, he called for police and when they finally arrived they just killed him for no reason. Such a man needs help, not to be paralised with electricity - in Poland he would be taken to a police station and a translator would be found to comunicate with him.

Understandably he did not intend to get killed, and I don't believe it was the intention of the police to kill him - Tasers normally shouldn't kill someone, which means there was an underlying complication *somewhere* (the trouble is finding out what it was!).

Nonetheless, the barricading part would have been understood by on-site security as a sign of danger (e.g. "he's barricading in preperation for a shootout or to keep security away because he see them as a threat ergo he is a threat"), which drives home your previous point about knowing the language enough to be able to say "don't kill me", although in this case I don't think that would have helped since the taser is the "non-lethal" weapon of choice for such situations. Someone should have just told those cops to be big-boys and muscle him out since tasers should probably be used more for people charging you with knives, not shifting around furniture in a defensive manner...

Anyway, it's airport security, it's insanity on many levels .

For more info on the controversial taser subject:
Scientists: In Theory, Tasers Can’t Kill People. Others: How do you Explain These Dead Guys?
Obviously, the use of these devices is problematic. On one hand, as a commenter states, it could help an old granny protect herself against an assailant twice her size. On the other hand, an police officer, overly trusting the non-lethality of the weapon, may use the taser in cases where it is not needed simply to "make the job easier", and without knowing it increase the chance of a critical injury.

Good question: Do Tasers kill people? - How stuff works. Note the videos first show a bull being fired with what seems to be a taser for animals, thus a different device?

Interesting to note that it seems that the amount of lethal takedowns of armed suspects has dropped thanks to tasers, but the amount of lethal takedowns of unarmed/nondangerous suspects has increased, according to hearsay.

Anyway, moral of the story - Fairies in esperantoland need to know how to speak Esperanto and not French so they don't get tasered to death (small and frail body size) by overzealous publishers!.............

ceigere:Good question: Do Tasers kill people? - How stuff works. Note the videos first show a bull being fired with what seems to be a taser for animals, thus a different device?

Anyway, moral of the story - Fairies in esperantoland need to know how to speak Esperanto and not French so they don't get tasered to death (small and frail body size) by overzealous publishers!.............

You are right, but:

1. Dziekanski was shot five times before he died - one shot was enough, why four more to an already disabled man?
2. He was not agressive, he stood still when he was shot by the police.
3. Nobody tried to communicate with him.
4. Three strong policemen and one tired man - was there a need for taser at all?

My point was not to look for justice for Mr Dziekanski - he made a mistake not to learn at least few English words, do not make the same mistake when visiting other countries. Stay in your group, don't be arrogant when people do not understand English - only 8% of the world population speaks English natively - for the rest of us (92%) it is a foreign language we must learn for many years, and the results vary.

geo63:My point was not to look for justice for Mr Dziekanski - he made a mistake not to learn at least few English words, do not make the same mistake when visiting other countries.

A few English words wouldn't have helped him. "Help me, I'm Polish" wouldn't have helped him. Only a pocket dictionary would have possibly helped a little, but if he became aggressive, then the pocket dictionary wouldn't have helped either.

It sounds like Mr. Dziekanski's mother made mistakes (told him to meet her in a place that she could not legally access, so he waited for a long time), the airport made many mistakes (didn't help his mother get in touch with him, didn't send someone to help him in the arrivals area), Mr. Dziekanski made mistakes (throwing computers and chairs at an airport is a great way to get taken down by the police) and of course the police made a huge mistake. The combination of all of these mistakes led to Mr. Dziekanski's death. I wouldn't blame it on him not speaking a few words of English. If you say you need help but can't explain what you need help with, then how helpful is that??? Throwing things isn't the answer.

in Poland he would be taken to a police station and a translator would be found to comunicate with him.

I think this statement is unfair. In Canada, in most cases he would also be taken to a police station and a translator would be found. How many immigrants come through Canadian airports and don't speak English or French, and how many incidents have you heard of that were like this one? Very few. Most Canadians are very nice and helpful people. And I don't mean to insult Polish people, but I am certain that a similar incident could occur in Poland as well, or in any country of the world. Every country has people who act badly without thinking, like the police in this incident.

erinja:A few English words wouldn't have helped him. "Help me, I'm Polish" wouldn't have helped him.

How can you say such a nonsense. Of course, it would help him - at least someone would notice that the man needed help.

erinja:It sounds like Mr. Dziekanski's mother made mistakes (told him to meet her in a place that she could not legally access

Yes, and to punish her, the police killed her only son.

erinja:Mr. Dziekanski made mistakes (throwing computers and chairs at an airport is a great way to get taken down by the police) and of course the police made a huge mistake.

Throwing furniture in dispair is no excuse for killing the man.

erinja:The combination of all of these mistakes led to Mr. Dziekanski's death. I wouldn't blame it on him not speaking a few words of English. If you say you need help but can't explain what you need help with, then how helpful is that???

Yes, it's better to kill the guy instead of helping him. No word could save him, he was doomed...

erinja:

in Poland he would be taken to a police station and a translator would be found to comunicate with him.

I think this statement is unfair. In Canada, in most cases he would also be taken to a police station and a translator would be found.

But they didn't do that. The man is dead. That is the fact. End of the story. Please, don't write about it again. Things like this are not pleasant to anyone.

geo63:How can you say such a nonsense. Of course, it would help him - at least someone would notice that the man needed help.

I think a person wandering around for 5 hours in an airport customs arrivals area would make it obvious that someone needed help. People don't just hang around customs forever, they collect their bags and leave. If I were a customs officer there I would think it very strange that a person was hanging around for so long, and I would assume either that this person needed help, or that this person had some kind of bad intent.

erinja:It sounds like Mr. Dziekanski's mother made mistakes (told him to meet her in a place that she could not legally access

Yes, and to punish her, the police killed her only son.

This is also unfair. The police acted wrongly and they should be punished for their crimes. But I'm sure the police knew nothing of the mother, and they assumed that the Polish man was dangerous. There is no excuse for killing an innocent man, and of course the person who did it should be punished. But the killing came after many tragic errors. Those police didn't go to work that day saying to themselves "Let's go kill a Polish man today". They saw a man acting in a threatening manner; they didn't know the circumstances, and they overreacted (in a dangerous, illegal, and deadly way).

Yes, it's better to kill the guy instead of helping him. No word could save him, he was doomed...

You seem to take this personally and I'm not sure why. It's a very sad story and very unfortunate, and something very wrong happened.

20 years ago, a man was arrested by the police in the US. He was behaving in a strange, erratic, and violent manner. And the police tasered him, and then they beat him up, even though he was already subdued, and even though he was unarmed. These were all native English speakers. There was no communication problem, but that didn't help Rodney King. So why would a few words help?

A pocket dictionary wouldn't have helped the unarmed Nigerian man who was shot by the Polish police last year. Every country has had cases of police brutality. Sometimes policemen go bad and they do bad things. You can't always assume that a simple sentence will help. If a bad policeman wants to beat you up or taser you, a simple phrase won't help you, not in Canada, not in Poland, not in the US, not in any country.