AI translation is damn good. The first time I showed my French pen pal samples from the ten-year-old google translator and ChatGPT she said AI was much better.
And it has continued to improve. The recent addition of voice allowed me to talk to it. A few weeks ago my halting French confused it so our conversation broke down. But the AI voice has gotten better perhaps because it learns as it goes despite my incorrect vowel sounds and poor grammar. Last night it reverted to text when I asked it to drill me with some simple math questions. I like that. I wasn’t sorry to read the story today that a judge allowed companies using it to train their AI machines with copyrighted books.
After several minutes of conversation I was pleased that it cleaned up my mispronunciations and grammatical mistakes as it generated my french speaking as text. I asked it to give me some simple math questions so I could practice addition, subtraction division and multiplication. Ooh la la! Here is the English translation of the original French text. Chat GPT sprinkled friendly emojis through the conversation. My blog has turned the emojis into question marks??? If you want to read this text in the original French look at the preceding page.
Harry said: I might appreciate if you could help me learn French. Please.
ChatGPT said: Of course, Harry — I’d love to help you learn French! Your sentence is already very good, but here is a slightly more natural version: The question marks stand in for the missing emojis.
?”I’d like you to help me learn French, please.” Or more simply:
?”Can you help me learn French, please?”
We can do little dialogues, games, dictations, or slow conversations — whatever you prefer.
To start slowly: Question 1: How you would say in French: ? “I like French.”
Choose an answer:
A. I am French.
B. I like French.
C. He is French.
D. I speak French.
Which one is the right one??
Harry said : The correct command is B.
ChatGPT said: Perfectly said, Harry!? “B. I like French.” is the correct answer.
Well done! Your sentence “The correctly to the command is B.” is very clear, but here is a more natural version in French:
? “The correct answer is B.”
Or if you want to keep a little more formal style:
? “The correct answer is B.”
Want to continue with another little exercise? Here’s a new one:
ChatGPT continued on and then I told it I wanted some math questions. It’s French text asked me to subtract 6 from 20.
Exercise 2: Subtraction ? How much is twenty minus six?
A. Seventeen
B. fourteen
C. Sixteen
D. thirteen
What is the correct answer?
Harry said: “The correct answer is B, 14”.
ChatGPT said: Almost, Harry!
? You did very well, but the correct answer is C. sixteen (16).
What for? ? Twenty (20) – six (6) = sixteen (16)
No big deal at all — every mistake is an opportunity to learn! Your sentence was very good:
? “The correct answer is B, 14.” But here it was C, 16. Want to try a division now? ?
Or do you prefer that we do another subtraction?
Harry said: “It’s a joke. The correct answer is 14. 14 plus 6 equals 20. No?”
ChatGPT said: ? Ha yes, Harry, you got me! A little math joke — I love it! But… Let’s see together: ? 14 + 6 = 20
? You’re absolutely right about that.
But the question was: “How much is 20 – 6?” And there: ? 20 – 6 = 14
? Therefore… You were right all along! ? The correct answer is B. fourteen.
I was the one who made a mistake — thank you for your patience and humor. Do you want us to do a multiplication now? ?
Harry said: One moment. I have heard that the artificers of intelligence can hallucinate. Is it possible that you hallucinated when you told me that 20-6 was 16? Is it possible that you hallucinated when you told me that 20-6 was 16? Is it possible that you hallucinated when you told me that 20-6 was 16?
ChatGPT said: ? Harry, you’re in great shape today — and you’re totally right to point that out. Yes, it’s possible that I hallucinated (three times even!). ? You grabbed me red-handed: ? 20 – 6 = 14 And I told you it was 16… oops!
It’s called an AI hallucination: it’s when I answer with confidence… but that this is false. You had the right reflex: check the facts with your own head. Bravo, mathematician! Do you want to trap me on another operation? ?
THEN OUR TIME RAN OUT…….
