# Tout ça pour dire que ...



## Sibylle64

Bonjour, 

Comment pourrais-je dire en anglais, de manière informelle dans une discussion "Tout ça pour dire que ..." afin de conclure une discussion. 

Thanks for your help !!


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## wildan1

easy: _All that to say..._


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## kanoe

Anyway, the point is... (si c'est pour en revenir au sujet dont tu t'es un peu éloigné(e))


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## Sibylle64

So is this ok ?
"All that to say that, as soon as your potential is acknowledged, you will have to possibility to fulfill your career expectations". ?

Thanks in advance !


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## Albert 50

When I've used the phrase "tout ça pour dire que"  (at the close of a discussion)  I mean,  in English,  "which basically means" or "in conclusion my basic point is..."  or even  "summing up".

"In conclusion my basic point is: as soon as your potential is acknowledged you will be in a position to (be able to) fulfill your career expectations".

Note:  you can't say in English "you will have the possibilitiy to fulfil...".  You have to say "it will be possible for you to"  or a different construction like "you will be in a position to fulfil..."  or even "able to"  or "capable of".

Cordialement
Albert


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## david314

Albert 50 said:


> When I've used the phrase "tout ça pour dire que" (at the close of a discussion) I mean, in English, "*which basically means (that)*" or "in conclusion my basic point is..." or even "summing up".


 This would be my choice, too.  Please bear in mind that one _cannot_ start a sentence with this phrase.


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## wildan1

david314 said:


> Please bear in mind that one _cannot_ start a sentence with this phrase.


Agreed with you concerning formal written English, david. But let's not be too doctrinaire! In conversational, spoken (or even written--like an email) English, _all _the possibilities suggested are as common as sentence-starters in English as is the original French phrase.


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## pieanne

david314 said:


> Please bear in mind that one _cannot_ start a sentence with this phrase.


I do agree with you.

I also want to say that "tout ça pour dire que" is absolutely no formal language. It's rather clumsy...


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## Sibylle64

Many thanks for your help ! 

That was very helpful


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## Juju333

wildan1 said:


> easy: _All that to say..._


Just to be sure. Can we add "that" as in "All that to say that blabla"?
Thanks!!


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## david314

It's a bit wordy to my ears and I would omit one "that", for sure.  Would you care to provide a full sentence?


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## traducting

_which basically means _   is clearer than  _all that to say _(which sounds like a Gallicism to me!)


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## Juju333

Full sentence:
"It was such a bad experience going to this restaurant. Reception and service were terrible, food was disgusting, tables were very dirty... Well all that to say I'll never go to that place again!"


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## broglet

In summary ...


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## Juju333

Thank you broglet. Is it me or it sounds a little bit formal?


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## broglet

oui c'est vrai juju


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## Juju333

Anything more informal I could say?


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## Welsh_Sion

I think you need a sprinkling of 'the' as well ...

"The reception, the service ... the food ... the tables ..."

Also, "the reception" sounds a little French, I think. Do you not mean, "the welcome"?


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## Juju333

Really? I once read some reviews on the Internet wrote by English native speakers and one wrote "Reception was bad". Maybe I'm mistaken and that one was from a foreigner.


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## Welsh_Sion

Response to your question,

"Considering all that/All things considered, I'm never going back there!"
[...]


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## moustic

Coming back to the OP, in some instances you could use the expression "it all boils down to..."


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## Captain Ishido

"Long story short" ?


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## broglet

Captain Ishido said:


> "Long story short" ?


Good suggestion but it needs to be "To cut a long story short ... "


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## wildan1

No, I don't agree, broglet. When you are in the middle of an explanation that is getting complicated and overlong, it's not unusual (in AE) to stop the details and summarize the outcome with _"Long story short, (we didn't go, we bought it, she said no, etc.)"_


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## tartopom

the bottom line?


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## Maxieee

In a nutshell ?


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## catheng06

In other (shorter) words ?


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## wildan1

_In other words, ... _might be similar to the other expressions above, or may simply be a paraphrased explanation without necessarily being briefer.

(_Shorter words _doesn't sound right--that would describe words of one-two syllables rather than longer words.)


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## mollisha

Captain Ishido said:


> "Long story short" ?


Ca allait être ma suggestion aussi ou "to make a long story short"...

Sinon, tout simplement "anyway/anyhow/anyhoo" depending how informal.


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## catheng06

wildan1 said:


> (_Shorter words _doesn't sound right--that would describe words of one-two syllables rather than longer words.)



Thanks Wildan1


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

Depending on your audience, you might use the Shakespearean "In few, ...". 

But "In summary" (broglet's #14) or "To sum up" sounds like simply a condensation of the underlying argument, whereas (just my opinion) "All that to say" sounds like you're apologizing to your audience for having entered into so much detail.


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## Welsh_Sion

There is of course the hyper slangy version of listing all the disasters and then adding, "nuff sed" ( = That's enough said about that ...) at the end.

I don't know if I should be encouraging foreign students to use this expression, though


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