Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Searching For Stories (And Vacation) In Cartagena, Colombia
The Gatekeepers Of Asia: Face To Face With The Border Guards Of The Far East
Cockpit Chronicles - Paragliding In Rio: Best Layover Ever! (Video)
An Interview With Paul Theroux, Author Of 'The Last Train To Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari'
Learning a new language made easy
If learning a new language is on your list of things to do, there are several products out there to help make that happen. The trick seems to be finding one that will work for each individual and some are a better fit than others.Back in 2007 Gadling's Jamie Rhein introduced us to Rosetta Stone, an interactive computer software program that has been proven effective even in elementary school children. Still, the price tag of $449 per language for levels 1-5 may make many think twice. Just trying German, for example, takes $179 to get started.
Babbel, the browser based language learning program also has a mobile app for learning on the go. Both versions come with a speech recognition feature to give users a real time score on their pronunciation.
Perhaps just right to help prep for that next trip, there are various scenarios to learn from like culinary, shopping, urban, etc. Users can take beginner to advanced courses in up to 11 different languages.
Pricing is unique too. Babbel charges by the month for unlimited use starting at $12.95 with no long-term commitment or barely used box staring us in the face when our efforts fail. Prices go down by pre-paying with a six-month subscription priced at $7.95 per month.
Not sure? Babbel will let users try it for free.
The Babbel program has a good track record too with over 1 million users in 2011 in 200 countries. Planning a dream trip to Sweden, I tried a sample lesson and found that Dette kan fungere for mig (this might work for me).
Flickr photo by ob1left
Filed under: Learning, North America, United States, Travel Security
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Pamela Dec 27th 2011 9:14PM
I highly recommend the audio guides called "Earworms Learning." I know, weird name, but you can download on iTunes. They operate under the philosophy that music + language will help you remember. I listened on my iPod for a few weeks before a trip and was able to remember some basic vocabulary. You may hear the accompanying tunes in your head when you think of the words (I still hear Italian numbers in a very specific rhythm), but it works!
http://objectsblog.com
Kwjayhawk Dec 27th 2011 6:38PM
My wife and I ordered Rosetta Stone German Level 1 around Thanksgiving. I have to say I feel like I've learned a lot. I think the $179 investment has made me commit more to it than going with a free service. Just my two cents.
kaisatsu Dec 28th 2011 8:02AM
Hearing that you tried a sample lesson in Norwegian definitely inspired me to go check out the Babbel website. I have a tough time finding language programs that support Norwegian (e.g. Rosetta Stone doesn't offer it) so I was very excited to hear about an online program that did!
However, I cannot find any mention of Norwegian on the Babbel website. Could you point me in the right direction?
kaisatsu Dec 30th 2011 6:09AM
Ah, I see you had your dream trips mixed up. Your dream is now to go to Sweden instead of Norway. Amazing what a few language lessons can do.
Still curious how you "learned" the original Norwegian translation from the Babbel site. Not a particularly trustworthy review.
Vince Baskerville Dec 28th 2011 11:04AM
Although Babbel is a great company, I would still recommend TripLingo ( http://triplingo.com ) as a great low cost resource too. It's a great tool & it helps by teaching you conversational language phrases.
virginiaravender Dec 29th 2011 1:25AM
My English is pretty descent, I remember learning English too. You just needed a noun in the sentence and it would make a lot more sense.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111223230419AAXyhAJ