Babbel is a great app for anyone just starting a new language, with content that can provide a solid foundation for later learning. However, the app is limited in its scope, not offering much for intermediate and advanced learners, despite its promises to teach “language for life.”
User friendliness - 9/10
9/10
Delivers on promises - 8/10
8/10
Authenticity - 8/10
8/10
Value for price - 6/10
6/10
Pros
Teaches applicable, useful conversational language
Lessons build upon previous knowledge
Includes language tips within lessons about grammar, formality, sentence structure, etc.
Cons
Limited language choice, considering the age of the app
Doesn’t offer much for intermediate or advanced learners
Not enough variety in exercise format
Lets users skip entire sections, which can be a problem when lessons build on previous lessons
First launched in 2007, Babbel bears the title of being the world’s first language learning app.
With lessons developed by a team of experienced linguists, Babbel focuses on practical language. Rather than just teaching vocabulary, it also focuses on words and phrases you’d use in real-life situations.
Currently, Babbel has lessons available in 14 languages: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Indonesian, Polish and English.
I used Babbel for about a week and overall found it to be quite a nifty little learning resource. At the end of my trial run, I can safely say that a beginner learner would likely learn a lot of foundational material from using only Babbel.
Similar to many other users of Babbel, I appreciated the lesson format and content, but the learning experience was a bit dry and in need of some vigor.
The reviewer in the below video gives a pretty good description of what you can expect from the basic Babbel program.
Babbel’s Features
Babbel has a mix of core features such as speech recognition, progress checks and a review section. There’s also bonus content like live classes, Babbel Magazine and podcasts. Read on to dive into these in detail and see how Babbel actually works.
The Core Aspects
Babbel’s lessons are roughly 10 to 15 minutes in length. Each lesson features both text and audio of the vocabulary you’ll learn.
Exercises are primarily of the “fill-in-the-blank” format, asking you to provide the appropriate word or translation. There are also questions where you have to listen to sound clips and others that ask you for translations.
Babbel has a speech recognition system too that allows verbal responses. This is optional, however, so you can choose not to have your lessons in this format.
You can easily check your progress either per lesson or weekly. A percentage will let you know how much of a lesson you’ve completed. If you’ve set any weekly goals, Babbel gives you an overview of how you’re doing at meeting them.
There’s also a separate review section that lets you revisit what you’ve learned. Review exercises are available in a variety of formats, including writing, speaking, listening and so forth. There are even mini-games that let you practice vocabulary in a more cute, stylized manner.
Bonus Content
Besides its main learning program, Babbel offers a few extra resources for those who want to further their learning.
Live Classes
Babbel Live is a service that lets you take live classes with language instructors. After paying for a plan, you sign up for the class that suits your needs and schedule. You then join the class at the assigned time and get personalized instruction from your teacher.
Podcasts and Magazine
Besides these classes, Babbel also offers language podcasts and a magazine website that features helpful blog posts for learners. The podcasts are available on the app, but you can also find them on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Culture Bites
Aside from its language lessons, Babbel added an interesting section on “Culture Bites,” which consists of short videos about cultural facts. For example, depending on the language, you might find out more about popular food, holidays and major figures such as writers and artists.
These are mostly in English, but they’re fun to watch, and they deepen your appreciation of the language. You can even use what you’ve learned as conversation topics with native speakers!
2-Minute Stories
For more variety, Babbel also has a nifty feature called “2-Minute Stories.” These are short stories that teach you how to use conversational phrases naturally, and they’re set in common real-life settings, such as in the office or while shopping.
Since they’re only a quick read and they’re mostly in English, they work well for beginners, which seems to be Babbel’s target audience. They’re meant for passive learning, though, so you won’t get tested on them after.
How It Works
As soon as you make an account with Babbel and pick your language of choice, you get to start your lessons. For the purpose of this review, I chose German. It’s a language I’ve had school-based instruction in, and I wanted to gauge how Babbel would organize the language into level-based lessons.
In the German version, the lessons are split into newcomer, beginner and intermediate levels. There’s also an “independent” course following the intermediate one that pushes a few lessons and concepts just a bit further.
The curriculum isn’t “locked” so you can skip around different lessons and courses as you wish. This is in contrast to a few other language learning apps that won’t let you proceed until you complete your current lesson or topic.
Each lesson will focus on a certain concept or vocabulary, which you’ll learn via exercises. These exercises consist of text, audio and images and will train you in a select few words and phrases. The lessons mainly focus on different day-to-day situations such as dining, eating and describing future actions.
For extra practice, you can take advantage of the review system. Babbel has its own dedicated “Review” section that lets you work on any problem spots. The review system utilizes spaced repetition, an effective learning tool based on timed intervals, that helps you focus on the vocabulary you need to practice.
You can do so while practicing your reading, writing, speaking or listening skills. Alternatively, you can get some vocabulary training done with some cute mini-games!
Babbel’s Cost: The Pricing System
Babbel doesn’t offer a free trial. However, registration and the first lesson of any course are free. After that, you’ll be expected to sign up for a paid plan.
Babbel offers monthly subscriptions. Currently, the offered plans are for six months, 12 months or a one-off lifetime payment option. The cheapest monthly rate is the 12-month option (paid all at once), which is $7.45 per month.
What’s important to know is that the plan is per language. If you want to learn two languages with Babbel, for example, then you have to pay for two separate subscriptions.
This can be inconvenient (and pricey) compared to other language learning programs, where you can switch between languages with the same subscription:
If you’re planning to learn only one language for a while, though, then Babbel’s price is comparable to these other apps.
The Pros of Babbel
Teaches applicable, usable language
Babbel’s exercises let you encounter language without overwhelming frills. In fact, the vocabulary is used in a realistic manner, so what you learn can be used pretty quickly in real-life scenarios.
This is best expressed in the conversation snippets in each lesson. They present two speakers using what you’ve just learned in a normal, casual context. It was during these exercises that I was the most engaged and alert, as I was seeing the material actually being used in action.
This is a great advantage that Babbel has, as many existing language learning apps tend to focus on isolated vocabulary as opposed to usable phrases. This strength could be further amplified if a bit of cultural context was included as well.
Lessons build upon previous knowledge
Babbel’s curriculum is designed to have a logical flow of progression. You start with very basic phrases and words before moving on to more involved conversation and sentences.
From learning how to introduce yourself to describing your activities, Babbel makes sure that you’re climbing a structurally sound ladder of language.
The lessons are organized in a sensible way, so I never felt that I was getting hit with curveball questions or that the vocabulary was becoming level-inappropriate.
And you’re not going to forget the material you learn in earlier lessons, either. You’re guaranteed to encounter them again while balancing the new content of your current lesson.
This kind of format made my learning experience both comfortable and stable. Even as I progressed to the next level, the lessons were still inlaid with familiar territory regardless of the new concepts or vocabulary.
Includes language tips within lessons
One of Babbel’s best features is the inclusion of tips that are related to what you’re learning. These talk about grammar, formality, sentence order and so on.
As simple and brief as these tips are, they’re great additions that can build your utility of a language. I’d even say they’re critical to helping build confidence in language learners, but unfortunately, they’re not as common in other language learning apps.
This feature is a personal favorite of mine. It was always a nice surprise to see a note giving me just a few more nuggets of information regarding how the German language could be molded and shifted about.
The Cons of Babbel
Limited language choice
At the moment, Babbel only offers 14 languages, and most of these are European. This low number may decrease the number of users who would want to use Babbel.
While 14 is a fairly standard number of languages, I point this out specifically because of Babbel’s lifespan on the app market. After all these years, I (and probably others) would expect that Babbel would have a more varied and extensive list of languages offered.
Of course, this may be due to a number of limiting factors. A great deal of time and effort was likely spent on each of the language courses. However, I hope that Babbel is working to bump up their roster so that they can reach a great deal more learners.
Doesn’t offer much for advanced learners
Currently, Babbel’s lessons end at the intermediate level. This means that more advanced (or even high-intermediate) learners who want to add to their existing knowledge will likely not see Babbel as the best resource.
At most, high-level learners may use Babbel for review purposes. However, this too would be limited since much of the attention is on beginner-level material.
Based on other user reviews, some of the languages may have less content overall than others. This imbalance can negatively affect not just advanced learners, but learners of other levels as well.
Speaking from my own experience with the German course, I think that even the final intermediate course was still a bit too simple. It also felt rather short. While the progression of material was reasonable, I didn’t feel that there was a noticeable or satisfying step-up in difficulty from the lower-level material.
Exercises can be somewhat dry
Unlike a few other popular language learning apps, Babbel isn’t very game-like in format. I wouldn’t say it’s incredibly entertaining to use, but that was fine by me. Regardless, I did wish that the lesson exercises were a tad more engaging. While thorough, Babbel’s lessons and exercises can become rather rote over time.
This is primarily because the overall exercise format isn’t varied in style. Oftentimes, the answers are the same inputs. The questions also don’t change much. I personally got a bit tired of the repetitive nature of my studies, even though I can agree that they can quicken vocabulary memorization.
However, Babbel might benefit from a bit more excitement and variety in their lessons. One way to do so is, perhaps, by incorporating more multimedia features. Videos can be a nice addition to make the lessons and exercises more interactive.
Too flexible with the levels
Although I found the lessons organized, I was able to move about the different levels, and I’m a bit iffy about this allowance. It can be a dangerous kind of freedom for new learners who may overestimate their skills or are too impatient to learn the basics.
While Babbel does include comprehensive quizzes at the end of each level, I was able to skip them entirely, so I think a stricter barrier should be implemented to halt those who haven’t yet proved their prowess. That way, the learning experience won’t feel disorganized.
Comparing Babbel to Other Language Apps
Duolingo
Naturally, the biggest distinction between Babbel and Duolingo that learners would immediately notice is Duolingo’s lack of a price tag.
Indeed, you could download the basic version of Duolingo and start perusing multiple languages instantly. This is a huge selling point that Babbel currently can’t compete against, especially for the money-wise learner.
Duolingo also seems to have more lesson units with game-like exercises. They’re organized in a tree that becomes more accessible the more units you complete.
However, quantity doesn’t always mean quality, and Babbel’s lessons appear more topically comprehensive than Duolingo’s. Babbel makes it a point to focus on authentic context, whereas Duolingo seems more intent to make you memorize words and phrases in isolation.
Additionally, Babbel’s content is more realistic. Duolingo has a habit of using strange but amusing sentences to help you learn vocabulary, though they’re not especially helpful for real-life usage. Babbel, on the other hand, goes out of its way to provide dialogue exercises and usage tips that focus on how to speak more naturally.
FluentU is an immersive language learning program that uses native media to teach languages.
That’s where it differs from Babbel: FluentU’s focus on authentic videos lets learners see their target language used naturally, allowing them to learn from context.
On top of this, FluentU adds learning features to its videos, like interactive subtitles. Hover over a word for a brief translation or click on it for an in-depth definition with example sentences, audio pronunciations and video clips with the word in use:
The program has a vast collection of media clips in 10 languages, from music videos, TV shows and many other videos that native speakers actually watch.
Unlike Babbel, FluentU’s exercises are adaptive, changing to target your weaknesses. It uses personalized quizzes, accurate transcripts, vocabulary lists and the ability to add any word as a flashcard for later review. The quizzes also include speaking and pronunciation practice, where you’ll have to speak some answers into your phone.
Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone is another major player in the language learning program field. With its decades of prestige, it may already be perceived to be better than Babbel in all aspects. But that’s not truly the case.
Rosetta Stone uses a more “hands-off” teaching approach, letting you learn your target language without much instruction. You primarily learn with picture-based exercises, unlike Babbel’s mostly text-based ones. This can make Rosetta Stone suitable for learners who prefer a more “intuitive” study method.
In terms of the subscription price, Babbel is slightly cheaper than Rosetta Stone, but the catch is that Rosetta Stone lets you learn several languages with only one subscription.
Unlike Babbel, Rosetta Stone barely discusses grammar or context. This might be nice for learners who don’t enjoy studying such technical aspects, but it’s frankly a downside that can work against true language prowess.
Drops
Let’s compare Babbel with a more recent, yet quite popular, addition to the language learning scene: Drops.
Offered in over 45 languages, Drops is a free minimalist-style app that provides daily five-minute language lessons split into categories. So while Babbel’s lessons aren’t exactly lengthy, they can feel quite long compared to Drops’.
Babbel’s exercises are quite text-heavy, while Drops’ exercises appeal more to visual learners since they involve associating pictures with vocabulary. Drops’ lessons also run by much quicker than Babbel’s, with a five-minute time limit.
Drops focuses on isolated words and vocabulary (plus their pronunciations), but doesn’t discuss grammar at all. It doesn’t really provide instruction on anything besides words and letters, to the point that the app feels bare-bones at times. Again, Babbel wins by providing more technical details of the language.
Babbel is often confused with Busuu since both apps have relatively similar priorities.
They both aim to teach you applicable sentences, phrases and grammar in your target language, their lessons are supplemented with helpful tips and dialogue-based exercises.
The free version of Busuu gives you access to some of the starter lessons in one language. Its most popular paid plan runs you $6.45 a month, which is ever so slightly less than Babbel’s cheapest—and you can study multiple languages too. With the paid plan, you get access to community-based features, grammar lessons and review functions.
Busuu’s exercises aren’t too different from Babbel’s, though they’re organized in a set linear fashion. This means, unlike in Babbel, you can’t skip around Busuu’s lessons.
Busuu also places a stronger emphasis on its community-based features, in which you can interact with other learners or native speakers. Babbel doesn’t seem to have much of its own community, besides its Babbel Live feature that lets you learn from native speakers, but this seems more like a “bonus” feature and comes with its own cost.
Ultimately, Babbel is a great app for those who are just starting a new language. Its content can very likely provide a stable foundation of basic vocabulary and phrases for beginner learners, who can then seek more advanced and comprehensive language instruction.
Unfortunately, Babbel does seem limited in its scope of content and its lesson plans. I find this to be its biggest weak point which can make users vulnerable to a less fulfilling learning experience than expected.
With more content and depth, Babbel could greatly enhance its already strong educational potential. Due to its popularity, I’m certain that more revamps and updates are coming for Babbel, and I’m eager to see how it evolves to live up to the hype.
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