If you are on the lookout for a companion who will help you in translating French on the go, look no further than your smartphone which can help you with all your translation needs. There are apps out there for everyone and every need, someone wanting to watch a French movie, converse with a native French speaker, or someone traveling to the country. Here's a list of 5 apps that you can use either standalone or in combination

Takeeasy:

The Takeeasy app comes with a unique mix of text, audio, and picture translation. Not only does it offer translations, but it also helps you in finding the right restaurants, shops, and affordable houses in your vicinity, that is it doubles up as a translation app and a tour guide. The most unique feature of this app is it takes the inputs of real people to give you a personalized translation. Takeeasy offers a free trial but the service is paid. The charges are $1.99 / minute 

Triplingo:

Triplingo is a great app that provides options of over 2,000 phrases per language that include formal, casual ones, and colloquialisms. Besides translation, it helps you in putting the best foot forward with its cultural guide which familiarizes you with basic etiquette and cultural intricacies   

The icing on the cake is the app's Wi-Fi dialler that helps you save money on international calls. Other noteworthy features include a tip calculator and safety tools such as medical cheat sheets. 

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Jiggibo:

French spellings are hard to get right, given that the final consonants are pronounced only under certain conditions. The Jiggibo app is here to help. If you come across a new word, simply speak into Jiggibo which is a voice translation app, you will get the complete translation and get to know how the word is written as well. This app works well for both words and simple sentences. Another plus point is the fact it works offline as well, so you can put your data worries at ease.

Google Translate:

This is the first app that comes to mind when you think translations and it is surprising and wonderful to see that Google Translate has improved by leaps and bounds over the years. Google Translate comes with a text-to-speech feature and can also identify and translate text from an image of handwritten notes. It supports offline translations in many languages as well.

WordReference:

The best thing about this app is a popular forum of native speakers which is involved in improving the experience for you. However, if you are looking for professional translation services, check out this list by TranslationReport. The best feature of Wordreference is the fact that the phrases are not translated literally which makes it ideal for idiomatic expressions and slang. The downside to this app is that it does not have an option for direct translation of full sentences.    

This list is not a final word on the best apps to learn French but a great place to start as you set on your journey to explore the land, language, culture, and people of L'hexagone