En muchas ocasiones planché pilas de papel de desecho. Bonjour,

En muchas ocasiones planché pilas de papel de desecho.
Bonjour, Je ne comprends pas le sens de “desecho” dans cette phrase. Hello, I don’t understand the meaning of “desecho” inthis sentence. Can you help me, please ?

What about “I ironed piles of waste paper?” Would that make sense? El desecho = waste

Hello SanneT,
I was translating in the same way…but it does not make sens… I don’t understand what it means. It’s about one of many jobs that Steeve had had when he was in Grenoble, in France. To iron waste paper is not a job …Who do that and what for ? ;-(

You are right, it does sound odd. :slight_smile: Did he perhaps collect waste paper? Have you checked it in the original English version? That might help, otherwise we’ll have to wait for a native to give us a clue :))

Hello Cecile,
I’ve just checked Chapter 8 of the Engish version: it says in there “I pressed bales of waste paper” which does make more sense. I presume these were big industrial presses used to condense the volume of waste paper.

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Hi, the phrase hasn’t a lot of sense but the translation of SanneT is accurate “I ironed piles of waste paper” , maybe refers to someone working on a recycle factory.

Perhaps a more suitable verb in Spanish would be: prensar o comprimir?

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Es muy interesante, ¿no?, pensar en Steve con la plancha en la mano y los montones de papel alrededor…planchando una hoja tras otra…:wink:

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In context: "I pressed bales of WASTE paper "(This is done with a compacting machine, not an iron like for clothing, in order to make the it more compact to take up less space in the garbage) “and drove a delivery van for a printing company…” Might be better in Spanish to say “pasaba mucho tiempo haciendo compacto las pilas de papel desecho con una prensa y etc…” since planchar is usually used for pressing clothes, not garbage which would be more like “compactar ir possibly comprimir.”

Thank to all of you. Yes now it makes sense. Thank you !