It's been a while since I’ve a) traveled and b) took high school Spanish classes. I’m hoping that as more people get vaccinated, my chances of travelling are increasing, but I started to notice that my Spanish was getting rustier and rustier. This was a problem because I’d really like to go to South America—maybe Peru?—once all of this is over. To keep me dreaming of adventures outside of my apartment and neighborhood, I decided it was time to beef up on my spanish. That’s where Babbel comes in.

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Similar to Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, Babbel is an online learning platform, where you can learn tons of languages. Instead of going for something outlandish, like Swedish (I wouldn’t stand a chance), I opted for Spanish, a language I already kind of, sort of, a little bit know. To start, you select the language you want to learn, and they give you a little assessment to place you in the right level. For me, I wasn’t exactly a beginner in spanish, but I’m no expert either. From there, you get to determine how often you want to do the exercises—whether it’s 5 to 15 minutes a day, any amount really helps. There are different courses and modules based on different things, like travel, food, greetings, pretty much everything you’d need to use language for. And they test you in different and fun ways, whether that’s through speaking, writing, or just matching words with their english counterparts.

Not only does Babbel make language learning fun, it’s easy to see how useful it is. I feel like now, if I do end up going to Peru (fingers crossed!), I’ll be prepared for pretty much anything. And better yet, I hope it will open more doors for me, and I’ll get to experience the culture there a little more head on, instead of being the silly American who only knows how to ask where the bathroom is.

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