This has nothing to do with IF, please bear with me.
I will be flying to Spain for a short holiday. I bring some analogue (Polaroid) film with me. This film will be severely damaged by X-ray machines at the airport.
I speak Spanish at the A2 level as defined by the European Commission, so I should be able to engang in a simple conversation (never tried, first time I travel after all my classes).
I want to ask the customs officer in Spanish to do a hand check of my films and not put them through X-ray. I can translate it myself but I would like to hear from a native speaker how they would ask it.
So, can you give a translation for:
“Sir/madam, this is analogue film and it will be damaged by X-ray. Would you be so kind to perform a manual check on it?”.
My translation: “Señor/señora, estas son peliculas analógicas que estarán dañados por los rayos X. ¿Por favor, usted puede comprobarlas a mano?
“Señor/ señora, tengo películas para mi cámara de fotos analógica que se estropearían si las paso por los rayos X. Por favor, ¿podría inspeccionarlas manualmente sin pasarlas por la máquina?”.
Another suggestion: in case your film gets handed around, I’d put it in a separate bag or case with a very visible label:
PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM
Please DO NOT X-Ray
Please hand-inspect and do not expose to bright light
…in both English and Spanish.
I would suspect that customs is used to having photographers and reporters come through with similar requests, so a label might be able to do the talking for you during busy airline procedures. They make professional labels for this:
