International Survey From Babbel Finds Language Learning is the Most Kept New Year’s Resolution
Nearly two-thirds of Americans completed their New Year’s resolution of language learning in 2014, and Spanish and French top the lists of Americans aspiring to learn in 2015
With more than 1,300 new users signing up every hour, Babbel, the award-winning language learning app, is today releasing the results of a new survey among 10,000 Babbel users in the United States, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, UK, Italy and France that found people have better odds of learning a new language than achieving other New Year’s resolutions like quitting smoking or being more athletic. In fact, more than 50% of people internationally who set out to learn new languages in January 2014 are still following their New Year’s resolutions today. For Americans aspiring in 2015, top resolutions are to learn Spanish (38.4%), French (28.2%) and Swedish (4.3%), while other countries surveyed largely plan to learn English (44%).
In 2014, language learning topped New Year’s resolution lists across U.S. and European markets with Americans in particular reporting a strong success rate. In fact, 62% of U.S. language learners achieved their resolution, successfully adopting a new language in 2014, following dedicated learners in Austria (72%) and Switzerland (64%).
“It’s exciting to see a shift in New Year’s resolutions with more Americans looking to improve themselves by learning a second or third language,” said Markus Witte, Babbel founder and CEO. “Their strong success rate is a testament to their passion and hard work and shows that anyone can learn a language. Our app challenges the theory that language learning is a chore or boring, serving up language-specific courses that customize the learning process, build confidence and retain users.”
While language learning was a frontrunner in 2014, other popular New Year’s resolutions in the U.S. not surprisingly included losing weight (17%) and eating healthier (13%), whereas Germans aimed to reduce stress (14%) and play more sports (16%) and UK residents planned to read more (11%).
Language learning has never been easier and more fun, and with the start of the New Year, it’s the perfect time to adopt a new language. Babbel features customized courses designed based on the user’s native language and serves up bite-sized courses that make learning fun, efficient and effective to do at any age. Simply visit Babbel.com to sign-up or download its free mobile apps, select from one of its 14 languages and start learning today.
About Babbel
Babbel develops and operates an ecosystem of interconnected online language learning experiences and is driven by the purpose of creating mutual understanding through language. This means building products that help people connect and communicate across cultures. The Babbel App, Babbel Live, Babbel Podcasts and Babbel for Business products focus on using a new language in the real world, in real situations, with real people. And it works: Studies by linguists from institutions such as Michigan State University, Yale University and the City University of New York demonstrated the efficacy of Babbel’s language learning methods.
The key is a blend of humanity and technology. Babbel offers more than 60,000 lessons across 15 languages, hand-crafted by nearly 200 didactics experts, with user behaviors continuously analysed to shape and tweak the learner experience. This results in constantly adapting, interactive content with live classes, games, podcasts and videos that make understanding a new language easy, from Spanish to Indonesian.
Because Babbel is for everyone, its team is as diverse as its content. From its headquarters in Berlin and its U.S. office in New York, 1000 people from more than 80 nationalities represent the backgrounds, characteristics and perspectives that make all humans unique. Babbel sold over 15 million subscriptions by creating a true connection with users.
More information: www.babbel.com
