Babbel GmbH
Type of site
Private
Available inDanish, Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.
HeadquartersBerlin,
Germany
Key peopleArne Schepker (CEO), Thomas Holl (Co-Founder), Julie Hansen (CEO Babbel, Inc.)
IndustryE-Learning, Online Education
Employees1000 Globally[1][2]
URLwww.babbel.com
Registrationyes
LaunchedAugust 2007 (2007-08)
Current statusOnline

Babbel GmbH, operating as Babbel,[3] 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.

Their 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 team members, 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 is based in the Berlin neighborhood of Mitte.[4]

The company was founded in August 2007 by Thomas Holl, Toine Diepstraten, Lorenz Heine and Markus Witte.[5][6][7] In January 2008, the language learning platform went online with community features as a free beta version.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10]

In March 2013, Babbel acquired San Francisco startup PlaySay Inc. to expand into the United States.[11][12] As part of the acquisition, PlaySay Founder and CEO Ryan Meinzer joined Babbel as a strategic advisor for its US operations.[13]

In January 2015, Babbel opened an office in New York City with the aim of expanding its presence in the US market.[14] Later that year, a third funding round led by Scottish Equity Partners raised another $22 million.[15][16] Other participants in this round include previous investors Reed Elsevier Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners,[17] and VC Fonds Technology Berlin.[18][19] Since January 2017, Babbel, Inc., the company's US subsidiary, has been led by Julie Hansen, CEO U.S.[1]

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.[20]

In 2019, co-founder Markus Witte stepped down as CEO and was replaced by Arne Schepker.[21]

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. [22]

In 2021, Babbel launched Babbel Live, offering online tutoring classes to customers.[23]

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 premium, 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.[24]

Babbel employs a premium subscription model to enhance the focus on the quality and efficacy of the learning experience provided to its users. This model ensures an ad-free learning environment, distinguishing it from many freemium or free alternatives.

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.[25][26] 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,[26] 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". [27]

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 on the understanding 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 lesson created, self-study application offered by Babbel is designed to provide succinct and easily comprehensible 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. Engaging 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 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.[28]

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 sophisticated 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 crafted by linguists and didactics experts, to enhance conversational skills on the go. With around 30 unique podcasts, Babbel Podcasts are available for popular languages like English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian, the mono- and bilingual formats cater to both beginners and advanced learners. Aligned with users' native languages, the podcasts complement the interactive text and video trainers in the Babbel app. Hosted in diverse formats, from talk shows to storytelling, the podcasts delve into country-specific cultures and narratives.

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.

Corporate branding and campaigns

Branding

The word Babbel is derived from the Hebrew verb בָּלַל (bālal), meaning to jumble or to confuse your words. It is also a pun on 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.

Campaigns

Babbel's content marketing arm publishes a digital magazine with written and video content in seven different languages. The topics range from behind-the-scenes looks at how Babbel lessons are created to profiles of Babbel customers and language learning tips from the company's didactics team. In November 2016, Babbel launched a television ad campaign in the UK and Europe.[29] Two television spots were created by the advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy. Sophie Bodoh, Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy commented, "Everyone has different motivations for learning a language, but we recognised one common truth that applies to every new learner: They have some kind of fantasy about what it will be like to speak a new language confidently. Using the familiar cinematic worlds of different countries, we show Babbel customers playing out their own unique language-speaking fantasies."[30] In 2023 Semrush reports that Babbel ranks among the leading digital advertisers in the field of online education.[31]

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.[32] The New York Times' Ali Watkins described Babbel as "approachable and simple".[33]

Awards

The language learning platform was one of the finalists for "Best Web Application or Service (EMEA)" in TechCrunch's Europe Awards 2009.[34] In 2011, Babbel was awarded the "Comenius EduMedia Seal" and the "Erasmus EuroMedia Seal of Approval"[35] for "Babbel for Companies" courses targeted at the business sector.[36]

In 2013, Babbel received the "digital 2013" award and the "Innovate 4 Society" award at CeBIT. In 2016, Fast Company recognized Babbel as the most innovative company in education.[37]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Nicola, Stefan (January 12, 2017). "Germany's Babbel Adds Ex-Business Insider Executive in U.S. Push". Bloomberg.
  2. ↑ Iszler, Madison (August 28, 2015). "European Language-Learning Startup Challenges Rosetta Stone, Duolingo". Forbes.
  3. ↑ "Lesson Nine GmbH". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2021-04-21. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  4. ↑ Li, Charmaine (February 3, 2015). "Meet Babbel, the startup that has 100,000 people downloading its language-learning apps every day". Tech.eu.
  5. ↑ Swan, David (July 4, 2017). "Babbel may set up office in Australia". The Australian Business Review. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Babbel founder talks language learning and the challenges of the US market – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  7. ↑ "Babbel secures funding for language learning". techcrunch.com. 29 July 2008. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  8. ↑ Slagel, Jake (March 7, 2016). "Interview with Babbel founder and CEO Markus Witte". The Young Businessmen. Archived from the original on June 19, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Babbel blog: New Funding for a New Babbel". Archived from the original on 2018-06-20. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  10. ↑ "Top 50 Education: Company Profile on Babbel". Fast Company. 2016.
  11. ↑ DiStefano, Joseph N. (March 21, 2013). "Babbel buys PlaySay". Philadelphia Media Network.
  12. ↑ Leach, Anna (March 22, 2013). "Berlin E-Learning Startup Babbel Buys Out San Francisco Rival". The Wall Street Journal.
  13. ↑ Murph, Darren (March 21, 2013). "Babbel acquires PlaySay in bid to bolster US language learning presence". Engadget.
  14. ↑ "Babbel Opens Offices in the United States". Babbel. January 28, 2015.
  15. ↑ England, Lucy (July 9, 2015). "German startup Babbel has raised $22 million to help people learn new languages". Business Insider.
  16. ↑ Loeb, Steven (July 8, 2015). "Language learning startup Babbel raises $22M". Vator.
  17. ↑ "Babbel Raises $22 million". Nokia Growth Partners. July 2015. Archived from the original on 2017-07-30. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  18. ↑ Sawers, Paul (July 8, 2015). "Babbel raises $22M to help grow its language-learning platform in the Americas". VentureBeat.
  19. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (July 8, 2015). "Babbel Raises $22M Series C Round For Its Language Learning Service". TechCrunch.
  20. ↑ "Language learning app Babbel sold 1M US subscriptions this year, moves into language travel". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-12-03.
  21. ↑ "Founder of language learning platform Babbel steps down as co-CEO to focus on board role". TechCrunch. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  22. ↑ ""Beyond quitting" - Employees at Babbel elect a works council". IG Metall Berlin. 2020-03-13. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  23. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (23 December 2021). "Despite scrapped IPO, Babbel sees fast growth for its language learning service". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  24. ↑ Strathmann, Marvin (March 9, 2016). "Alleine zur Fremdsprache" (in German). Die Zeit.
  25. ↑ Crace, Anton (August 16, 2017). "Cambridge English partners with Babbel to create low-cost online English test". thepienews.com.
  26. 1 2 "Babbel teams up with Cambridge English to launch new language test". August 16, 2017.
  27. ↑ "Cambridge develops new digital English language test".
  28. ↑
  29. ↑ MacLeod, Duncan (November 2, 2016). "Babbel Speak The Language". The Inspiration Room.
  30. ↑ "Babbel - "Tiny Whale"". Ad Forum.
  31. ↑ "Which Companies Spend the Most on Digital Advertising? [Study]". Semrush.
  32. ↑ "Review of Babbel". PC Magazine. September 15, 2016.
  33. ↑ Watkins, Ali (3 October 2019). "Police Data and the Citizen App: Partners in Crime Coverage". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 November 2019. I just recently downloaded the language app Babbel to learn French. I'm late to the language app world, but what a game changer. I know it's not perfect, but the Babbel lessons are approachable and simple. I love that I can knock out a lesson on my morning commute.
  34. ↑ Butcher, Mike (July 9, 2009). "The Europas: The Winners and Finalists". TechCrunch.
  35. ↑ "European Society for Education and Communication". Euromedia Awards. October 10, 2014. Archived from the original on 2020-08-11. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  36. ↑ "Babbel for Business". Babbel. Archived from the original on 2012-01-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  37. ↑ "The Most Innovative Companies of 2016 by Sector". Fast Company.
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