Hi all,

I recently returned from a short trip to France and experimented with using AI tools like ChatGPT to help with communication, especially in smaller towns where English wasn't widely spoken.

I found that asking the AI to generate polite French phrases for restaurants or transport made things a lot smoother. There’s even a version called chatgpt français that’s designed to work better for francophones or learners.

I'm curious — has anyone else used AI tools like this while traveling?
Did it actually help or just create more confusion?

Would love to hear your experiences.
Thanks in advance!

I haven't used it when traveling but I have found that ChatGPT is a brilliant tool, often far better than Google.

People call anything done by computer AI nowadays. There have been translation apps for a couple decades where you could do this. There are still services like Google translate outside of those AI apps.

What's wrong with actually learning a few polite phrases and maybe using an app as Christina suggests if you really need to?
Use your own intelligence.
Signed a Luddite*

* Ask ChatGPT.

Picking up language skills is tremendously worthwhile to me, and I get a lot of pleasure form what I've been able to do through learning.

It is great, though, to be able to point your camera at any menu/sign/directory and immediately know what you are looking at.

Signed,
A Part-Time Luddite.

How would you propose one learns a few polite phrases? As for Google Translate, it Generally does a decent job. It certainly doesn't know the vagaries of some translations of words in certain contexts though.

There are audiobooks you can download to your phone or laptop and listen while driving, walking/exercising, lying on the couch, etc. If you just want to learn the basic polite words and phrases, there are YouTube videos.

DeepL and particularly Systran are better for French. Google Translate is clunky and if you just type in a single word, even if that word actually has more than one translation, it will only give you one (possibly wrong) word. There are online dictionaries that are better. Have a look at this one:

https://dict.leo.org/french-english/

I have no problem with ChatGPT and using it to source translated phrases. The potential is endless. The problem comes when you only rely on the tool and do not internalise any of it yourself (and cannot generate sentences yourself). So if you use it, make a policy of learning something from it.

Lavandula

I tried using ChatGPT during a trip to Lyon and a few smaller towns nearby. It was surprisingly helpful for quick translations and polite phrasing. I’d type something like “How do I ask for the check nicely?” and it would give me a version that didn’t sound straight out of a textbook.

That said, I learned to double-check anything before speaking it aloud, especially if nuance mattered. It definitely helped more than it hurt, especially when I didn’t want to fumble through phrasebook pages at the table.

Curious to hear how that French-specific version worked for you. I haven’t tried that yet.

if only translation was meaning, context is everything

eg, a hole in one, means nothing to a person who does not take part in golf (see also Slam dunk etc), too often I've worked with foreign native speakers of English to discover we don't speak the same language at all.


A few years ago I was in a french bar and a guy walked in who not only wanted to shake everyone's hand but also kiss both cheeks... what would chatbot recommend the greeting should be?

Write down the top 20 phrases and use them daily for a week at home in the right context

In 2023 we did a tour of Carin De Gavrinis and it was designated as an English speaking tour. We were the only English speakers and the tour guide said he would explain afterwards. We used Google translate for the whole tour. The tour guide was impressed as he thought it was a good thing to use so we didn’t miss out on anything. We would have only got about a third of the information if he had to translate at the end.

At the risk of sounding like an idiot, exactly how did you use Google translate cheska? I assume there was some sort of audio function? I'm really curious as I find Google translate really clunky, but suspect I'm the issue - I'd love to learn how to utilize it better.

Melnq8, at both translate dot google dot com and in the google translate app you can either type in the phrase/word or speak what you wish to translate by tapping the microphone icon first. After the translation appears, tap the speaker icon below it to hear in the translated language. In the app, there is a "Conversation" function, but I've never used it and don't know how it works. On my phone (Android), I had to change the permissions in "Settings" to enable the microphone.

Melnq8 as described by Jean. We used the conversation function. It continually translated the whole forty five miniute talk from French to English. While some words were lost in translation it was great.

I recently asked AI a technical question about energy required to heat water. It got it wrong by 50%. So, if you cannot do basic stuff....

Thanks Jean and cheska - I often use the microphone for GPS and dictation, but hadn't yet tried it for the translate function. I'll practice a bit before our trip in September.

I've used AI while traveling in France, and it definitely made things easier — especially for translating signs, writing short messages in French, or even just figuring out how to phrase something politely.

If you're looking for a version that works well natively in French, you might want to search for "chatgpt français" or try a site like “gptopenai point fr” (just type it without spaces). No sign-up needed and it works pretty smoothly on mobile too.

Saved me a few awkward café moments 😄