If you think three years of French in high school prepared me for writing this book, you’re wrong. Lol.

But it was so much fun learning allll the profanity and slang for this story! I tried to give contextual clues on the page, but I thought it would be fun to translate the naughty/fun/sweet bits for you, and a few conversational words/phrases that aren’t as recognizable as “bonjour” or “merci.” Put on those raspberry berets, because here we go!

French – English translations from Pas De Deux: A Dance For Two
alors – right, well, so

allez – come on (used to cheer someone up, or to show annoyance)

allons-y – let’s go

arrêtes – stop

bâtard – bastard

bichette – little doe

bon – good

bon sang – damn it

bordel – goddamn it

ça va? – how’s it going? how are you?

chais pas, derived from Je ne sais pas – I don’t know

chatte – a woman’s nethers

chienne – bitch (as in female dog, not an epithet)

choupinette – sweetie/ sweetheart

connard – ass/ asshole

cul – butt/ bottom/ ass

d’accord – okay

Dieu – God

en fait – in fact

enfin – well

espèce d’idiot – idiot

étoile – star

grâce à toi – thanks to you

jouir pour moi – come for me/ squirt for me (dear God, how embarrassing, hahaha)

Les Étoiles – The Stars (The title of the elite 17 principal dancers of The Paris Opera Ballet)

ma moitié – my half

mamour, derived from “mon amour” – my love

merde – shit

minette – kitten/ pussy cat

nom de Dieu – for God’s sake/ for crying out loud

oh mon Dieu – oh my God

petite – little, small, tiny

putain – fuck

putain de bordel de merde – holy fucking shit/ fuck fuck fuck

There is also a bit of “New Yorican” Spanish in the story. It’s what Puerto Rican New York natives lovingly call their unique version of Spanish. These are used less often in the book, and are translated/ given context on the page.

Do you enjoy bilingual characters in stories? What’s the last story you read featuring more than one language? I’m trying to add more to my TBR. I highly recommend Mia Sosa’s books to start!

Alexis Daria’s dance off series is really fun:

 

Happy Reading!

 

XOXOXO

~Lynn