Babbel - Language Learning 12+

Great app but needs some small tweaks

I love the conversational approach to learning a language and think you’ve done this really well. There are a few awkward things from a UX perspective. The first and most annoying is the way the users voice is recorded - it’s too sensitive on the pauses and the interaction of speaking straight after listening without first taking an action to record wasn’t intuitive and was a friction point when learning how to use the app. I find the letter scramble questions are helpful for remembering spelling but would honestly prefer to use a normal QWERTY keyboard. Finally, there’s no recognition of typos, which is not a big deal, but slightly annoying as a user - I miss the moment of recognition/delight and get the question wrong because I accidentally typed hablas has halbas.
5 stars if you fix these little things ;)

Developer Response ,

Hi there, thanks for your great review. Please submit your idea on our Wishboard: wishboard.babbel.com 🙂 Your feedback is important to us. You can write to us at support@babbel.com for more info. We'd love to hear from you! Thank you very much for your support! 🧡✨

Generally good but backwards

As a beginner, one thing I don’t get whatsoever is why the app would teach you selected words and phrases for specific situations and then shortly after that progression the app throws you a test with new words and phrases that you haven’t been taught yet and expects you to just figure it out somehow all the while testing you. So, because you’re a beginner, you fail the tests not having learnt the words and phrases yet and have to go back to get it right. Is this a smart way of teaching someone a new language? To have them fail on tests because they haven’t been taught that content yet, feel miserable that they’re failing from the get go and then get a 100% pass after going back to correct the mistakes. Don’t you teach and then practice and then test? Bizarre approach and it’s a good thing there’s 7 days free trial because now I know this is not the app that’s going to make me feel good and motivated learning a new language so I’ve canceled the 12 month subscription and will look for a teaching app that teaches then tests only what has been taught.

Developer Response ,

Hello, Thanks for sharing your feedback. We're sorry to hear of your less than satisfactory experience. Please feel free to contact us at support@babbel.com for more information and we look forward to developing solutions!

Love it!!!

I started using Babbel (French) after my friend recommended it and I just love it! The lessons are the perfect length and I love the way they are set out into 3 parts - introduction, exercises and revision/renforcement. The grammar notes throughout the lessons are also a wonderful way to make things clearer. Personally, I find it easy to learn something if there is a ‘rule’, you know, things like, “ i before e, except after c” (I still recite it when I write the word, ‘receive’) and Babbel’s Little grammar notes during the lesson at the appropriate times are like those little ‘lightbulb moments’ where you just think, “oh, now I get it!”
The images help reinforce what you are learning too and the accents are clear. Wish I’d started it earlier! Thanks for an amazing App, Babbel! :)