To Travel vs Travailler is a False Friend that does work too hard!
Last week, my student Sue (yes, another American adventurer learning French with me online!) smiled and said with confidence: “J’aime travailler en France.”
Now, as a French teacher, I knew exactly what she meant. She wanted to say: “I love travelling in France.”
But in French, what she actually declared was: “I love working in France.”
Cue the mental image: not of sipping wine in Provence or taking the TGV to Bordeaux, but of her happily typing away in a Parisian office from 9 to 5. Très différent, non?
Welcome to the delightful world of false friends.
The truth about to travel ✈️
The correct French verb for “to travel” is voyager.
It’s the word you need for movement, exploration, new places, new stamps in your passport.
- J’adore voyager dans les Alpes.
→ I love travelling in the Alps. - Nous avons beaucoup voyagé cet été.
→ We travelled a lot this summer. - Elle veut voyager autour du monde.
→ She wants to travel around the world.
If you’re talking about planes, trains, and automobiles — and the thrill of seeing somewhere new — voyager is your go-to word.
The truth about travailler 💼
The verb travailler means to work. Yes, the opposite of holiday.
The exact activity you probably don’t want to be doing on your trip to France.
- Je travaille à Paris dans une banque.
→ I work in Paris in a bank. - Tu travailles trop !
→ You work too much! - Ils travaillent le week-end.
→ They work on weekends.
So if you proudly tell a French person, “J’aime travailler en France,” they won’t imagine you roaming vineyards in Burgundy.
They’ll think you genuinely love filling out French administrative paperwork. (And let’s be honest, nobody loves that.)
To travel vs Travailler: Quick cheat sheet
To travel vs Travailler Funny mix-ups
- ❌ Je veux travailler dans les montagnes cet été.
→ You’ve just declared you want a summer job as a shepherd. - ✅ Je veux voyager dans les montagnes cet été.
→ You mean you want to travel in the mountains.
- ❌ Mon rêve est de travailler en Italie.
→ Your dream is now to get a desk job in Rome. - ✅ Mon rêve est de voyager en Italie.
→ Your dream is to travel through Italy. (Much better!)
- ❌ Il travaille beaucoup depuis janvier.
→ You think he’s been travelling a lot since January… - ✅ Il voyage beaucoup depuis janvier.
→ He’s been travelling a lot since January.
To travel vs Travailler: The moral of the story
If you’re dreaming of movement, trains, flights, and adventures, use voyager.
If you’re dreaming of spreadsheets, deadlines, and office coffee, use travailler.
And as for me? Well, I seem to be doing both when I stay in France: I travaille (writing, teaching, filming)… but I also voyage between mountain peaks.
So maybe, just maybe, this false friend is the truest description of my life. 😉
