Actually I find that in most European airports security staff speak acceptable English. Or maybe I was just lucky to converse with those that master at least the vocabulary relevant for their job ("Shoes off", "belt", "stand there", "no good", "wait and I go"). I usually find Greece a little basic. It gets really interesting in other parts of the world, including at major international transfer hubs (DXB).

Recently there was a funny "incident" at CDG: coming through the metal detector I (male) was stopped to be searched/inspected by a security agent, and behind me an American (?) lady was stopped as well. The agent frisking her did not speak English very well, so I translated that she had to take off her shoes, etc. The agent was thankful that I helped out with the translation. The passenger wasn't very happy when the frisking became a little intimate, so I translated the passenger's comments back to the agent who only commented "Et puis elle nous fait ch... celle-là, encore un mot et je lui fouterai mon doigt dans la cha..., comme ça elle saura ce que c'est une inspection trop intime". I also translated that back to the passenger, more or less literally (just in case some argument would break out, I wouldn't like to stand accused of causing it by a wrong translation). Obviously the argument did break out, and I had to quickly go to my gate...

Being vulgar is one thing, being stupid is another, but being stupid enough to think that the vulgar remarks don't get translated when the other ones did?