My experience with Babbel for learning Dutch/French

In this post, I explain my one-year (more or less) experience with learning (mainly French) on Babbel vs Duolingo.

One year ago, I was in Rotterdam doing the exams for the second term, I think. At the same time, because I was in the Netherlands, I started learning Dutch on Babbel (a paid platform to learn languages). I did a one-year subscription around the first of January. After a few months, however, I shifted from Dutch to French – I won’t get into the motivations here, it would be too long. And here it started my journey into French – to become cool like Macron in the picture. 

Here’s what I’ve seen / what I recommend for anyone thinking to learn a new language (Dutch/French) on Babbel/Duolingo. 

DON’T LEARN DUTCH on Babbel. 

Unfortunately, on the platform, there are different languages available. Some of them are more developed/complete than others. I guess it also depends on the language you start with. DUTCH (at least for Italian speakers) is just a collection of words. After a few months of regular use, I knew, I think, more than 2k words, but I couldn’t speak. And that’s not good, given that you generally need way fewer words to speak a language fluently. Each class was just new words decontextualized – no grammar or anything. I even learned words that I don’t know in English (like “Blaar”, meaning “blister” in English, the bubble you get on your feet if you walk too much, in the module about trekking words), even though I speak English fluently 

When I switched to French, I found a completely different structure. French on Babbel follows a study plan, and you actually get grammar lessons. I eventually completed the whole study plan, and my current level is B1.1. The platform stops at B1. I think it is actually a great platform to get started. However, it proceeds very quickly. Sometimes you might want to do more exercises on a specific grammar structure before moving on, and this is not offered on the platform. 

So, at some point, I hired an online tutor, and I also discovered that even if well structured, a few things were missing – explanation of small exceptions in grammar rules, but also the whole French ‘subjonctif’ was missing in the course, for instance. 

I thought I could compensate for the few exercises offered on Babbel by using Duolingo, but… It’s too bad. Duolingo moves on SO SLOWLY. Like, it feels like after 20 hours of use, you’re still exercising the same basic sentence. In addition, the higher level of French (at least, that’s what I tried, and also, for Italians) is very poorly developed. In the sense that there are mistakes in the sentences – and often, indeed. 

It’s NOT WORTH spending time on DUOLINGO to learn FRENCH on a level that is higher than A2, I think. 

To draw some conclusions (I would compare paid Duolingo with Babbel, which doesn’t have a free version): 

• Dutch on Babbel is very bad – avoid it. 
• French on Babbel is great, but too fast in moving forward with the topics. 
• French (Level >A2) on Duolingo is bad. 

Using an app to learn French for Italians, I think a good strategy could be to use Babbel next to a grammar book or a tutor. What I eventually did myself was complete the course on Babbel, and now I am working with an online tutor – especially on speaking, which is the most difficult thing to practice.