Review: Babbel Helped Me Learn Languages ​​for Business and Travel Purposes

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Planning a business trip is much more involved than booking flights and packing your laptop – you also need to prepare for optimal communication with partners, colleagues and locals. Recently I was in Florida and was surprised at how many people spoke Spanish. Now I know that number represents almost a quarter of their population.

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With an upcoming trip to Quebec on my calendar and knowing that almost everyone there knows at least a little French, I decided to take the time to learn some of the language beforehand. I tested Babbel and this was my experience.

What: Sale on Babbel
When: Now until May 12th
Price: $206 (was $822)
Where to buy: Babbel Language Learning: Lifetime Subscription

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The first steps on my language learning journey

The reason I chose Babbel in the first place was because I had heard so much about this particular app online and through friends. Trying to find free language resources wasn’t as easy as I thought, and I didn’t want to commit to expensive in-person courses.

Babbel also made it easy to set realistic goals. Becoming fluent in French before my upcoming trip didn’t seem like a realistic goal. Now that I have a lifetime subscription, I may want to learn other languages ​​or brush up on my French in the future. I selected my reason for learning, my desired knowledge, and my target date, then the app set a weekly goal for me.

Study a wide range of topics useful for travel and beyond

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Already in the first course I learned how to greet and say goodbye to people, introduce myself, tell them where I come from and what languages ​​I speak, order in restaurants and ask how much something costs, talk about my job and state my age and ask for contact details.

Babbel does an excellent job of explaining the informal and formal differences between various pronouns and terms. For example, I already know that I should address customers and strangers with “Bonjour!” and my well-known colleagues with “Salut!”.

Practical exercises for real situations

Each lesson also encourages me to practice my pronunciation, usually after seeing and hearing a new term. This eliminates a common problem when learning a language through an app – Babbel calls it speech recognition technology.

While the software will alert you if you mispronounce a word completely, it’s not foolproof. One of my favorite features is that it motivates you to actually say the words out loud because that’s what you’ll be doing in the real world.

There is also an entire course called “Listening and Speaking” where you can further improve your conversation skills. After a few lessons, these tend to focus on vowels and consonants.

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Review sessions focused on long-term goals

A big worry I had, since my trip to Quebec was still a few months away, was that if I started now I would forget a lot of what I had learned. But that’s not really a reason to disregard language learning goals, and the app had a way to take this into account.

Babbel tracks every new term you learn and how many times it has been repeated. This will ensure you only see him as often as you need. You can even choose between flashcards, writing, listening, speaking, or playing a mini-game.

The review sessions have their strengths and weaknesses. A big advantage is that their system seems to work. One downside, however, is that when you take a break from the platform, it doesn’t seem to take it into account and you might get some difficult prompts.

Take advantage of the Babbel sale

While I chose French, Babbel has 13 other languages ​​to choose from, which you can easily switch between at any time. Whether you’re traveling for business, pleasure, or simply want to learn a new and marketable skill, learning a new language is a fun and rewarding experience.

I recommend Babbel to anyone who wants to learn a new language while traveling. A lifetime subscription is currently available through May 12 for $206 (was $822).

What: Sale on Babbel
When: Now until May 12th
Price: $206 (was $822)
Where to buy: Babbel Language Learning: Lifetime Subscription

Prices subject to change.

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