5 Reasons why Babbel is the top app to learn languages

5 Reasons why Babbel is the top app to learn languages. Download the app and try it for free!

Learning a second language can help you with everything from getting a better job to having a great vacation experience. But most of us don’t have time to sit in stuffy classrooms for hours a week using old methods to try to grasp the language basics. It’s much more fun, efficient and effective to learn a language using the one tool that’s usually by your side – your smartphone. And we’ve simply not found a better mobile language-learning app than Babbel. Here’s why.

1. Start speaking right away

Babbel gets you speaking immediately with practical phrases and vocabulary that you’ll actually use. You’ll go from “Hello, how are you?” to “When is the next train?” quicker than you thought possible thanks to lessons tailored by native speakers. Plus, with handy reminders, you can fit lessons in whenever you have the time – whether it’s during your lunch break, on your way to work, or before you fall asleep at night.

Babbel

2. Short lessons wherever you are

Babbel’s lessons take only 5-10 minutes and can be enjoyed on your smartphone, tablet or desktop computer. But even though the lessons are short, the method works remarkably well. In fact, according to researchers from the City University of New York and the University of South Carolina, Babbel users were able to cover the requirements of a semester-long college Spanish course in just 21 hours of study with Babbel over a two-month period

Babbel

3. Learn according to your own needs

As you know, we all learn differently and have different vocabulary needs. A business traveler will need one set of terms to be successful, while a tourist will need another. Babble not only allows you to focus on the topics you need, but it also combines a mix of reading, writing, speaking, seeing and listening exercises that let you use whichever method works best for you. 

Babbel

4. Get results….for real!

According to the university studies mentioned above, 9 out of 10 Babbel users improved their Spanish proficiency in just two months. That’s partly because the app uses a specially developed learning system that reviews vocabulary words at just the right times to move them from your short-term to your long-term memory. But don’t take our word for it, check out the thousands of positive reviews our app has gotten on the Google Play and Apple stores, including this one …

“Excellent App and truly a full course to learn languages fast! There is nothing that can compete on the market and the App is worth every cent! Just start learning a common language to improve yourself, even if you don’t feel an immediate use. You’ll enjoy it! There is so much to learn about culture at the same time. The App covers it all in a very clever way.” – Sarah Bremmer

5. Free Trial

While we’re convinced that Babbel is the premiere best way to learn another language, you can find out for yourself without spending a dime by trying the app’s demo, which entitles you to a completely free lesson from any one of 14 languages. 

Once your free lesson is complete, you can sign up for a variety of packages as low as just €9,95 per month. All packages come with a 20-day money back guarantee as well, so if you find that Babbel is not right for you at any time during that period, a full refund is just a click away. You’ve got nothing to lose and the power of unlocking a second language to gain! 

Google Translatotron can mimic your voice

Google’s Translatotron improves speech-to-speech translation and can even mimic the speaker’s voice.

Google Translate logo

Google Translate is an incredible tool.

It hasn’t had the panache of some of the translating devices, we’ve seen in pop culture sci-fi outings like “Star Trek” and “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” But it’s been getting the job done for years. From travelers in foreign lands to high school kids doing their Spanish homework, Google Translate has made it easier to converse across multiple languages.

Incredibly, Google’s showpiece translation tool is about to get even better with Google Translatotron. Soon, it could be entering realms of existence that have so far only belonged in our wildest imagination.

Google Translate Download now ►
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Google Translatotron improves speech-to-speech, mimics user’s voice

Google translate

Speech-to-speech translation is still not a huge thing in today’s world. Google has been trying to push it recently, via its Home Hub assistant, but it hasn’t really caught on with the general public. Most of us are still typing in what we need translating or using Google’s excellent image recognition software to take pictures of text that we want to translate.

The main reason for this is that technology hasn’t quite been good enough, up to now. The way speech-to-speech translation works currently is by:

  • Listening to the spoken words
  • Transcribing it into text
  • Translating the text into the target language
  • Finally, converting it back into speech.

All these steps take time and the end result is a more regular text-based conversion.

Google’s new Translatotron is going to change this and will implement true speech-to-speech translation. Translatotron will allow Google to cut out the need to convert sounds into text, which will save time and remove steps were a translation could go wrong.

The other cool feature that Translatotron gives Google is the ability to make the translated speech mimic the voice of the original user. You can find some audio samples of this action here.

How Google Translatotron works
Image via: Google

According to Google, the new feature uses a variety of methods to translate directly from voice and then mimic said voice in its recreations. It’s pretty confusing, but you can find the complete explanation here.

Wrapping up

It isn’t clear when Translatotron will start to be incorporated into Google Translate. The blog post ends by calling it a “start point” for future research on end-to-end speech-to-speech translation systems.

Google sees this as the beginning of something rather than the culmination. It is clear from the audio samples that it is far from a polished feature. Perhaps this is why Google has called it Translatotron, which wouldn’t be out of place in a clunky 1950s era sci-fi outing. It is futuristic, but far from slick.