If you’re learning French, it’s a good idea to get a language exchange partner for real conversation practice. But language partners require some coordination, and sometimes you just want to practice conversing when you find yourself with a few spare moments. Plus, chatting with a real person can be nerve-wracking when you’re still building your comfort and confidence speaking French.
That’s where French chatbots come in: They’re an increasingly popular tool to practice French in a realistic setting while getting instant feedback to improve your language skills.
This is a well-known French language learning app that introduced its chatbot back in 2016. It offers both text chatting and speech recognition so that you can actually talk out loud with the bot.
The chatbot understands over a million phrases and gives users conversational French practice in various scenarios, such as ordering from a restaurant, hailing a cab or visiting a tourist site in France.
Within the selected scenario, you’ll hear a French question and see suggestions for how to respond written on the screen. You then respond by holding the microphone button to speak or typing your response using the keyboard icon.
If you love this type of language learning, Mondly also has a virtual reality program called Mondly VR where you can explore a digital world and chat with the characters you meet. You’ll still get suggested responses, speech recognition and everyday conversation topics, but in an even more immersive environment.
Duolingo is another popular language learning app that also introduced its chatbot feature in 2016. This app provides users with an on-demand way to practice French conversation without the awkwardness.
There are several chatbots with different personalities you can talk to about various topics. They’ll ask questions that are designed to flex your vocabulary and grammar skills. You’ll read and listen to the bots’ messages and type your responses. Don’t worry if you get stumped—there are hints and suggested responses.
From beginner to advanced, the Duolingo bots can accommodate every skill level. The app even offers an initial language test to verify your French skill level.
Duolingo also recently released a new feature called Roleplay under their Duolingo Max subscription tier. With Roleplay, you can engage in real-world spoken conversations with different characters in the app and through different scenarios such as ordering at a café, going shopping or making plans with friends.
The Memrise chatbot app is an excellent tool for practicing French language skills. It provides prompts and questions, allowing learners to practice their speaking and listening skills.
The app covers various topics, including greetings, daily activities, travel and more, ensuring a comprehensive learning experience.
One of the highlights of the Memrise chatbot is its adaptive nature. Itadjusts the difficulty level based on the learner’s proficiency and progress. This ensures that users are consistently challenged without feeling overwhelmed. The app also provides instant feedback on pronunciation and grammar, helping learners identify areas for improvement.
Moreover, the Memrise chatbot integrates multimedia elements, such as images and audio, to enhance comprehension and retention. It offers a gamified learning experience, making language practice enjoyable and engaging.
The Babbel chatbot provides an interactive and conversational learning experience. It allows you to practice French by engaging in text-based conversations with the bot.
The chatbot presents various language scenarios, such as ordering food or making travel arrangements, and guides you through the dialogue with prompts and suggestions.
Using the Babbel chatbot, you can improve your grammar, vocabulary and conversational skills. It provides instant feedback on your responses, helping you understand and correct any mistakes. It also offers personalized learning paths based on your skill level and learning goals.
Available through the Babbel app, the chatbot provides a convenient and flexible way to practice French at your own pace and in your preferred learning environment.
With the Rosetta Stone chatbot, you can engage in conversational exercises and improve your French skills with a well-known language learning program.
Through text-based conversations, you can practice your writing and comprehension abilities while receiving instant feedback.
The chatbot presents a range of scenarios and prompts users with questions or statements in French. You can respond using written text, and the chatbot analyzes your answers for accuracy and provides helpful suggestions for improvement. This allows you to develop your grammar, vocabulary and overall language proficiency.
The Rosetta Stone chatbot can help you to enhance your French language abilities through engaging and interactive conversations, ultimately enabling you to communicate more effectively in French-speaking contexts. And it’s available through the Rosetta Stone app, so you can chat on the go.
Jam is a French-language chatbot created by a student, Marjolaine Grondin. It’s a little different from the other chatbots on this list since it was designed for use by native speakers.
The bot operates through Facebook Messenger. It’s designed to be a cool, culturally-savvy and even humorous virtual buddy. It picks daily topics from the media to discuss, asks fun and motivational questions and even offers some games and quizzes.
Jam will toss some topic ideas your way—everything from Ethiopian politics to freelance work to ice cream. You can also choose what time Jam will message you, which is perfect for adding some routine French conversation practice into your day.
Since Jam is designed for native speakers, a strong level of French comprehension is needed to get the most out of it. However, Jam will suggest answers to its questions, so you won’t totally lose the thread of the conversation.
Why Use a French Chatbot?
French chatbots act as virtual francophone buddies that we can practice our (less-than-perfect) French speech on. Here are just a few of the benefits of using this type of modern language learning tool:
You can practice without judgment. Practicing with a chatbot can help relieve the anxiety of making mistakes and get you comfortable communicating in French until you are ready to try it with a real person. And many of them will even help you identify and correct your mistakes so you can catch bad habits before they start.
French chatbots are extremely convenient. You can open one of these apps and start talking with a chatbot whenever you find yourself with some spare time. No prior notice or coordination needed!
These chatbots cover a range of French learning needs. Not all chatbots are made the same! Some are specifically designed to teach you French with a focus on themed vocabulary, conversation skills and more. Others are designed for native French speakers but can be put to great use for natural language practice.
Add a French language chatbot to your language learning tool belt and make learning a bit more fun and intuitive.
With some practice, you’ll soon be ready to graduate to real French conversations with living, breathing native speakers!
If you like learning French at your own pace and from the comfort of your device, I have to tell you about FluentU.
FluentU makes it easier (and way more fun) to learn French by making real content like movies and series accessible to learners. You can check out FluentU's curated video library, or bring our learning tools directly to Netflix or YouTube with the FluentU Chrome extension.
One of the features I find most helpful is the interactive captions—you can tap on any word to see its meaning, an image, pronunciation, and other examples from different contexts. It’s a great way to pick up French vocab without having to pause and look things up separately.
FluentU also helps reinforce what you’ve learned with personalized quizzes. You can swipe through extra examples and complete engaging exercises that adapt to your progress. You'll get extra practice with the words you find more challenging and even be reminded you when it’s time to review!
