Issue of translation

Question

I have reported this beforehand, which might have been the wrong thing to do before posting to the Q&A Forum, but it seems my point was missed by the person responding to the report, so I'll try to see if this is a better place for a more fluid conversation.

I'm not a native speaker of either English(though my proficiency level is definitely not low) or French(not so good with this one yet), but it seems to me that both *I'm going to go* and *I will go* can be used for immediate future (whatever ''planning'' arrangements might be), and it's rather ambiguous in the french sentence to deduce that *am going to go* should be used over *will go*, thus to me it would seem that both variants should be accepted as viable answers.

I would be glad if somebody could clear up why one is acceptable, and the other is not.

Thank you.

Answer

Generally speaking, when you see the future written as aller (conjugated) + another verb (infinitive), it is translated "going to _____" and when you see just the future tense using one verb only, it is translated "will _____".  Example:  Je vais
finir mes devoirs après cette émission.  (I'm going to finish my homework after this program.)

Je
finirai mes devoirs après cette émission. (I will finish my homework after this program.)Hope that helps!

Answer

''Generally'', to me, seems like a term ambiguous enough to accept both answers. For one, kwiziq gladly translates le présent used in future meaning as a ''will'' form. Also, https://context.reverso.net/translation/french-english/je+vais clearly suggests « je vais » is more often translated as « I will » rather than « I'm going to ». Lastly, just the fact that there's some confusion (not only by me, see the previous point) would show that the translation can be ambiguous and should be accepted as one or the other, or both. The point is, translating « Je vais » as « I will » Is Not Objectively Wrong.

Answer

It is not incorrect insofar as people tend to interchange the two in everyday speech, both in English and French.  But if you want to be grammatically correct (which is necessary in answering quiz questions which are trying to teach language distinctions), you will translate aller + inf. with "going to ___" and the one-verb future form with "will ___."   Je vais on its own translates to "I go/I"m going," not "I will."  It is only when followed by another verb that it indicates a future event.  If I were given the sentence "Je vais nager." and asked to translate it, I would say, "I'm going to swim."   I would translate, "Je nagerai." as "I will swim."  You don't have to agree with the distinction, but it does exist.  :)