1. Duolingo:
Duolingo shares several features with Babbel, and guess what? You are not required to pay for Duolingo unless you want to access additional material.
Duolingo, like Babbel and FluentU, provides a versatile time commitment. However, though Babbel blocks out 10 to15 minutes for each lesson, Duolingo lessons usually last only 5 minutes, making Duolingo ideal if you lack time to devote to Babbel. However, similar to FluentU and Babbel, you can use Duolingo for extended periods anytime you like.
Duolingo also provides practice in listening. You can capture and compare terms and phrases to the audio illustration. However, if you do not wish to talk at the moment, this choice is also accessible.
Duolingo has several sample sentences to assist you with learning terms in detail. Additionally, since terms are often repeated in several instances, you’ll understand how a phrase may be used in multiple contexts.
Duolingo supports over 20 languages, which is more than double the number offered by Babbel. In comparison to Babbel, Duolingo’s primary shortcoming is a lack of sample conversations. However, if lengthy interviews aren’t your thing, Duolingo might be a better fit.
4. FluentU:
FluentU focuses on conversational language and real-world references and the additional benefit of using updated streaming videos—the same content that native speakers watch. How amazing is that?
FluentU transforms everyday videos—such as music videos, film previews, headlines, and inspirational talks—into customized language learning lessons.
Through FluentU, you hear languages in their natural habitats—the way native speakers do. FluentU eliminates the tedious aspects of language learning, leaving you with nothing but entertaining, effective, and productive instruction.
It has already hand-selected the best videos and arranged them by stage and subject for you. To get started, select a video that appeals to you! Each term in the interactive captions is accompanied by a description, an audio clip, a picture, and sample sentences.
Under the Dialogue tab, you can access an interactive transcript of each interview, and under the Vocabulary tab, you can quickly revisit critical terms and phrases from the video.
Via enjoyable questions and drills, you can use FluentU’s unique adaptive quizzes to practice the phrases and vocabulary from the video. Swipe left or right to see other samples of the term you’re currently researching. Additionally, the app keeps track of what you’re studying and notifies you when it’s time to revisit, providing you with a more customized experience.
5. Bliu Bliu:
It is a website-based learning option that shares several characteristics with Babbel, such as a low time commitment and the goal of accelerating your learning. Bliu Bliu recommends that you spend 10 minutes a day studying, close to Babbel’s suggestion. However, you are welcome to continue studying.
Bliu Bliu aims to deliver contextual learning by using real-world information from the internet, enabling you to observe how terms are utilized in real-world contexts.
Additionally, Bliu Bliu, like Babbel, helps to assist you in making fast development. Indeed, Bliu Bliu provides 30-day competitions for those looking to improve their skills fast.
Bliu Bliu supports nine languages officially, but there are trial variants available for thousands more, giving you a more comprehensive range of choices than Babbel.
Bliu Bliu provides a select number of free educational opportunities, including five minutes of regular literacy. However, to use additional features, you must buy a membership.
Commonly Asked Questions for Babbel:
What does Babbel include?
Reading, writing, listening, and speaking are among the skills taught by Babbel. You practice typing in missing words from statements, spelling words and simple phrases, interpreting and reciting words or phrases loudly in the majority of the tasks.
Who can benefit from Babbel?
Babbel’s intended audience seems to be novice language learners who are simply getting started with just a foreign language. Considering that they are providing a software-based learning method, it’s also on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of cost. It’s especially beneficial for those who want to expand their vocabulary and enhance their sentence constructions.
What are the advantages of using Babbel to learn?
Babbel is among the greatest language learning systems on the marketplace, with features such as access to valuable and tough content, beneficial instructive blurbs for genuine beginners, high-quality courses which are specific to each language, podcasts for certain languages, and a low pricing tag.
What is the price of Babbel?
Babbel offers monthly subscription subscriptions starting at $12.95. Whenever you subscribe for several months of membership in advance, the monthly rate drops. 3 months ($26.85), 6 months ($44.70), or even a year ($83.40) are available for purchase. A premium subscription grants you unrestricted access to the language curriculum of your choice through the internet and mobile applications.
Does Babbel offer language-learning podcasts?
There is a distinct category in which you can listen to podcasts whether you are taking a Spanish, French, German, or Italian program. To listen to them, you must first create an account with Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You may listen to native speakers hold discussions, talk to English learners, or share brief narratives in the podcasts, which typically contain just a few episodes each. In addition, there is a podcast with a music collection for beginners in Spanish.
Is there a difference between Babbel and Duolingo when it comes to podcasts?
Babbel, on the other hand, it’s not the only program that offers podcasts. Duolingo offers podcasts for intermediate to advanced Spanish as well as French students. Unlike Babbel’s podcasts, which focus on language, Duolingo’s podcasts offer genuine tales (they are actually short radio broadcasts), and each episode employs a combination of English and the language you’re studying to guide you through the journey. Duolingo also includes a feature named Stories (available in a few languages) that allows you to do a lot of reading and listening.
Is there a Babbel podcast for newbies in Spanish?
Yes! For Spanish novices, Babbel provides a podcast called “A-Zero to A-Hero.” It’s a dialogue involving two people who both use English to direct the listener’s attention. The hosts break it down whatever they want to communicate in Spanish by discussing a normal discussion they might have had in Spanish and talking out loud.
Is there a podcast available from Babbel for advanced Spanish learners?
The intermediate to advanced level of Palabras Bravas is required. It’s totally in Spanish, so you will have plenty of opportunities to practice your listening skills while also learning a few new terms. The program I was listening to was about languages, that is one person would deliver foreign words and phrases, as well as the other hosts, would identify what language they were from or what they represented in Spanish.
Is Babbel able to demonstrate how it works?
Yes! A helpful article on Babbel describes how much space repetition or how it’s helpful in language acquisition. You may learn about one aspect of the Babbel program, Review, on the same page to get a better understanding of its goal or how it works. Only a few language programs provide you a thorough understanding of how language acquisition functions.
What is the procedure of using Babbel?
Each course is organized around a specific theme. This structure is useful to me since it offers you a clear picture of things you will understand by the end of this part. The process begins with a placement check which is useful if you aren’t sure what category you are in. After that, you can simply go from lesson to lesson or pick and decide which ones you wish to concentrate on. If you perceive a lesson to be too simple, you can just skip forward.
Are there any further practice classes available?
There is also a segment containing a couple advanced courses. These are focused on special abilities and passions. Refresher (for individuals who have already learned the language), Grammar, Words and Sentences, Countries and Traditions, Listening and Speaking and Specials are examples of common programs (idioms and so on.) A ‘Business’ program is offered in both German and Spanish.
Is a student’s progress evaluated by Babbel?
They certainly do! The review phase follows the spaced-repetition strategy, which is similar to flashcards. This is referred to as ‘Knowledge Levels’ by Babbel, the software retains words and sentences that you correctly pronounce, and they appear less frequently in reviews.
Is Babbel suitable for the study of French and Spanish?
Babbel’s Spanish and French programs are quite good. They are realistic, with carefully chosen words and conversations based on the true scenarios. Lessons begin by presenting relevant vocabulary, which is then applied to engaging discussions that sound completely genuine — these are fantastic!
Is Babbel an easy language to learn?
Yes! The levels of complexity are ideal. Once you have figured out what level you are on and started playing, you will see that the growth from level to level is reasonable, with a smooth transition from easy to difficult.
Is there a smartphone version of Babbel?
Yes! The handy smartphone application allows you to perform lessons on the move (albeit just when you are able to stay focused because it’s interactive.) It operates on both Apple as well as Android platforms so you can synchronize lessons throughout them, which is really convenient.