FAQ - The Babbel Review Manager

Your stored vocabulary and your Review Manager

Most words and phrases that you’ve learned with Babbel will be stored in your personal Vocabulary list: just click on "Vocabulary" in the lower half of your Babbel homepage to access the list for any learning language. This links with your Review Manager that will remind you when words and phrases are due for review. We recommend using the Review manager regularly to consolidate what you are learning within the courses.

Learning that sticks

In order to really commit vocabulary to your long-term memory, you need to practise often and at appropriately spaced intervals. Based on the proven method of "spaced repetition", your Review Manager will remind you when a vocabulary item is due for review. The review intervals are determined individually for each word or phrase based on how often it has been reviewed and how often you get it right.

Vocabulary levels

Every word or phrase in your Vocabulary list is assigned to one of six knowledge levels. Every time one is reviewed correctly, it moves up a level. Likewise, if you get it wrong, it moves down a level.

This means words and phrases that come easily to you will end up at a higher level and, consequently, need to be reviewed less. Those you have more difficulty with, on the other hand, will have to be reviewed more often until they have been truly committed to memory.

Longer intervals after every review

For each level a word or phrase moves up, the longer the interval before it will need to be reviewed again. At the beginning – or when you’ve made a mistake – the interval is one day. On the second level up, it’s four days, then seven, then 14, and then 60 days. Once a word reaches the sixth level, it will be six months before it is due for review again.

But here’s the good news: you don’t need to worry about how it all works! The Review Manager reminds you automatically to review, and knows exactly what vocabulary to present to you for optimal learning.

Yes. To do this, just click on the X that appears next to each word or phrase at far right.

In the drop-down menu under "More", you will also see the option to "Delete all". Be aware that if you use this, your stored vocabulary will be permanently lost.

Yes. The filter option at the top left of your vocabulary list allows you to sort according to theme or knowledge level. You will then have the option to "Review these items" in the drop-down menu under "More".

You are also able to manage the frequency of review by moving words or phrases to different knowledge levels. To do this, simply click on the knowledge level you would like to assign to each vocabulary item.

Yes. To do so, you first need to create a personalized vocabulary list:

1/ Click on "Create personalized list" on your vocabulary page.

2/ Give your list a title then click on "Create".

After having done this you will see the option to "Add a word" when you access the list. Using this allows you to type in your own words and phrases. Incidentally, if what you type already exists on Babbel, any matches will appear and you need only click on them to add them to your list.

The "Spoken review" option can be found in the drop-down menu under "More" at the top of your vocabulary list. It allows you to review your vocabulary by speaking rather than typing and thus helps strengthen your pronunciation.

Note that you will need to have enabled your microphone to use this feature. See:

How do I set up my microphone to use the speech recognition tool?