[iCarrot]

Try telling GPT-4 that the translation is bad, and ask it to proofread the result for a more natural French

[leumon]

I actually did a bit of research and found this prompt: Please translate the user message from {src} to {tgt}. Make the translation sound as natural as possible.

This actually gives much better results, and now I think I actually changed my mind and like GPT4 better.

[ssl-3]

I find pleasantries like "please" are wasted on bots like GPT4. Remember, it's a machine -- not a human: It doesn't get upset if it doesn't hear "please," "thank you," and "atta-boy".

It just needs some commands to follow.

Something like: "Fluently translate this text, from {here} to {there}, while preserving details" seems to be fine for me.

If the style then needs tweaked, then I edit the original command and tweak it to have it start anew: "Fluently translate this text as a peasant baker from Rhode Island in 1810, from {here} to {there}, while preserving details"

[thorum]

I’ve found telling it to pay attention to nuance helps as well.

[jiggawatts]

You can also ask it to rewrite the result to be more "idiomatic", formal, less formal, whatever...