Babbel - Language Learning 12+

It’s not Babel’s fault that I didn’t get a chance to use the app properly. My experience on the trial was good. In fact so good I wanted to do a full course and duly went ahead with looking for a suitable subscription. Here is where the issues starts. I opted for a year subscription plan in 12 monthly instalments. Unfortunately Apple took the full year, in one big hit. Now did I press the wrong option or was there an error in their process? I can’t be 100% sure but within minutes I was on the phone asking to cancel the order so I could reorder the subscription. Did I have joy? No. I was told it was going to take up to TWO months for any cancellation refund to reach me. After a lengthy discussion I managed to get it down to one month. Now I won’t know if this was successful or not for 30 days or so, we’ll see. All in all it means that Babel have lost a customer (potentially more as all my family are moving abroad with me and will need courses too), because at the end of the day the ‘front of house’ is how the service is initially how most services are reviewed. I know it’s not Babel’s fault, but unfortunately it’s them they gets judged in this instance. Perhaps they should talk to the greedy corporations they use as middlemen, I don’t know. So for me I’ll get down the car boot find a cassette language course I want I learn the old school way. Hey tapes are back in any way. Aren’t they?

Hello there, we need to have a look into this situation. Could you please send us a message to support@babbel.com with your email address linked to your Babbel account? Once we have this information, we will be able to assist you further. Additionally, we would like to take advantage of the communication to kindly ask you to reconsider your grading as this does not involve Babbel or its courses. e hope we can help you further once you contact us :) Thank you for getting in touch.

I started to learn Italian during COVID with Duolingo. Upon finishing the course there, I didn’t know what else to do, how to continue learning. I needed something well structured, planned and guide me throughout the learning process. So I researched a bit and decided to give Babbel a go. And that was a great choice.
For Italian learners, there course is well thought, there are multiple levels of where you start. I started from the bottom, A1 which then quite quickly moved on to A2. I learnt a lot of vocabulary, situations, there are dialogues, grammar well explained, constant reminders and refreshers to help stick what you’ve learnt. There are a lot of podcasts, situations, travel phrases etc. A really well built course. I’m not yet even in half but I’m enjoying it a lot.
I have the chance to speak a bit with my Italian partner or friends and they say the vocabulary I learnt from this app is not a banal one (comparing to Duolingo).

I know the app offers also classes to help you speak, you get 2 free of charge but I haven’t used it yet.

Hello Leon, 

Thanks for sharing your amazing review.

We're happy to hear that our courses suit your learning style. 

It's fantastic that you've had so much fun and success learning Italian with Babbel. Be proud of your achievements! 🧡️

Best wishes
The Babbel Team

So far, enjoying the app. However, like every other language learning course, it would be helpful to have literal translations into English. I don’t need translations to make perfect sense in English. I need to know proper word order and syntax of the language I’m learning. In other words , I need to learn to “think” in that language sentence structure. No language apps do this and it is so annoying. It is not rocket science. For example: In Dutch, one says: “Hij is vandaag vijftig geworden.” Your translation is: He turned (lit. Became) fifty today. However, the Dutch are actually saying: He is today fifty turned (or became). So, what I am saying is that it would be extremely helpful if you would have both a proper English translation along side a very literal Dutch syntax/word order so that I start to “think” the way the Dutch do when it comes to speaking. I’m sure this will fall on deaf ears, but I hope you will consider this. Thank you and gratitude. Jack

Part 2: thanks Babble for getting back to me. I failed to mention that I am grateful for the few literal translations you do have, but would truly appreciate if such was more thorough and consistent. I shouldn’t think it would be overly difficult to do. Many thanks.

Hello Jack, Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. Babbel is constantly developing and we add new features to our learning content on a regular basis. Please don't hesitate to contact support@babbel.com so we can take a closer look into this!