The aim of this paper is to provide examples of activities that use technology to foster interaction and collaboration in classes that are traditionally thought to be text-bound. The two projects I will be discussing were specifically designed for an advanced French class whose primary focus was translation; they brought diversity and dynamism to a class that, by nature, relied heavily on the written word. For the first activity, students were asked to transcribe, translate and dub a scene from a film (from French to English). The dubbing of video clips offered an excellent opportunity to develop the skills of foreign language learners at all linguistic levels (listening, reading, writing, and speaking); it was part of a deeper reflection on spoken French and provided students with valuable information on the target language, culture and society (idioms, habits, manners). The second project, which involved subtitling (from English to French), encouraged students to avoid word for word translations and to focus on meaning. Aside from their motivational value, these multimedia projects provided students with the opportunity to work collaboratively and negotiate meaning in order to achieve grammatical and lexical correctness and render more effectively language registers and style. These activities opened up a wider debate on translation and film (Which is better for foreign language films: dubbing or subtitles? Is it possible to translate cultural references? Can we translate unmatched elements of culture? ), and generated productive work on linguistic and cultural awareness.