Tant pis et tant mieux étant les deux grands pivots de la conversation française, un étranger ferait bien de se mettre au fait de leur emploi avant d'arriver à Paris.
So much the worse and so much the better being the two great pivots of French conversation, a foreigner would do well to get acquainted with their employment before arriving in Paris.
Tant pis, and tant mieux, being two of the great hinges of French conversation, a stranger would do well to set himself right in the use of them, before he gets to Paris.