New online language learning community called Babbel

[Francis Hult]

TechCrunch

 

Babbel: Help Me, Help You Learn A New Language

 

Foreign languages are hard. There's no shortage of expensive books and systems claiming to teach you how to gab like a native in only a few short lessons. But traditional methods don't work for most people as well real world experience and continuous practice.

 

A young German startup is helping language students get that practice and experience through their new language learning community called Babbel . Babbel is an Adobe Flex application that combines a social network with a series of language learning tools for English, German, Spanish, Italian, and French. The language learning tools are currently fairly basic and come in the form of vocabulary quizzes that test you on words by matching a word's sounds and spelling with pictures. The site tracks your progress and reminds you to continue training on new sets. Babbel leverages the social network by letting users message each other and work on forming lessons together. In the future you'll be able to chat with each other as well. xLingo and LiveMocha are other language learning communities focused on matching up foreign language students.

 

Full story:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/14/babbel-help-me-help-you-learn-a-new-language/

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