While it might sound cliché, many consider French as the language of love.
Cities like Paris, Nice, Lyon, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Chamonix, and Versailles are among the most popular to visit in France. French is the official language in 32 countries and territories, and there are more than 321 million speakers in the world who speak it as their native tongue or a second (or third) language.
There are many reasons to learn French, even if your reasons don’t include traveling to a French-speaking country or territory.
I’ve been learning French since I was in secondary school, and it became a hobby. I speak French at an A2 level and would like to review my language skills soon. That’s one reason why I’ve been testing out all these language-learning platforms.
If you are interested in learning French with Babbel, here’s everything you need to know.
PROs
- The opportunity to self-learn French
- Babbel Self-Study is quite affordable
- Compact lessons with games
- Extra resources like podcasts
CONs
- Not great for improving your French pronunciation
- The subscriptions are pricey
- The lessons and exercises follow the same format
- Not enough grammar explanations
Registering on Babbel
Register with Babbel on the company’s website or the mobile app, which is available for download on the App Store and Google Play.
I registered my account with Babbel via the website, and here’s an overview of the process I followed:
1. Sign up by choosing a language you want to speak or clicking the sign up button.
2. Babbel will ask you a series of questions. Be prepared to answer why you are learning French, your goals, and how much of the language you know.
In this step, you also share personal information like your name and email address.
3. In between answering the questions, Babbel tries its best to convince you that it’s the best language-learning platform by sharing some statistics.
4. Then congrats are in order since your account has been created.
5. You must choose how you want to learn on Babbel – via Babbel Self-Study or Babbel Live. These are Babbel’s subscription options, and you must choose one.
6. You’re taken to a payment page … which I dislike. It appears that you can’t get out of paying for a subscription to check out the platform.
I simply went back to the main Babbel website by opening a new tab, and since I was logged in, the French learning screen popped up.
If you subscribed, rest assured. You can request a refund with Babbel’s 20-day money-back guarantee.
Who Should Learn French on Babbel?
Babbel is ideal for beginner students who want to learn French from scratch or those with a beginner knowledge of French.
Because the platform has a clean interface, it’s also better suited for pre-teens, teens, and adults.
Choose Babbel for your French-learning journey if you want to dabble in languages, plan to travel to a French-speaking country, need to meet and greet French clients, or if the love of your life speaks French.
Or if you enjoy learning languages.
Want to know more? Read the articles below:
Learning French on Babbel
Babbel has 14 language courses. When you learn a language on Babbel, you can:
Do the compact interactive lessons
Review the lessons for practice
Select courses by level and language
Learn via the Mix it up!’s Audio lessons and podcasts
Play games (Phrase Maze and Word Tax), so you can have extra fun while learning
Explore articles about language, learning, and culture with the Babbel Magazine
Learn to meet your goals, which help keep you on track
Use the Review feature to review vocab
Do a daily vocabulary workout
Join live group classes
Begin learning a new language with Babbel! 🌟 Unlock up to 55% OFF your Babbel subscription today!
Babbel’s French Course Structure
The French language course in Babbel is structured so you learn via the “i + 1” learning principle, where you continuously build on previous knowledge.
On the website, go to the Explore tab to navigate the French course by level or topic.
Babbel’s French Course by Level:
You can progress to a B2 or upper-immediate level on Babbel if you complete all the course material and the extras.
Here’s a breakdown of Babbel’s French course:
- Newcomer – A1
7 courses, each with 8-14 lessons
The A1 course covers topics like greetings, the French alphabet, introductions, understanding a recipe, telling time, and buying clothes.
- Beginner – A2
8 courses, each with 6-12 lessons
The A2 course covers topics like talking about your apartment, your abilities and holiday plans, organizing a party, expressing your feelings, and how to navigate public transport.
- Intermediate – B1
7 courses, each with 5-13 lessons
The B1 course covers topics like expressing wishes and talking about vacationing, environmental conservation, a job application, and driving.
- Upper-intermediate – B2
1 course with 9 lessons
The B2 course covers topics like art, grammar, the theater, and film.
Babbel’s French Course by Topic:
Babbel has 7 topics for the French language course:
- Refresher with 2 courses (helps you test your knowledge)
- Grammar with 5 courses
- Business French with 2 courses
- Listening and Speaking with 2 courses
- Countries and Traditions with 4 courses
- Specials with 4 courses
- Words and Sentences with 31 courses
Babbel’s French Course Structure
Here’s what Babbel’s lessons look like in case you’re curious.
This is the first lesson.
1. I got a welcome screen before the exercises started.
2. The first set of exercises asked me to guess the meaning. I read and listened to the French words or phrases and had to choose the meaning based on the English and a flashcard.
3. The second exercise was a mix ‘n match.
4. Here I had to listen to the English word and choose the right French word/phrase.
5. The next set of exercises tested my memory and spelling of the words. I had to build the French words and phrases according to the flashcard and English translation.
6. Babbel then tested my understanding of the terms. I had to choose the correct French phrase for the situation I saw.
7. Now was the time for me to practice what I’d learned via a simulated conversation. I had to fill in the correct French term while listening to the conversation in French. I liked the English translations so I could understand and follow along.
Once I was done with this exercise, I listened to the conversation again and decided to start practicing my pronunciation as I followed along.
8. The lesson was completed by a Congratulations message with my score.
Overall, it was super basic and I only reviewed 3 words or phrases. While this was a vocabulary builder lesson that gave me ample practice, I felt like I could have started off learning at least 5-8 terms (if I was a newbie).
Begin learning a new language with Babbel! 🌟 Unlock up to 55% OFF your Babbel subscription today!
How Long Does It Take to Learn French?
Babbel’s main aim is to improve your speaking ability to get you conversational in as little as 3 weeks. I don’t agree with that promise and this is highly unrealistic – for most language learners (but you might be the exception).
According to the US Foreign Service Language Institute, you’ll need to commit between 600-750 hours (or 24-30 weeks) to learn French to speak it at a basic fluency level.
Three weeks compared to 20+ is quite the difference!
Can You Learn French on Babbel for Free?
While the company doesn’t advertise it, you can learn some French on Babbel at no cost.
You can complete the first lesson or so with every course by level or topic, and you can also join two live lessons to see what they are about.
The Costs of Learning French on Babbel’s Subscription Plans
You need a subscription to fully access the French language course on Babbel. Beware that one subscription gives you access to only one language, and if you signed up for French, that’s it.
Here are the costs of Babbel’s subscription plans:
1. Babbel Self-Study
The Self-Study plan costs US$13.95 per month (undiscounted).
Choose whether you want to pay that amount every month or a once-off that renews every 3, 6, or 12 months.
There’s also the pricier Lifetime subscription that gives you access to all of Babbel’s language courses at US$599.99 – the price if Babbel isn’t running a special.
2. Babbel Live
Babbel Live retails at a monthly US$99 (undiscounted). You can also opt to pay that amount every month or pay a once-off fee with plans renewing every 3, 6, or 12 months.
Advantages of Learning French on Babbel
- Babbel gives you the opportunity to self-learn French.
- Babbel Self-Study is quite affordable, provided you want to learn only French.
- The learning approach focuses on developing your communication skills with natural sentences and simulated conversations.
- Learn on the mobile app, the website, or both.
- Babbel has a user-friendly design with no learning curve.
- Ideal for beginner students or intermediate students who want to review their language skills.
- You can do live lessons and interact with a French teacher and other students.
- You get valuable language tips on grammar and sentence structure as you complete the exercises.
- Compact lessons with games, Streak functionality, and goals to keep you motivated.
- There are extra resources like podcasts to help you learn.
Interested in more information? Please see my reviews below:
Disadvantages of Learning French on Babbel
- You wouldn’t know about Babbel’s free trial unless you read a review of the app.
- Not great for improving your French pronunciation or even learning how to say the words. The speech recognition software doesn’t give you real-time feedback; however, you can possibly work on your pronunciation during the group lessons.
- Can only progress to a B2 proficiency level in French (at best).
- Not suitable for upper-intermediate or advanced students as Babbel doesn’t provide French content for this advanced level of language learning.
- The subscriptions are pricey if you want to learn multiple languages.
- The lessons and exercises follow the same format.
- Not enough grammar explanations – if that’s what you need to learn.
Begin learning a new language with Babbel! 🌟 Unlock up to 55% OFF your Babbel subscription today!
My Conclusion: Babbel’s Vocab Trainer Is Great for French!
Babbel has a good vocabulary trainer that will ensure the French words and phrases stick in your head. It’s also really helpful since you see how the vocabulary is used (or can be used) in real conversations between French natives.
But that’s all the value that Babbel offers.
To become fluent (or even just basic conversational) in French, you must expand your learning journey to include more than apps like Babbel.
Watch movies, learn about the people, history, and culture, and make a pen pal to learn as much as you can.
If you enjoyed my article, please feel free to share it. Have any questions? Don't hesitate to email me!
Disclaimer: I select and review independently. If you buy through affiliate links, I may earn commissions that help support my testing at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclosure for more information.
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