French: approche amoureuseEnglish translation: initial flirting stage(s) 
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| GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | | French term or phrase: | approche amoureuse | | English translation: | initial flirting stage(s) | | Entered by: | suezen |
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French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature | | French term or phrase: approche amoureuse | | Metaphorical use of this one to describe the writing process, not sure if 'foreplay' is appropriate, given that the context is: "la première étape de l’approche amoureuse avant la grande copulation" |
| | Clarification request(s) and responseAndy THEODOROU: 6:32pm Aug 8, 2006: Not clear if it's about the sexual act alone but I would go for 'the flirt' suggestion. Also, is it me or does the French version lack elegance (I can think think of expressions like acte d'amour).
Mike Higgins: 6:47pm Aug 8, 2006: the act - Andy, it's about the writing process, using sexual and relationship metaphors to describe the meeting of several writers and their initial awkward conversations etc before actually sitting down to the act (= writing the piece). The french is not particularly elegant, but I think copulation is used to go with gestation in the previous sentence to give perhaps a clinical feel, whereas what follows is more to do with relationships etc...It's actually quite amusing...
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| | initial flirting stage(s) | Explanation:
simply because we flirt with ideas before starting to write
Otherwise, if you want a harder approach foreplay could work. Really depends on context ...
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Note added at 12 mins (2006-08-08 11:04:12 GMT)
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or the initial stages of lovemaking
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Note added at 8 hrs (2006-08-08 19:14:00 GMT)
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With the background information, looks like the initial stages of foreplay could well work here |
| Selected response from:
 suezen
France
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5 mins confidence:   peer agreement (net): +1 |
| courting
Explanation:
Ce n'est en effet qu'une approche!
| | Notes to answerer
Asker: MDR, effectivement!
Asker: Peut-être même 'courtship'? Etant donné la présence de 'copulation' dans la même phrase, et 'gestation' dans la phrase précédente?
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| (making a) pass
Explanation:
pass, noun
• informal
an amorous or sexual advance made to someone :
she made a pass at Stephen.
but that's probably too informal for this style of writing unless you wanted to make it sound disparaging...
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Note added at 8 hrs (2006-08-08 18:53:37 GMT)
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if you want to make it sound really disparaging you might try -
a chat-up line when making a pass before a GRAND shag (taking into account that you've marked it as offensive)
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The translation workplace 
