French

French pronunciation runs on rules that are consistent but not always intuitive for English speakers: many letters at the end of a word are silent, vowel combinations produce sounds with no direct English equivalent, and "liaison" links the final consonant of one word to the vowel that starts the next. None of that should stop you from using the phrases below right away. Formal address ("vous") is the safe default with strangers, hotel staff, and servers, and the phrases here are built around it. Nasal vowels, the sounds behind words like "bon" and "un", are the single most useful thing to practice early, since getting them close to right makes a noticeable difference in how easily native speakers understand you. French speakers in tourist-facing roles are generally used to hearing an accent, so do not let imperfect pronunciation stop you from speaking. A hesitant "bonjour" said out loud will get you further than a perfect one you never say.

Phrases like these are a fast way to get functional before a trip, but real fluency comes from responding in the moment, not just recalling a memorized line. PalmSpeak lets you practice these exact situations out loud with an AI conversation partner that responds in French, corrects you gently, and keeps the conversation going past the phrase you rehearsed. Start with the list below, then take it into a real conversation and see how it holds up when the answer back is not the one you expected.