Sunday, February 16th
2025 French Lesson Reviews
Babbel
- Placement quiz
- Speech recognition
- Free trial
- Continual review to improve long-term learning
Babbel knows that learning French takes practice and repetition. With several lessons at the beginner and intermediate levels, all including review of the previously-taught material, you have plenty of opportunity to improve your language ability here.
Start out running
Babbel starts out right away with conversational phrases so you can meet people when you travel, and their speech recognition technology gives you feedback to see if you would be understood. The lessons are created by linguists and are in accordance with the official European levels of fluency markers. If you don't care to learn on your own with the online program, there's Babbel Live where you can take live classes, as many as you like, within your subscription time period.
Your first lesson includes French you can use in conversation
You'll start out with French phrases that are usable conversationally. This can give you a boost of confidence and motivation to want to speak right away. Some popular online French programs may never get to actual conversational phrases, and instead you'll talk about what the boy eats or where the girl goes. Not with Babbel.
You'll learn from linguists
Babbel's courses are prepared by linguists and the levels you reach are the levels that European students use when advancing in their language courses. You know that your European level A1 actually means something rather than simply moving from one random lesson to another. Babbel's goal is to get you to move higher on the European fluency scale.
You can know where to start, even if you've had French lessons in the past
Take their placement quiz to show what you've remembered from your previous classes, and they'll place you in your appropriate level. Would you rather just start from the beginning? Sure, you can do that, too.
How it works
Your Babbel lesson presents the material, and then you'll practice it with fill-in-the-blank activities, match words and images, and you can repeat spoken words into your mic and get feedback on your pronunciation. The added bonus is that there's a review bar at the bottom of the page so you can practice vocabulary that you have learned in previous lessons to make sure you haven't forgotten it.
It recognizes your voice
Do you ever wonder if you'll be understood by a native speaker once you start speaking French? Babbel can help with that when you connect your microphone. Babbel's speech recognition technology listens to your voice and compares it to their native French speaker so you can have instant feedback. It's not perfect, and most speech-recognition isn't, but it is good.
It's great for beginners or intermediate French learners, but not if you're advanced
There are several lessons to help the beginning French learner, and many others in the intermediate level. Once you get to an advanced level of French, you'll want to choose one of our other highly recommended online French programs to hone your skills as Babbel probably won't get you there.
Spaced recognition really helps
Babbel has a key method for retaining what you've learned, known as spaced recognition. This is where you'll learn words and phrases, practice them, and move on to the next lesson. In that following lesson, they'll sneak in those previously-learned words so you can commit them deeper to memory. It's a style that language teachers use in the classroom - under a few different names - and they find it quite helpful for their students' progress.
Babbel uses an appropriate amount of English
When you want to know why you'd greet an adult differently than you'd greet a child, Babbel explains that to you. They're careful to overtly explain why certain words and phrases are used in different situations rather than have you stop and deduce it on your own. In this method, it's a better use of your time to just get an answer to your question "why” rather than wonder and maybe you'll figure it out in time. Because Babbel will use English to help you learn, you'll get the answers you need.
They remind you to take your lessons
Habits can be hard to start, and our busy lives can get in the way. Babbel recognizes this and offers you push notifications to take your lessons. You tell them if you want notifications daily or otherwise, and when you want to learn - perhaps first thing in the morning, during a lunch break, or maybe just before you retire to bed. Let Babbel help you find and keep the rhythm.
Costs
Here are the current prices for Babbel as of the time of our review:
- Babbel Traditional
- 6 months for $89.70 ($14.95 per month)
- 12 months for $179.40 ($14.95 per month)
- Lifetime access for $239
- Babbel Live
- 1 month for $99
- 3 months for $209 ($70 per month)
- 6 months for $359 ($60 per month)
- 12 months for $500 ($50 per month)
Free trial
Once you sign up for Babbel, free of charge, you can try the first lesson in each course at no cost. This is a good way to find out what you'll learn at each level as well as a bit of a taste for Babbel, and that's the point. You'll have enough access for that taste, but not to really have free lessons and learn a significant amount of French, and still be encouraged to make a purchase.
Try Babbel Live for something different
Babbel Live consists of real, live classes via video chat. The room will have six or fewer students and you can take as many classes as you like in a month. These classes can also start at the beginning level (A1), and they will continue through an advanced level (C1). These level designations are official European fluency levels, where you know exactly what you'll be able to do at each level - they are not random company-based designations. Enjoy the class in French, take notes, review material, and don't worry about homework or tests, as there aren't any. When you sign up for Babbel Live, you'll also have access to their app and online material in the traditional Babbel format. Students of Babbel Live must be 16 or older.
There's a money-back guarantee
Babbel has a 20-day money-back guarantee that starts the day you sign up. Be sure to contact customer service within that time period to receive your full refund if Babbel's not for you.
Babbel keeps you interested while you learn real, conversational French
From the get-go, you'll learn useful, conversational phrases with Babbel. The lessons aren't random, as they coordinate with the official European fluency levels. There's always an opportunity to review as you learn and move forward with your skills. The speech recognition software gives you confidence to know if you'd be understood by a French person, and if you want actual, live classes, try Babbel Live. Babbel is great for all of these reasons. Our only wish is that they would carry their French lessons into the highest fluency levels for those who are pretty fluent and want to hone their skills.
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When we think of someone speaking French, we think soothing and seductive, as it's simply dreamy to hear. We think of the romance of Paris with the Eiffel Tower, of Southern France with the rolling lavender fields, of the Alps with the snow-capped mountains, of the coast with the warm sandy beaches. And of course there's the decadent French food and wine.
Learning French allows you to more fully enjoy French culture. When you learn French, it opens the door to learning phrases that the French speakers use in conversation, manners and mannerisms, how the French live and interact in everyday situations, and perhaps gaining an appreciation and insight into their art and history. There are so many doors to be unlocked once you take the first step.
French Lesson FAQ
Continued from above...
Naturally, when we think French we think of France. Yet French is actually a global language and the official language of 29 countries, so you can practice your French language skills in more than one place. French is also a heritage language in all or part of Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, and even the US - like Louisiana.
Picking up the French language may be easier than you might think. Some of us are intimidated by the unusual sounds and the silent letters, but did you know that there are many words that look like English? We'll bet you know these French words: table, responsable, ambiance, brilliance. There are about 1,700 words in French that look like the English word, so there's a good start.
When choosing among the several options for online French lessons, here are some things to consider:
- Free trial. Look to see if there's a chance to try out the lessons before you buy them to see if this is how you want to learn and to see if you'll stay motivated. Most options include at least a free trial, and some have free access to a limited amount of lessons so you might be able to get all of what you want for free.
- How they teach. Today there is such a variety of teaching methods in the various online French lesson companies. You can learn individual words with flashcards first and then build to speaking or reading. Some teach by where you hear conversational phrases and build on those. Some build their lessons around grammar and vocabulary while others don't teach grammar specifically - you'll innately catch on the more you practice. Some cut to the chase like textbooks and some use AR and VR to keep you hooked and motivated.
- How much French you may already know. If you're a beginner, the French lesson world is your oyster - there's so much for you to choose from. If you are at the advanced level and want to polish your skills, most online programs don't teach to your level; though there are a few that could work for you.
- Your budget. There are some programs where you should be able to get quite a bit of practice for free. Others have a reasonable cost. Some have options for you to have a one-on-one instructor, and those will cost a bit more.
- One-time purchase or monthly subscription. There's the good, old fashioned way of purchasing a course, and that's where you keep the lessons, learning at your own pace, guilt-free if you need to take a long break. The subscription method is where you pay per month or year to use the product and it automatically renews at the end of that subscription time. You'll be motivated to not take a long hiatus from lessons if you know that your subscription auto renews whether you use it or not.
- Satisfaction guarantee. Most have a period of time where you can try out the courses to know if you really like them and want to continue. If you're not happy within that time, simply ask for a full refund
Top Consumer Reviews has researched and ranked the most popular French courses available today, to make it easy for you to choose how you'll want to learn French. Whether you're thinking of learning French for the first time or brushing up on what you may have taken in high school, now is a great time to learn French online as there are such a variety of French lesson programs out there. We're sure you'll find at least one that you'd like to try.
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