Many people may ask what is the best language learning app. Duolingo? Babbel? Rosetta Stone? In this Babbel review, we try to explain whether Babbel is the best language learning app.

Ready to dig in?

What Is Babbel?

Babbel is a German subscription-based language learning app and e-learning platform, available in 14 languages since 2007.

Babbel utilizes a professional team of linguists authors and language teachers to design their language courses.   The approach Babbel uses is aimed at creating “The shortest path to real-life conversation.” It does this through short 10-15 minute lessons that are focused on material that will get you conversational.

Who Is Babbel for?

Like most of language learning apps, Babbel caters mainly to  beginners and intermediate learners. All language courses go from A1 (beginner) to B1 (intermediate). There are no courses for higher levels at the moment. You can get an easy introduction to the language you want to learn or just consolidate your basic knowledge with the beginner’s course.

Apart from the general beginner’s courses Babbel also has separate packages devoted to improving specific skills such as grammar or vocabulary; if you already have some experience with a particular language and know where your weaknesses lie you can focus on improving those chosen skills.

Which Languages Can You Learn with Babbel?

Babbel teaches 14 languages at present: German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Turkish, Dutch, Polish, Norwegian, Indonesian, Russian, Danish and English.

Some popular languages not offered on Babbel include: Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, and Korean.

If you want to learn Mandarin, you can take Memrise a try. Memrise is one of the most popular language learning apps on mobile. It supports a variety of languages and, of course, the Chinese are one of them.

What Will You Get in A Babbel Course?

Babbel language courses are completely online and are accessible via computer, mobile phone, or tablet. Each lesson lasts roughly 15 minutes, depending on your speed and the time you decide to spend on it. Here is how each course is organized:

Vocabulary: you learn individual words and then have exercises to help you remember them.

Dialogue: You listen and read a dialogue with missing words, you have to find the missing words and complete the dialogue.

Grammar lesson: grammar explanations about the dialogue.

Review: you review everything you just learnt.

Each class starts from the step-by-step teaching of vocabulary with the aid of pictures. Then the words are being used in related phrases and short dialogues adjusted to the student’s level to help quickly build conversation skills.

Most of the exercises have you practice by filling in missing words from sentences, translating, sorting words into groups, and repeating words and phrases aloud. Definitely, it is not fun at all.

How Much Does Babbel Cost Per Month?

Babbel offers language learners four payment plans:

When you subscribe to it on the website,

• Monthly: $12.95
• 3 Months: $26.85
• 6 Months: $44.70
• 12 Months: $83.40

When you subscribe to it on the App Store or Google Play,

• Monthly: $15.99
• 3 Months: $29.99
• 6 Months: $49.99
• 12 Months: $84.99

You’d better to subscribe to the website because it is cheaper. After subscribing on website, you can also use the premium features on an app with the same account. When you subscribe to Babbel, you get full access to all courses and levels in the language you selected.

Can You Share a Babbel Account?

You can access your Babbel account on as many devices as you like! All you need to do is make sure that you log in each time with the same email address you used to create your Babbel account. If you’re using Babbel across devices, your progress is synced so you can pick up where you left off.

However, users are not authorized to sharing one’s own user account with other persons and / or granting others access to the paid services of Babbel.

Can You Download Babbel Lessons?

Yes. Babbel allows you to learn offline. Here is how you can download lessons from Babbel,

Step 1: Open the Babbel app

Step 2: Tap on Courses in the bottom navigation bar

Step 3: Choose a course and lesson from the Courses menu

Step 4: Tap on the download icon in the lower right-hand corner of the lesson card

Step 5: You’ll know it’s downloaded once the grey arrow on the right-hand side turns into a checkmark.

Note: Offline mode is only available in the app, and therefore isn’t available on desktop.

Pros & Cons: Is Babbel Worth the Money?

So is Babbel worth the Money? If you honestly think you would be using it every day, yes. The program provides well-structured courses which are good for building vocabulary and grammar. However, the tedious causes and exercise cannot motivate you learn languages in Babbel every day.

Summary Review: Is Babbel the Best Language Learning App

In my opinion, Babbel is not the best language learning app. However, for some people, it will be. Babbel is useful as a supplemental resource for language learning. However, all courses are recorded in English which means that you need to be fluent in English first before you can learn any other languages. In this case, it closes the door for many people.