Babbel

Babbel GmbH, operating as Babbel, is a German subscription-based language learning software and e-learning platform, available in various languages since January 2008.

The platform offers various resources such as the Babbel self-study app, Babbel Live classes, Babbel podcasts, Babbel for Business, and Toucan products, all designed to emphasise practical language use in real-life scenarios with real people.

The curriculum includes over 60,000 lessons in 14 languages. Babbel was the first online language learning platform, first to introduce a language learning app with over 16 million subscriptions, it is now the most sold language learning platform globally.

With 1000 employees, Babbel is headquartered in Berlin (Babbel GmbH) and maintains a presence in the United States with an office in New York, operating as Babbel Inc.

History
Babbel is operated by Babbel GmbH in Berlin, Germany. Babbel has around 1000 full-time employees and freelancers.

The company was founded in August 2007 by Thomas Holl, Toine Diepstraten, Lorenz Heine and Markus Witte. In January 2008, the language learning platform went online with community features as a free beta version. In 2008, Kizoo Technology Ventures and IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH became Babbel's first investors. Then, in 2009, Babbel was granted roughly one million euros by the ERDF European Structural Fund. The new product version, Babbel 2.0, went online in November 2009. At that time, Babbel's founders decided against an advertising and mixed-finance model (freemium), opting for paid content.

In March 2013, Babbel acquired San Francisco startup PlaySay Inc. to expand into the United States. As part of the acquisition, PlaySay Founder and CEO Ryan Meinzer joined Babbel as a strategic advisor for its US operations.

In January 2015, Babbel opened an office in New York City with the aim of expanding its presence in the US market. Later that year, a third funding round led by Scottish Equity Partners raised another $22 million. Other participants in this round include previous investors Reed Elsevier Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners, and VC Fonds Technology Berlin.

In 2017, Babbel launched Babbel for Business, designed for companies and organisations as part of their professional development programs.

In November 2018, the company announced it had sold around 1 million subscriptions during the previous year. It was also launching a new set of products, oriented at travel marketplace. The project was going to launch in 2019.

In 2019, co-founder Markus Witte stepped down as CEO and was replaced by Arne Schepker.

In September 2020, Babbel announced it had sold over 10 million subscriptions, becoming the most sold language learning platform in the world. In March 2020, a works council was elected that represents the employees of the Berlin office.

In 2021, Babbel launched Babbel Live, offering online tutoring classes to customers.

In February 2021, Babbel announced its expansion from a single-function application to an ecosystem of blended learning experiences by introducing Babbel Live and in-app games.

Concept
Babbel is a subscription-based language learning app for web, iOS and Android. Babbel currently offers 14 different languages (German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, Norwegian, Danish, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Indonesian, Swedish and Dutch). Babbel's original learning content is developed in-house by a team of over 200 language experts.

There are beginner, intermediate and grammar courses, vocabulary lessons, as well as courses with tongue-twisters, idioms, colloquialisms, and sayings. Courses for a given language may be aimed at a specific audience: for instance, English may be learned as "PR English" or "Marketing English."

In August 2017, Babbel announced that it had partnered with Cambridge English Language Assessment to create a low-cost online English test. The test assesses beginning and intermediate students' reading and listening skills (up to level B1 and above of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). Every test features about 70 questions from a bank of hundreds of options, which—like Babbel's lesson content—reflect real-life communicative situations, including recordings of radio broadcasts and conversations for listening tasks.

Juliet Wilson, director of assessment at Cambridge English, explained to Professionals in International Education News that "...until now it's been difficult for [online learners] to know whether they are really learning the right skills, or to demonstrate their real level," going on to say that the Babbel English Test would "give learners reliable evidence of their progress and a certificate of achievement that demonstrates what they have learned".

Product & Services
Babbel operates an ecosystem of interconnected online learning experiences. The company's educational content is customised for each language combination, recognising the varied learning requirements of individuals. This recognition is based, given that an English learner may approach the study of French differently than an Italian learner.

The instructional approach encompasses all facets of communication, including reading, writing, listening, and speaking, achieved through contextual content presented in compact, practical 10-15 minute units.

Babbel App
With 60,000 lessons created, self-study application offered by Babbel is designed to provide lessons covering grammar, vocabulary, and cultural insights across everyday subjects. The application incorporates an artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced speech recognition model to aid in pronunciation improvement. It also includes a dedicated and personalised review system aimed at facilitating long-term memorisation, allowing learners to concentrate on the most relevant vocabulary for them. Tools, such as Babbel Games, are featured for activities related to sentence-building and spelling reinforcement.

Babbel's application includes additional features like "Culture Bites" and podcasts, which offer original content centered around the chosen language and culture.

Babbel Live
Babbel offers live online language classes, providing users with the chance to learn and practice in small groups, with each session accommodating up to six participants and facilitated by qualified teachers. Accessible as part of a subscription, these group classes focus on fostering conversation, allowing learners to actively participate from the beginning. Users can select classes around the clock, accommodating to their scheduling preferences.

Babbel for Business
Created in 2017, Babbel for Business offers a language learning solution that empowers companies to train their employees via app-based, as well as virtual classroom, learning courses. The lessons are designed to effectively address both business-related and casual scenarios, and are aligned with specific business goals.

Podcasts
Babbel Podcasts are available for languages like English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian, with mono- and bilingual formats catering to both beginners and advanced learners.

In 2020, Babbel Podcasts won a 2020 international E-Learning Award for the best product in the "mobile learning" category.

Toucan
In September 2023, Babbel acquired Toucan, a language-learning browser extension that allows language learners to practice new vocabulary while browsing the internet, automatically translating certain words and phrases on the page into one of eleven languages.

Academic studies
Babbel's effectiveness in language learning has been validated through collaborative studies with Yale University and Michigan State University. These studies robustly confirm the platform's ability to achieve language proficiency in a short timeframe.

Yale University found that after three months of Babbel use, participants showcased diverse Spanish-speaking abilities, ranging from basic greetings to discussing activities and future plans. User feedback revealed a 95% satisfaction rate with Babbel's user-friendly approach, and 75% successfully met their language learning goals.

Michigan State University reported that participants logging a minimum of 10 hours on Babbel experienced enhanced grammar and vocabulary test scores, with 97% showing improvement. After 12 weeks, nearly all participants demonstrated significant gains in oral proficiency, grammar, and/or vocabulary knowledge.

Name
The word Babbel is derived from the Hebrew verb בָּלַל (bālal), meaning to jumble or to confuse your words. It is also a reference to the biblical Tower of Babel — a gigantic ziggurat whose construction was interrupted when the workers' languages were made mutually unintelligible by God. Douglas Adams used the same idea in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to name the Babel fish, a symbiotic fish that serves as a universal translator. Babbel is also a homophone and anagram of the English verb babble.

Social impact
In March 2022, Babbel provided free access codes to Ukrainian refugees, allowing those with prior knowledge of languages offered by Babbel to learn relevant languages such as German, Polish, and English. Babbel supplemented this effort by offering resources such as articles, a glossary, and an audio phrasebook for learning Ukrainian. Additionally, the company extended support to refugees from radicalised communities through free Babbel Live seats and onboarding assistance via The Tubman Network, a nonprofit organisation in Berlin. Further community engagement included sharing teaching materials with The Educational Equality Institute, providing free language classes to Ukrainians. As of February 2023, over 500,000 Ukrainians have benefited from Babbel courses.

Reception
PC Magazine gave Babbel a mostly positive review, stating it was reasonably priced and well-structured, but more challenging for beginners than similar services. The New York Times' Ali Watkins described Babbel as "approachable and simple".

The Washington Post also positively reviewed Babbel, stating that the lessons seemed more relevant to real life, and that one could see a solid language foundation take shape after only three sessions. CNN Underscored described its experience with Babbel as extremely positive and user-friendly. Business Insider noted that Babbel helped with becoming a more confident speaker and listener thanks to the standout drills it offered. Travel + Leisure gave Babbel a 9.6/10 rating based on factors such as course quality, value, and variety as well as accessibility, technology, diversity of instructors, and customer service. It also noted that Babbel was a great choice for business people, tourists and students.

Awards
The language learning platform was one of the finalists for "Best Web Application or Service (EMEA)" in TechCrunch's Europe Awards 2009. In 2011, Babbel was awarded the "Comenius EduMedia Seal" and the "Erasmus EuroMedia Seal of Approval" for "Babbel for Companies" courses targeted at the business sector.

In 2013, Babbel received the "digital 2013" award and the "Innovate 4 Society" award at CeBIT. In 2016, Fast Company recognised Babbel as the most innovative company in education.

In January 2023, GSV named Babbel amongst the world’s 150 most transformational companies in digital learning. In February 2023, Babbel was awarded the "CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Silver Anthem Award for Humanitarian Action & Services" for its efforts to help displaced people affected by the war in Ukraine. In June 2023, Babbel announced that it had won the prestigious "EdTechX Language Learning Award" at the 2023 EdTechX Awards.