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Today's column is inspired by a question from a friend who makes part
of his living from doing translations - usually Chinese to English.
His English is pretty good, obviously. His services are highly sought.
But once in a while, he gets stuck trying to find a matching word or
phrase in English. Yesterday, he asked:
"What's that thing they use to wrap food with? The thing we see in
supermarkets everywhere, the thing they put over meats and wrap around
vegetables to keep them from going bad. You know what I mean, the thing,
the thin packaging material. You know what I'm saying?"
I don't, and that is my fault. I have encouraged
him to speak English to make up for the lack of an English-speaking
environment in the work place.
"I've got only a foggy notion of what you're getting at," said I,
adding encouragingly, "for once, speak Chinese. What is it you're trying
to say?"
"保鮮袋," was his instant and articulate reply. "How do you to say that in
English? Is it foil or film?"
"The cling film is probably the word you're looking for," I said.
"Where did you get 'foil" from?"
"It's in the brochure I've got from the company I'm doing a translation
for," he said. "They produce all sorts of foil papers and film products
for food packaging. I'm currently having trouble sorting out which is
what."
"Don't you have a dictionary?" I asked rhetorically.
"I've got the 金山詞霸," he said. "But '保鮮袋' is not in it."
"You're always armed with a dictionary of this kind or that," I said
sarcastically. "This is another example to show dictionaries are not an
answer for translators. A better teacher, in this case, can actually be a
trip to the supermarket itself. There, you'll see how food foils and films
are each labeled and defined. Foils and films are different."
"How?"
"While trying not to sound like an expert," I said, "foil papers
usually refer to the shinny aluminum wrappings you use for baking meat in
an electric oven. The cling film on the other hand is the translucent,
elastic, plastic sheet you use for vegetables. Elastic, which gives it a
soft and pliable quality that enables the film to stick, hence the term
'cling' film - it clings. The cling film can be used in the microwave
oven, but not if it's made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). That one is
cancer-causing. There was a campaign last year in China cracking down on
the PVC film. It was a major scandal."
"I remember that," he said. "PVC film was banned, I think. Now I am
sure the cling film is what I've been looking for. Thanks for the
explanation. And, gee, you do sound like an expert. How come?"
"I happen to have just read an article on the subject," I said. "From
the Guardian, it was actually an article on waste and solution, but in it
I read various terms for describing food wrappings, such as 'a polystyrene
tray', 'a cardboard', 'shrink-wrap' and so forth. This is how I study
English."
"That is how I should study," he concurred. "Can I read that story?"
"Hit this link | 
