As I said in Learning German for the Sake of Ancestry: Part 2, I’m continuing to work on my German lessons. I go in spurts. I’ll be motivated for a while, then I’ll slack off or get distracted. Good thing I don’t have any trips to Germany planned for this year. I’d fail miserably trying to read all those signs in the train stations! Lately, I’ve been trying out Babbel. I’m happy to report I keep surprising myself with the amount of German I’ve started to understand on the genealogy websites. Ah, progress!
Babbel Review
Today I’m writing a brief Babbel review. Since I’m still testing out what I can learn without paying for anything, I downloaded the free version of Babbel and created an account. Starting with the beginner lessons, I was impressed with the format they used.
Pros
Babbel starts you off right away with lessons designed for travel – how to greet people, introduce yourself, and identify locations. They use a multimedia format that includes listening, matching, speaking, and writing the language, so you can practice phrases in lots of different ways. The lessons are conversational and sound more like things real people would actually say. The beginner lessons also teach you basic grammatical rules, which really help when you’re trying to figure out which version of “the” to use! I even learned how to count in German – something I have yet to learn on Duolingo.
Cons
There is one really disappointing aspect to Babbel. You can’t do much for free. I was able to complete three newcomer lessons and that was it. If I want to progress any further, I have to pay for it. Babbel has four subscription options available:
- 1 month: $12.95
- 3 months: $8.95 per month, charged as $26.85 every 3 months
- 6 months: $7.45 per month, charged as $44.70 every 6 months
- 12 months: $6.95 per month, charged as $83.40 every 12 months
When I looked up the app on Google, I did see references to periodic sales on the subscription fee, including a mysterious lifetime subscription for one set fee. I didn’t see a lifetime subscription on Babbel’s website, though. So, this was possibly a special limited-time offer.
Since I can’t learn anything more for free with this app, I’ll continue my search! If I really need to plunge into learning German though, like, say, for another trip over there (Yes, let’s go!), then I might pay for a Babbel subscription. I really like the format and it just might be worth the money.
Tschüss für heute!
Image Credit:
Header image by Helmut H. Kroiss from Pixabay
“German Train Station” by GoCal83 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
