Speaker (French)
Bonjour, je peux vous renseigner ?
Здравствуйте, я могу вам помочь?
Bonjour Привет
Live translation
French ↔ Russian
through one pair of earbuds.
Share an earbud. Pick French and Russian. Each of you hears the other in your own language, live.
A sample exchange
Three turns between French and Russian, the way they'd actually go. Each card shows the original line above the translation.
Speaker (Russian)
Да, я ищу подарок для мамы, что-нибудь типично парижское.
Oui, je cherche un cadeau pour ma mère, quelque chose de typiquement parisien.
Speaker (French)
Très bon choix. Venez, je vous montre nos foulards en soie.
Отличный выбор. Пойдёмте, я покажу вам наши шёлковые платки.
What metcha supports for this pair
| French | Russian | |
|---|---|---|
| Apple on-device translation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Deepgram cloud STT | ✓ | ✓ |
| iOS built-in voices | ✓ | ✓ |
| ElevenLabs premium voices (Plus) | 4 voices | 2 voices |
| Voice cloning (Plus, your voice) | ✓ | ✓ |
Why metcha for this pair
French and Russian have a long shared history: French was the salon language of the Russian aristocracy for over a century, and modern Russian still carries French loanwords like тротуар and абажур. Today the traffic mostly runs the other way, Russian-speaking visitors in Paris boutiques, museums, and hotels. Both languages keep a firm formal register (vous and вы), and metcha's Better Translation path on metcha Plus translates the pair directly instead of detouring through English.
Common phrases
Hand-picked phrases for everyday Russian-speaking situations. In metcha you don't need to memorize these — but they're useful to anchor what the app sounds like before you try it.
- Greeting
-
French: Bonjour, enchanté.
Russian: Здравствуйте, очень приятно.
- Thank you
-
French: Merci beaucoup.
Russian: Большое спасибо.
- Apology
-
French: Désolé, je ne comprends pas.
Russian: Извините, я не понимаю.
- Directions
-
French: Où se trouve le musée d'Orsay ?
Russian: Где находится музей Орсе?
- Café
-
French: Un café et un croissant, s'il vous plaît.
Russian: Кофе и круассан, пожалуйста.
- Allergy
-
French: Je suis allergique aux arachides.
Russian: У меня аллергия на арахис.
- Bill
-
French: L'addition, s'il vous plaît.
Russian: Счёт, пожалуйста.
- Museum
-
French: Deux billets, s'il vous plaît.
Russian: Два билета, пожалуйста.
- Hotel
-
French: J'ai une réservation.
Russian: У меня забронирован номер.
- Help
-
French: Pouvez-vous m'aider, s'il vous plaît ?
Russian: Вы не могли бы мне помочь?
Where you'd use it
- Russian-speaking visitors in Paris, from the Louvre to the department stores See the Paris guide →
- Boutiques and luxury retail serving international shoppers
- Museum ticket desks and guided tours
- Hotels welcoming Russian-speaking guests For hotels →
Common questions
- Does metcha translate Russian to French as well as French to Russian?
- Yes, both directions run in the same session. When someone speaks French, the other person hears it in Russian; when they reply in Russian, you hear it in French. There is no direction to configure and no turn-taking button. See how it works for the full walkthrough.
- Is French ↔ Russian translation in metcha on-device or cloud?
- Both. metcha's free tier uses Apple's on-device Translation framework where supported (available for both French and Russian). metcha Plus optionally routes through a Better Translation cloud path for more natural phrasing, with a quiet fallback to the on-device path when the network is slow.
- Do I need both AirPods to use metcha for French and Russian?
- No. The simplest mode is one earbud each — you keep one, the other person keeps the other. metcha handles both directions through that single shared pair. If you'd rather both wear your own earbuds, you can pair a second phone in seconds via a QR code (still no app install for the other person).
- What about regional accents within Russian?
- metcha's Deepgram STT path handles major regional variants of Russian robustly. The on-device path is more sensitive to accent — if you find the free path missing words, switching to the metcha Plus cloud STT usually fixes it without changing anything else about the conversation.
- Does it work without internet?
- The free on-device path works fully offline once the relevant Apple Translation language packs are downloaded. metcha Plus features that depend on Deepgram, Better Translation, or ElevenLabs voices need a network connection.
- How many voices does metcha ship for Russian?
- 2 curated native-Russian voices on metcha Plus, plus all iOS built-in voices on the free tier (and any Enhanced or Premium voices you've installed in Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content).
- Are conversations private?
- metcha does not store conversations on our servers, and none of our providers retain audio for training. The free on-device path never sends audio off your phone at all. See the privacy policy for the full data-handling story.