Babbel offers lessons in fourteen languages, English, Spanish, German, French, Norwegian, Italian, Danish, Swedish, Portuguese, Dutch, Turkish, Russian, Polish, and Indonesian. It offers interactive and personalized lessons based on current pedagogy and technology. In general the lesson format can be classified as multimedia reading and writing exercises, listening comprehension and pronunciation practice. A personalized review manager tailors the learning experience to the individual and helps to curate the lessons. A special focus of Babbel is the correct pronunciation, and Babbel employs a real-time speech recognition technology that gives users immediate feedback on their level of success. Recognizing the social aspect of learning, Babbel offers users the ability to contact others through a message board, live chat, and an internal messaging system.
Babbel is a fee-based program with a single month costing $12.95, three months for $8.95 per month or $26.85, six months for $7.95 per month or $44.70, and twelve months for $6.95 per month or $83.40. Lessons can be accessed from the website or on any major mobile platform. The Babbel app can be attained through iTunes, the Google Play store, Windows Phone store, and the Windows App store. As of the latest update from the company, their apps have been downloaded 8 million times and they have over 15 million users.
Babbel’s marketing strategy is a mixture of traditional techniques as well as partnerships with platform providers, hardware manufacturers and media companies. Recently they collaborated with Microsoft and released apps for Windows 8 and the Windows Phone. In 2013 they also acquired PlaySay, a US language-learning app, and are attempting to integrate its user base. This acquisition was the first step in a larger strategy to enter the US market place.