Bab.la - Language Portal

Bab.la is a language portal which offers users a complete set of language learning tools. There are quizzes, dictionaries, and forums. The site currently works supports English, German, French, Turkish, Chinese and Portuguese. Users can participate in creating their own tests and translations or they can consult the site’s resources. Tests focus on grammar and syntax as well as terminology which are grouped by subject—e.g. travel, food, lodging etc. The on site dictionaries can be filtered for technical terms, for idiomatic sayings and proverbs, as well as for synonyms; there’s also an in built suggestion engine for finding similar terms. Tools include a dictionary plug-in for Firefox and IE, an iGoogle gadget, and a language quiz widget.

“bab.la is a language project by Andreas Schroeter, Thomas Schroeter and Patrick Uecker. The idea has been on Andreas’ mind for quite some time. During his high school and university years he lived in Canada, France, Sweden and the USA. He noticed that just knowing the exact translation often doesn’t really help. You really need to "live" the language to come up with the right word. Thomas and Andreas have been collecting dictionaries from different languages for a long time. Putting the things together was just a natural step: Starting a portal where language lovers can meet and exchange their ideas and learn languages from each other. Who is a better teacher than a native speaker who likes to share his knowledge? And Patrick is our language expert regarding Pascal, C++, Java, Prolog, LISP, SQL, PHP, JSP and ASP. Thanks to him and his language skills this portal is alive today :-)”

Bab.la offers users a comprehensive learning source for foreign languages. Users can easily test themselves and brush up on their vocab or grammar. It’s a convenient one stop learning site with social features.

Will Babla offer pronunciations for dictionary terminology? More social features, such as language exchange partners, or group learning spaces?