Specialist Language Courses

Review of the Language Learning App “Babbel”

Babbel
Share This Post

In our blog, we presented the advantages and disadvantages of learning a new language via Mobile Apps. If you are thinking about starting a course with an app but you don’t know which app to choose you are in the right place.

One of the leading Mobile Apps for language learning is Babbel. They deliver language courses completely online, both on their website and as an app. According to “Fast Company Magazine” Babbel is the most innovative education company worldwide, the 48th most innovative company overall and in February 2016 Babbel reached one million active paying customers.

How does Babble work?

  1. You can download the App for free
  2. You can choose between 14 different languages: Besides the common languages like English, French, German, Italian and Spanish you can also learn Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Dutch, Indonesian, Danish or Norwegian.
  3. Each lesson is made up of the following:
    • New vocabulary words
    • A dialogue
    • Grammar instruction
    • Review and drilling of what you’ve learned
  4. Each lesson takes about 10 to 15 minutes to complete
  5. There is a Review Manager – A bank of the vocabulary you have learned so far. It’s very effective in committing words to your long-term memory.

Pros

Babbel works with a lot of appealing pictures which help you to remember vocabulary and sentences.

Good overview of your progress, different tasks and other options.

The layout and the design is very pleasant and appealing.

All the things you learn are spoken out loud.

Beginners, middle school courses, grammar, business English, speak and listening, read and writing, country and people, extras, words and phrases.

Downloading the app is for free.

Cons

At the beginning there is no information about how the course is structured (e.g. How many questions? different tasks?).

You only have access to one section to begin with. If you want to have access to further tasks you need to subscribe – you can choose between 1,3,6 or 12 months. 10 – 5£ per month.

Some apps are set up like a game, while Babbel is set up more like traditional instruction and can become a little repetitive after a while.

Conclusion

I think if you’re a serious language learner, Babbel is great. What convinced me the most was the wide range of topics as well as the great visualisation – the use of photos really helps you to remember what you have learned. However, Babbel can’t replace a “real” language school and especially for beginners I would recommend to using Babbel in combination with a teacher-led language course. Babbel works best for beginner to elementary level learners. If you are an advanced learner, you will not find much to stimulate you as the course is based mainly on vocabulary building in simple scenarios.

About the author

Jule Kirchner is a 19 year-old German high school graduate. She is currently working as an intern at SLC for three months. Jule loves learning languages and likes to test the various ways how to do so.

Are you a student looking for Medical English courses?

SLC’s ground-breaking online Medical English courses gives you the language you need to work, study and collaborate in an English-speaking environment.

Just click on the course and start your Medical English preparation!

FREE Medical English materials for teachers

In Specialist Language Courses we offer free lesson plans to teachers so they can have the best materials to teach their students about Medical English.

You can subscribe to our newsletter where you will receive monthly email with the latest materials that SLC offers for free.

Medical English courses for teaching

We also offer the latest in online medical English resources and materials to transform your teaching programmes and accelerate your students’ learning.

Teachers and institutions use the courses in multiple ways – as digital coursebooks, as supplementary learning, and as part of a flipped classroom approach. We can advise you how to integrate the materials to meet your objectives.

Interested in using our courses? Click here:

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get updates and get the latest materials on Medical English, OET and IELTS

More to explore