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Why so little love for Babbel.com? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Links & Internet Resources |  | |
| cwcowellshah Newbie United States Joined 4377 days ago 34 posts - 52 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish | Message 1 of 15 21 January 2013 at 7:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm curious about the relative silence on HTLAL about Babbel.com. I've studied beginner's Swedish with it for the last three months and really love it.
Some pros: * wide range of target and base languages * the built-in SRS for learning vocabulary and phrases is fabulous * accessible through browser, iPad app, or Windows 8 (plus some limited access through Android) * you get to hear several native (I assume) speakers * visually, it all looks really slick and carefully designed Some cons: * limited depth for more obscure languages (Swedish only goes through mid-A2, for example) * except for Indonesian, it's limited to European languages (both target and base) * subscribing for several months may end up costing more than a book, but not outrageously more Does anyone else have good or bad thoughts about Babbel.com? I'm not associated with Babbel.com--I just like the product and want to make sure other people know about it when choosing learning materials. Edited by cwcowellshah on 24 January 2013 at 3:39am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4663 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 2 of 15 24 January 2013 at 12:51am | IP Logged | ||
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This the first I've heard about it, but I gave it a quick whirl.
I tried out the "advanced" French taster: it can't be that advanced as I understood it all :-) The audio was very good and the design looks (as you say) pretty slick. I would like to brush up my French, so I may try it for real sometime. I'm into Japanese right now, so it's a pity that they don't stretch their definition of "European Language" to include Japanese (it does seem to stretch as far as Indonesian, so it's not like I'm asking for the moon on a stick!). I would like to try German and Spanish at some point so this website looks like it might be a handy starting point. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5558 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 3 of 15 24 January 2013 at 3:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I had a look, and it did actually look quite nice, but all it taught me was to say "hello" and "goodbye" before it started asking me for $10 per month. I really need to have more of an idea of what I'm getting and what the course will actually cover, before I pay for it.
edit. ok, I seem to be able to do the first lesson of any course (in the same language, but presumably in others too). So basically it seems as if it's just a vocabulary trainer, unless the more major languages have more interesting courses. It does have a nice simple/elegant interface and seems to work quite nicely though. But I'm bored already. Edited by schoenewaelder on 24 January 2013 at 4:14pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4637 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 4 of 15 24 January 2013 at 3:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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I had a look at the advanced German taster. As dampingwire I did not find it very advanced, I was asked to choose alternative words to fill in a sentence, and basically even someone at level A1 should be able to do most of it right. Besides, in this free test at least everything was just about vocabulary, not a single exercise related to grammar. They would have to give me a lot more info if they wanted to convince me.
Edit: In any case, they don't have the two languages that interest me, Russian and Greek. Edited by Ogrim on 24 January 2013 at 3:24pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| cwcowellshah Newbie United States Joined 4377 days ago 34 posts - 52 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish | Message 5 of 15 24 January 2013 at 5:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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I agree that it's strongest at vocabulary training. There are some grammar and sentence construction lessons, but
vocabulary is given more weight. I should also note that some languages are covered in more depth than others. For example, for awhile Dutch ONLY had vocab training--no real grammar lessons per se. But that may have changed, as they seem to be adding new content from time to time. I think Babbel.com is best for beginners--it's a painless, non-intimidating, well-structured way to get your feet wet. That's how I've used it for Swedish, and it has worked swimmingly. No single program can teach you all aspects of a language, so to really come to grips with a language you need to attack it through several vectors. I think Babbel is a great option to include in your quiver of pedagogical arrows, but it's no more successful at standing alone than any other course is. For what it's worth, I'm combining it with Pimsleur, Teach Yourself, and SwedishPod101.com, and have found slow but steady success. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5667 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 6 of 15 24 January 2013 at 8:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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That was pretty weird. Two comments:
1: As others have said, the "advanced level" is not very advanced. I tried out the French and the German, and got everything right, despite only being intermediate in both languages. In fact, the tests were so simple, I would rate them as A1 level. 2: Everything was multiple-choice, so it entirely based on recognition rather than production, which is pretty off-putting. Now, it could be that the samples on the website are deliberately easy to lure in people who would be scared by anything challenging. As it stands, though, I can't tell if there is anything in there at A2 level (never mind beyond that). 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fleurdeneige Diglot Pro Member France Joined 5038 days ago 11 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 15 24 January 2013 at 9:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am a huge Babbel fan too. After the whole Memrise beta crisis, which left me
wondering if I would continue with Italian or not, I did an extensive search for alternative online Italian resources and Babbel was the answer to my prayers. It is great for beginners - as a side note I am also doing the Assimil online course (because everyone on this site is always going on about Assimil and I had to try it ...) and I wonder how beginners make it past the first few lessons. Assimil is ok if you are already somewhat conversant with the language (which I was, thanks to Memrise beta, various grammar books, and Babbel) but for a rank beginner, Babbel is best. Babbel is good for vocabulary, it has excellent listening exercises, it covers grammar, and the voices are very pleasant to listen to. Also, I signed up for 6 months and it costs only 33 euros. This seems very affordable to me when compared with how much I spend on books and Skype lessons and travel, etc. Keeping my fingers crossed that more people will get on board and they will be able to develop some higher level courses (and, in my dreams, maybe a Russian course too?). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cwcowellshah Newbie United States Joined 4377 days ago 34 posts - 52 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish | Message 8 of 15 24 January 2013 at 9:55pm | IP Logged | ||
I know what you mean. As a learner of Swedish (only 3 courses offered), I'm envious of the 5 or 6 courses that Babbel offers in French, German, etc. Same story with Pimsleur and a lot of other methods, too, of course. Why, Pimsleur, why? 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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