# Vite fait bien fait



## Bluenails

Moderator note:
Threads merged to create this one.

Hi, 
How do you translate 'vite fait bien fait'?
Thank you!


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## Bluenails

So let me try: 'quickly done, well done?'; but I don't think that is idiomatic...


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## broglet

sounds great to me bluenails - I don't know of any 'standard' English saying along these lines, but there should be one and this should be it!


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## Quaeitur

If you just mean 'that's done quickly' you can say _*done in a jiffy!*_


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## jesuischloe

L'expression "vite fiat bien fait" se traduit en anglais littéralement comme ça: quickly done well done. Mais est-ce qu'il y a une façon de la traduire qui s'appartient plus à l'anglais courant?


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## Keith Bradford

"Spiff-spoff, done and dusted!" perhaps?

In Britain there's "Job's a good 'un."


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## victoria1

Je dirais: nice and quickly.
Ex: il l'a terminé vite fait bien fait: he finished it nice and quickly.


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## Widsith

"Short and sweet" is often the best equivalent.


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## franc 91

it's over and done (but I thought it was - vite fait, mal fait ie more haste less speed kind of idea)


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## frankhartmann

Il me semble que l'expression "vite fait bien fait" est souvent utilisée pour décrire une recette ou la cuisine rapide.  (Exemple : le livre "Cuisine express : le guide du vite fait, bien fait").

En anglais, l'expression équivalente serait "quick and easy".


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## cornely

Bonsoir,
comment traduisez vous "vite fait bien fait"?
Merci d'avance


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## franc 91

done quickly and efficiently (suggestion)


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## xiancee

"packed fair and square"?


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## franc 91

In the collection 'les Dames/Little Miss' (always a linguistic treasure) Madame Vite-Fait is Little Miss Quick.


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## SteveD

No sooner said than done


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## franc 91

No sooner said than done  - I also thought of - sorted


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## broglet

done and dusted


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## Saints22

Hi everyone, 

all your suggestions are good and idiomatic but I feel that we lose the quality aspect of "bien fait" as well as the singsongy catchphrase aspect. 

Can i suggest 
_"Vite Fait, Bien Fait" _-* "Quickly and Perfectly done"*

T


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## franc 91

That doesn't really sound quite right in English, I'm afraid.


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## Merenguey

Hi,


Whereas I would be unable to give a nice translation in English, I want to make a clear statement: "Vite fait, bien fait" should never be considered in its literal meaning. When said, it always mean that it has been done in a quick way but, as a consequence, *very not well-done* or, at least, without lots of effort! The expression is somehow ironical. Source: https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/vite_fait_bien_fait

No French speaker will ever tell in front of its manager that the job has been done _vite fait bien fait_. On the contrary, it could said: "Aussitôt dit, aussitôt fait" (No sooner said than done) from which, if the result is not as good as expected, the manager would reply: "Plutôt vite fait, bien fait".

The meaning of "bien fait" in this expression, might be equivalent to "so-so". So why not "*quick-and-dirty*" which keeps both senses: the process and the result.


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## Salvatos

I've always considered it literally... Le monde des sports semble plutôt d'accord :
http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2015/08/15/serena-vite-fait-bien-fait
http://sports.tv5monde.com/tennis/us-open/articles/federer-tres-vite-fait-bien-fait-1325632/

Je n'irais jamais dire « vite fait, bien fait » pour quelque chose que j'ai mal fait...


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## Uncle Bob

I hate to say it but, in the positive sense,  there is "Bob's your uncle".
However, as Merenguey wrote, I have only heard it used ironically to mean the opposite.


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## Chimel

I see what Merenguey means and which was not covered by previous suggestions in this discussion, but I also agree with Salvatos: it is not _that _ironical that it would be used to say the opposite.

A typical use for me would be:
- On va manger un bout ensemble?
- Oui mais vite fait, bien fait alors, parce que je n'ai pas beaucoup de temps.

Obviously, "no sooner said than done" would not do the trick here. Actually, it often just means "quickly", "without losing time" or even "efficiently". It is also the basic meaning in the two sport articles mentioned by Savatos.


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## Merenguey

This is a very interesting topic as I have started to consider an expression I had never considered before.

However, I prefer to stick with the Wiktionary version as I cannot consider Savato's examples as correct. Some newspapers can sometimes be mistaken. However, in these examples, the meaning has more to see with the quickness of the process, referring as an easy victory (no need to make lots of effort). But when we think about it, no champions ever win easily: tons of effort are necessary to make it "easy".

I would therefore be very careful with this expression as I think that some people tend to use in a certain way: quickly-done. And the expression is nice to use because there is a rhyme (and who would not like it?).

May I add an other link showing that it does not mean a well-done job:
http://www.linternaute.com/expression/langue-francaise/13805/vite-fait-bien-fait/


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## wildan1

After all of the clarifications about the meaning in French, I think _Quick and dirty_ is a good equivalent catch phrase in AE.

It can be critical or simply a way to describe something that is done quickly and tentatively (a better, more precise effort will be made later on).

The non-critical meaning is synonymous with _back of the envelope _when describing calculations or schematic diagrams_._


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## Quaeitur

Merenguey said:


> May I add an other link showing that it does not mean a well-done job


But it also doesn't mean not a well-done job ...  The French is fairly neutral as to the judgement it passes on the quality of the job. For me _vite fait bien fai_t means the job is done quickly and adequately. Which makes quick and dirty a good translation in many contexts but definitely not in all.


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## Chimel

wildan1 said:


> It can be critical or simply a way to describe something that is done quickly and tentatively (a better, more precise effort will be made later on).


I think you really get it, Wildan; that's the way I generally use this expression and I hear most people use it.

Actually, it can be seen as a reinforcement of _vite fait_: in my example, you could also say "on va manger vite fait". The "bien fait" element adds up a rythmical effect and, in some cases but not always, an idea of a certain quality despite the rapidity of the action (not necessarily in "manger vite fait bien fait", but in "voilà, je t'ai réparé ton vélo vite fait bien fait", for instance).


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## Salvatos

Chimel said:


> Obviously, "no sooner said than done" would not do the trick here. Actually, it often just means "quickly", "without losing time" or even "efficiently". It is also the basic meaning in the two sport articles mentioned by Savatos.


Quick and efficient definitely is what I make of it. It also came up on a lot of cooking sites when I looked online. Recipes that are quick and easy, but not junk food. Obviously something done quickly is rarely of exceptional quality, but I still expect satisfaction from something that's _vite fait, bien fait_.



Merenguey said:


> May I add an other link showing that it does not mean a well-done job:
> http://www.linternaute.com/expression/langue-francaise/13805/vite-fait-bien-fait/


Je ne sais pas si je dois faire davantage confiance à l'un ou l'autre, mais je peux fournir un avis contraire de Reverso qui spécifie « sans négligence » : http://dictionnaire.reverso.net/francais-definition/vite fait bien fait
Et surtout, le TLFi ne dit que « Rapidement; syn. rondement » : http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/vite


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## Uncle Bob

Dare I say it but dictionary definitions are irrelevant, nobody disagrees. The question is how the idiom is used in practice. All three possibilities (positive, ambivalent and negative) have been proposed above. I know my experience, others know theirs. Presumably it depends on the context and the _milieu._


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## archijacq

sans oublier "a quickie" (un petit coup vite fait, bien fait)


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## Chimel

Excellente suggestion aussi, même si la connotation sexuelle est assez forte. Mais à en croire Keith Bradford dans ce fil, si le contexte est clair, l'expression peut aussi s'utiliser sans ambiguïté pour d'autres actions faites rapidement, comme aller boire ou manger quelque chose "vite fait": http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/its-just-a-quickie.1986237/

Il n'y a donc pas de traduction standard, mais sur l'ensemble de ce fil, on a plusieurs suggestions qui couvrent sans doute les différents usages de l'expression.


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