Translate French Audio to English

How it works

French stays on screen next to the English, so you can check one against the other.

1. 1

   Add the French file

   Drop in an MP3, M4A, WAV or MP4 up to 10 minutes and 100 MB. French is already selected as the spoken language. Sign in with Google, Apple or an email code, then press Start Transcription.

2. 2

   Check the French first

   The transcript comes back in French. Listen for prices, phone numbers and names and fix any slip in the box, because the English is made from that text and nothing else.

3. 3

   Press Translate

   English is already chosen as the target. You get the English, up to three notes on idioms or doubtful words, and the French kept underneath. Copy it, or use Read aloud if your browser has an English voice.

What French speech does to an English translation

A few things in spoken French get lost or go wrong on the way to English. These are the ones worth checking by ear.

• Numbers built on twenties

  In France, 97 is quatre-vingt-dix-sept: four twenties, ten and seven. In Belgium and Switzerland you may hear septante for 70 and nonante for 90, and in parts of Switzerland huitante for 80. The translator keeps numbers as written, so a slip in the transcript stays in the English. Compare every price and quantity with the audio.

• Vous and tu both become "you"

  The translator is told to keep the tone, but English has one word for both. You cannot tell from the English whether a client called you tu or vous, or whether vous meant one person or several. Read the French line when that matters.

• Quebec is not France

  The picker has one French setting, with no separate one for Quebec. Words differ: in Quebec a char is a car, where in Europe it means a tank, and fin de semaine is the weekend. Meals catch people out most. In Quebec, déjeuner is breakfast and dîner is lunch; in France, déjeuner is lunch and dîner is the evening meal. If a meeting hangs on that word, confirm the time.

• Endings you cannot hear

  Parle, parles and parlent all sound the same, so the transcript has to guess from context whether one person or several did something. If the English says "he" where the caller clearly meant "they", correct the French and translate again.

• Sayings

  Poser un lapin is literally to put down a rabbit; it means to stand someone up. The English gives the meaning, and a note shows the original phrase. There are at most three notes per translation, so a talk full of idioms will not get one for each.

French recordings worth translating

You did not understand it the first time, and you need to act on it.

• A voicemail from a client in Montreal

  Save the message as a file, then find out what they asked for, by when and on which number to call back. Check that number against the audio before you dial.

• A supplier call or a recorded site visit

  Lead times, quantities and prices from a French distributor or a site in Lyon. Everyone on the recording should know they are being recorded, and the rules on consent vary by place.

• A lecture or a training session

  Ten minutes at a time. A class in Paris or a product training in Brussels becomes a French text to study from and an English one to follow.

• An interview for a story

  Recorded with consent. Keep the French as your record and quote from it, and use the English as a working copy, with a French speaker checking anything you publish.

• A voice note from family

  A grandparent's message from Quebec or Haiti, when your own French has faded. Haitian Creole is a separate language and is not on the list, so this is for messages in French.