# Help translating a phrase into French **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-translating-a-phrase-into-french/678312 "2014-01-08T21:00:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-translating-a-phrase-into-french/678312/21 "2014-01-10T02:22:51Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I live in an area where the majority of people are French, and my workplace is entirely French, so it’s the only language I use when communicating with my boss. Having studied French all my life, I’m usually good at it, but my French is not perfect, which is why I started this thread to ask about the translation of the sentence. > > My boss can generally speak and understand English, but my workplace is French, and I think my French is better than my boss’s English. Okay, that makes sense. I was just curious, not trying to be smart. No doubt your French is better than mine, so I’ll leave this to the native speakers. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-translating-a-phrase-into-french/678312/22 "2014-01-10T04:03:26Z")
I used to watch the Algerian three-card monte artists in Paris, enough to annoy them. One of them, chancing on me in a bar, wasn’t friendly when he said something like _Pourquoi tu m’as jeté un coup d’oeil?_ The connotation is different than “stare.” If he was annoyed enough to mention I’d _jeté un coup d’oeil_ it’s probably just as well that I hadn’t _regardé fixement_. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-translating-a-phrase-into-french/678312/23 "2014-01-10T19:58:43Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > “Are you searching at me?” > > I think you mean: [C’est à moi que tu parles?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ_1YmliMg0#t=0m53s) > Or more naturally: [C’est à moi que tu parles, mec?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okQJPUTQMqA) Eh, I’m not a French speaker. I was shooting for some “Taxi Driver” humor and got that from Google Translate. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-translating-a-phrase-into-french/678312/24 "2014-01-10T21:11:52Z")
_Je n’aime pas être dévisagé_ or _Je n’aime pas qu’on me dévisage_ are the only correct translations. _Je n’aime pas qu’on me regarde fixement_ sounds awkward and seems to be an attempt to translate “stared at”. (francophone here) ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-translating-a-phrase-into-french/678312/25 "2014-01-11T15:00:30Z")
Thanks. I’m wondering if “dévisagé” is a common word in Quebec/Montreal French, though, because I haven’t heard it before. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-translating-a-phrase-into-french/678312/26 "2014-01-12T12:22:02Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > Thanks. > I’m wondering if “dévisagé” is a common word in Quebec/Montreal French, though, because I haven’t heard it before. Yes. Absolutely. It means to stare at someone else’s face. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-translating-a-phrase-into-french/678312/27 "2014-01-12T12:27:28Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Eh, I’m not a French speaker. I was shooting for some “Taxi Driver” humor and got that from Google Translate. Hence the links. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-translating-a-phrase-into-french/678312.md?page=1)