Learn foreign languages the way you've always wanted to

There's no one-size-fits-all approach to learning a new language. Choose from Babbel's variety of immersive learning methods and find the routine that works for you. Be it through app lessons, live classes, podcasts or other activities: With Babbel, you can overcome your challenges and start learning your way.

Reasons to learn a language

If you think learning a foreign language offers few benefits apart from helping you communicate when on holiday abroad, it is time to think again.

1) Enhanced career prospects In an ever-changing world, where business is conducted internationally, foreign language skills can be crucial to your career. The ability to communicate in a foreign language improves employability and ultimately provides you with a wider range of jobs.

2) Improved conversational language skills Foreign language lessons help improve your written and oral skills in your own language in a number of ways. Your knowledge of English grammar can improve, as can your ability to express yourself clearly and unambiguously.

3) Mental dexterity and memory The prospect of declining mental faculties is frightening. Learning a new foreign language, and practising existing skills may be an important way to maintain cognitive abilities. Babbel courses are ideal due to their wide variety of languages on offer and the flexible learning structure.

Choosing the right course

Whether you are a student, at work or retired, time can be at a premium and fitting language classes into your life might seem impossible. However, an online course that allows you to choose when and where to learn could be a game-changer. Babbel's web-based courses are taken at a time that best suits the learner. They synchronise with apps on both iOS and Android devices to enable you to work across a variety of devices and download lessons for later study offline. Individual lessons are short and your learning is always backed up in the cloud.

Which language should you learn?

Choosing to study via a traditional face-to-face course can have its advantages. However, it also has very definite disadvantages. One of the most fundamental is the potential lack of choice as to which language you will study. The range of options may be limited and perhaps further reduced if insufficient people sign up for a particular course. With 14 languages to pick from, potential learners with Babbel have a wide choice of commonly-taught languages, such as French, German and Spanish, others, like Italian and Turkish, that may be particularly useful for travellers, and several more unusual ones that include Polish and Indonesian.

Features of Babbel:

• Real-world learning topics: A rigid curriculum can be off-putting and frustrating, especially if you have a specific goal in mind or find yourself forced to work in a way that does not account for your current ability levels. The Babbel method ensures that every individual's course is pitched at that particular learner's existing ability and can be tailored to focus on their particular interests. For example, if your primary goal is the acquisition of useful phrases and common sentences, your course can reflect this.

• Give the gift of languages: Foreign language lessons could be an unusual and much appreciated gift, especially for someone who is hard to buy for but who is interested in the world and perhaps enjoys travel. You can buy a voucher for someone else to spend on the Babbel language course of their choice, and this includes access to a free trial lesson to which all new learners are entitled.

• Voiced by native speakers: If time is tight and you want to see results quickly, app-based language learning can offer the flexibility and results you seek. A provider such as Babbel, with online courses designed by native speakers and building on existing language skills and interests, can be your ideal solution.