The research group OpenAI has been working on a lanugage model called GPT for several years now, and it has demonstrated some pretty impressive tricks. But they have a new interactive version available, called ChatGPT. It's really alarmingly clever, even more so than DeepL's translator in some ways. Here are some conversations that I had with it:
emk wrote:You are a French student taking le Bac, and you see the following question:
Sujet C
Œuvre: Guillaume Apollinaire, Alcools
Parcours: modernité poétique?
La poésie d’Apollinaire est-elle une célébration de la modernité?Vous répondrez à cette question dans un développement organisé en vous appuyant sur Alcools, sur les textes que vous avez étudiés dans le cadre du parcours associé, et sur votre culture personnelle.
Réponse:
The system responds with:
ChatGPT wrote:La poésie d'Apollinaire est un reflet de la modernité de son époque. Dans Alcools, il célèbre la ville de Paris, les nouvelles technologies et les événements historiques qui ont marqué son temps, comme la Première Guerre mondiale. En utilisant des formes poétiques innovantes, comme le vers libre, il exprime l'esprit de modernité de son époque et capture l'essence de la vie urbaine.
Dans les textes que j'ai étudiés dans le cadre du parcours de modernité poétique, j'ai pu voir comment Apollinaire s'inscrit dans la tradition de la poésie moderne en cherchant à renouveler les formes et les sujets de la poésie. Ses poèmes reflètent une préoccupation pour l'individualisme, la liberté et l'innovation, des thèmes qui sont importants pour la modernité.
Enfin, ma culture personnelle me permet de comprendre comment Apollinaire s'inspire des événements et des idées de son époque pour créer une poésie qui célèbre la modernité. Son œuvre reflète la volonté de briser les conventions et de s'engager dans de nouvelles formes d'expression, un esprit qui caractérise la modernité en général.
My wife read that and she said, "Yup, that's about what you'd expect students to answer on the Bac." It carefully addresses the 3 parts of the original question. It BSes a bit and repeats itself, but in a way the eerily resembles a real student.
This is not a translation AI. It just tries to respond to questions in a plausible way. But if you just ask it to translate, it actually makes an attempt:
emk wrote:Here is a short text in English:
> The U.S. Met Expectations in the Group Stage. Now, It Hopes to Exceed Them.
>
> The Americans face the Dutch as underdogs Saturday. But as the U.S. captain, Tyler Adams, said about this World Cup, “A lot of teams that might be underdogs in these games have come out on top.”
Can you translate this text into French and Spanish and German?
ChatGPT wrote:Sure, here are the translations:
French:
> Les États-Unis ont atteint les attentes lors de la phase de groupes. Maintenant, ils espèrent les dépasser.
> Les Américains affrontent les Pays-Bas en tant que sous-estimés samedi. Mais comme l'a dit le capitaine des États-Unis, Tyler Adams, à propos de cette Coupe du monde, "beaucoup d'équipes considérées comme des sous-estimées dans ces matchs ont réussi à sortir vainqueur".
Spanish:
> Los Estados Unidos cumplieron con las expectativas en la fase de grupos. Ahora, esperan superarlas.
> Los estadounidenses enfrentan a los holandeses como perdedores el sábado. Pero como dijo el capitán de Estados Unidos, Tyler Adams, sobre este mundial, "muchos equipos que podrían ser perdedores en estos juegos han salido victoriosos".
German:
> Die USA haben im Gruppenphase die Erwartungen erfüllt. Jetzt hoffen sie, sie zu übertreffen.
> Die Amerikaner treffen am Samstag als Underdogs auf die Niederlande. Aber wie der US-Kapitän Tyler Adams über diese Weltmeisterschaft sagte: "Viele Mannschaften, die in diesen Spielen als Underdogs gelten, haben sich als Sieger hervorgetan".
The French translation is adequate, certainly competitive with where Google Translate was a couple of years ago. But GPT does far more things than translate (and answer Bac questions). It will even answer grammar questions:
emk wrote:When do I use the subjunctive in French? Please include examples, with explanations.
ChatGPT wrote:The subjunctive mood is used in French to express various states of unreality such as doubt, wish, possibility, necessity, and judgment. It is typically used in subordinate clauses that begin with the word "que" or the relative pronoun "qui". Here are some examples of the subjunctive in French, along with explanations of why the subjunctive is used in each sentence:As you can see, the subjunctive is used in French to express various states of unreality. It is typically used in subordinate clauses that begin with the word "que" or the relative pronoun "qui".
- Il est important que tu sois à l'heure. (It's important that you be on time.) In this sentence, the subjunctive is used to express a necessity or requirement.
- J'aimerais que tu viennes avec moi. (I would like for you to come with me.) In this sentence, the subjunctive is used to express a wish or desire.
- Je doute qu'il soit capable de le faire. (I doubt that he is capable of doing it.) In this sentence, the subjunctive is used to express doubt or disbelief.
- Il est possible que nous ayons un problème. (It's possible that we have a problem.) In this sentence, the subjunctive is used to express a possibility.
- Il est évident que tu aies raison. (It's evident that you are right.) In this sentence, the subjunctive is used to express a judgment or opinion.
This appears generally correct (I didn't double-check everything). But it's incomplete. So I asked for more examples:
emk wrote:What are some other constructs besides "que" and "qui" that require the subjunctive in French?
ChatGPT wrote:In addition to the word "que" and the relative pronoun "qui", there are several other words and phrases that can trigger the use of the subjunctive in French. Here are some examples:These words and phrases are often followed by a subordinate clause that contains the subjunctive verb form. For example:
- Bien que (although)
- À condition que (provided that)
- À moins que (unless)
- Dès que (as soon as)
- Jusqu'à ce que (until)
- Pour que (so that)
- Quoi que (whatever)
As you can see, these words and phrases can trigger the use of the subjunctive in French, often in a subordinate clause that follows the main clause.
- Bien que nous soyons en retard, nous devons partir maintenant. (Although we are late, we must leave now.)
- À condition que tu travailles dur, tu réussiras. (Provided that you work hard, you will succeed.)
- À moins que tu ne viennes avec nous, nous partirons sans toi. (Unless you come with us, we will leave without you.)
- Dès que tu auras fini, tu pourras partir. (As soon as you have finished, you can leave.)
- Jusqu'à ce qu'il pleuve, nous resterons dehors. (Until it rains, we will stay outside.)
- Pour que tu comprennes, je vais expliquer de nouveau. (So that you understand, I will explain again.)
- Quoi que tu décides, je te soutiendrai. (Whatever you decide, I will support you.)
Let me be honest: I'm impressed. It does make occasional mistakes, including a couple above. But in general, it rarely outright plagiarizes texts that are known to Google. And of course, it's limited to internet conventional wisdom. But its knowledge of internet conventional wisdom is incredibly vast.
You can often coax better answers out of it by giving it a few examples of what you want, and then asking for more examples. Treat it like a hardworking research assistant who needs tasks spelled out clearly, and it will generally succeed.
You can play with it here. I suspect there are some clever ways this could help language learners