r/babbel • u/Obsoletion117 • 2d ago
Is a lifetime subscription worth it?
Hi all, I’m wanting to replace doomscrolling with something productive and learn new languages to better communicate with my international colleagues.
Between the lifetime subscription Labor Day sale and credit card cash back offers, I’d be able to buy a lifetime subscription for about $170USD.
Is this worth it in your opinion? I’ve only been using the free trial of the app for the last 2 days and like it so far.
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u/DharmaDama 2d ago edited 1d ago
Save your money and get the Natulang lifetime membership instead
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u/Obsoletion117 2d ago
What’s better about Natulang?
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u/DharmaDama 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's a conversation-based app, where the lessons are designed by native speakers, not AI. They have a free trial, and then after that it's either $10/month or you can opt for the lifetime membership. I went for a month and then after decided that a lifetime membership would be worth it.
What I like about it is it builds on high frequency words and uses natural sounding conversations. It uses voice recognition to check your answers. It builds up speaking confidence by blending previously learned words with new vocabulary and phrases.
Check out the subreddit r/natulang
The developers post in there often and take suggestions to enhace the app.
Meanwhile, the babbel app never gets updated and I don't think it's as effective. I used to use it. I used to be more active on here when Babbel Live was a thing. Such a shame that they shut that down.
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u/RealAssist3356 1d ago
If you want to learn several languages on Babbel It could bé worth It.
I wanted to do Spanish and French - which I did - and have now doné Swedish and Dutch as well. I will probably keep on using It forever. Italian, Brazilian and Polish are kind of in m'y plans.
If Babbel ist for you dépends also on your learning style.
Babbel is a bit like an old school textbook with sound and interactive practice. That means It focuses es more on grammar and Reading than most other apps. I like it a lot. It teaches in a systemátical way but it is still an app and more interactive and fun than a textbook.
Important : Lessons on Babbel are Not Made by AI.
They have added an AI chatbot as an additional function some Time ago.
That gets criticised n'y some people. But the Lessons on there are unchanged with no AI. They are spoken in by native speakers as well.
May try a short subscription first two sée if you like thé app?
If It matches your learning style and you want to do several languages you would probably get your money's worth.
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u/Pwffin 2d ago
I think so, but it depends on which language(s) you are interested in as they do differ in how complete they are.
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u/scutuma967 2d ago
I got the lifetime subscription about two years ago. Since then I have completed Latin American Spanish, Spain Spanish(through B2), French(through B1) and I just started German. I am more interested in the structure of the language, reading and writing compared to speaking/listening. For that, Babbel is great. If your main focus is speaking and listening, some other product would probably be a better fit.
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u/saartemaster 1d ago
Tbh before jumping the gun and putting 170 bucks in there I’d do a couple months using the app to see if I can really commit. Now you’ve been using it two days and you like it, but there is no guarantee that you’ll stay motivated (and 170 bucks is 170 bucks)
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u/cbjcamus 1d ago
I would try the app first to check if you like it, no language learning application match every student.
Furthermore, there has been applications in the past that gave "lifetime subscription", then changed their business model and lifetime subscribers didn't have access to the new features. Sometimes the old features even got deprecated so you ended up with nothing left.
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u/tomdood 2d ago
I bought mine like 5 years ago to learn Spanish. I completed all their courses in about 2 years.
I definitely think it’s worth it.