*This article may contain affiliate links. For full information, please see the disclaimer here.
In a territory invaded and occupied by Slavic groups like the Hungarians and Bulgarians, it’s astounding how the Romanian language survived. Over 1,700 years later, Romanian is the only Romance language to thrive in Eastern Europe, a reminder of how widespread the Roman Empire’s influence was.
Like other Romance languages, Romanian is a Category I language in FSI’s classification, making it one of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers. This, plus the fact that Romanian is spoken by over 34 million people, makes it a language that’s worth learning.
But if you’re thinking of learning Romanian through Babbel, here’s some bad news: there’s no Babbel Romanian course.
Instead, you can give some Babbel alternatives a try — and this post will dig deep into some of them. Să mergem!
What is Babbel?
But first, what is Babbel?
As one of the most popular language learning apps in the market, Babbel is known for its holistic courses that target skills such as reading, vocabulary and grammar, listening, and speaking skills. The app does this through a variety of exercises like flashcards, practice dialogues, and listening drills.
For a rundown of how the app works, check out my Babbel review.
What makes Babbel great is its use of audio clips featuring the voices of native speakers. At the same time, it has a speech recognition engine that requires you to be accurate with your pronunciation and accent. With these features combined, you get an authentic and immersive experience without leaving your house!
For something that sounds so awesome, it’s a real shame that it offers only 14 languages including more popular ones like Spanish, French, and Russian. As I said earlier, there’s no Romanian on Babbel.
The best Babbel alternatives for learning Romanian
Here’s some good news though: There are lots of apps to learn Romanian. Most of them offer gamified courses while some focus on audio exercises to train your Romanian listening and speaking skills. I recommend starting with these three:
1. Mondly
Mondly shares similarities with Babbel in terms of structure. If you’re looking for immersive exercises, particularly conversation practice, this is the app to try.
Mondly teaches Romanian through tons of lessons covering practical, real-life topics. To help you achieve native-like fluency, the app features day-to-day scenarios in conversations. It also helps expand your vocabulary and learn grammar through games.
One way Mondly helps to keep you motivated is by giving weekly quizzes, monthly challenges, and a leaderboard. This lets you measure your progress and pump you up to keep learning.
What’s more, you can use the app for free! That said, its premium version features way more content and exercises. Here are the latest offers.
Key features:
- Quick daily lessons that improve core skills
- Practical topics to help expand vocabulary and improve grammar
- Conversations for listening and speaking practice
2. Pimsleur
Try Pimsleur Romanian for FREE today
Owing to its isolation from other Romance languages (and the influence of Slavic languages), the phonetic evolution of Romanian differs. And while it also uses the Latin alphabet, Romanian has five additional letters, Ă, Â, Î, Ș, Ț.
All to say that even if you know other Romance languages or English, which shares a lot of similarities with Romanian, you’ll still have a lot to learn when it comes to pronunciation.
Fortunately, an app like Pimsleur exists.
This audio-based app features a scientifically-proven language learning method. Through 30-minute core audio lessons, you’ll learn Romanian words and phrases from native speakers. This means you hear correct pronunciations and accents.
What I love about Pimsleur is that it encourages you to participate — that is, speak — through its effective call-and-response patterns. Grammar is also taught in the context of conversations, making them easier to recall and apply. You can learn more about the app in this Pimsleur review. Better yet, try it yourself for free!
Key features:
- Audio-based lessons that get you speaking from day one
- Hear and learn accurate pronunciation and accents from native speakers
- Expand your Romanian vocabulary and knowledge of grammar
3. Ling App
Another comprehensive app that won’t bore you to death, Ling App offers a game-like experience of learning Romanian.
Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced learner, Ling has lots of exciting lessons and fun exercises for you. In just 10 minutes a day, you can use flashcards to test your knowledge, boost your conversational skills with a chatbot, learn to construct sentences, and practice writing Romanian characters.
Ling also uses native Romanian speakers to help you perfect your pronunciation. Plus, you get to learn through various real-world topics. What’s not to like?
Key features:
- Fun mini-games and challenges for learners of all levels
- Lots of conversation practice
- Grammar tips and writing practice
Other great resources to learn Romanian
Using Mondly, Pimsleur, or Ling to jumpstart your Romanian learning journey is a great move. But having more than one string to your bow is always nice. From apps to Romanian learning books to free sites, there are tons of resources available online.
Duolingo: Great for beginners and intermediate learners, Duolingo’s Romanian course includes over 2,400 words and phrases taught through fun exercises. You can grow your vocabulary in as short as five minutes per day.
Italki: Self-learning is great but if you want instant feedback and personalized coaching, hiring a Romanian tutor on italki is the way to go. You can find native Romanian teachers who’ll help you be conversational and build strong foundations in grammar, all while sharing Romanian culture with you. As an alternative, you can also check out Preply.
Complete Romanian Beginner to Intermediate Course: This book packs everything you need to jump from beginner to intermediate level. Lessons are broken down into themes, with most focusing on how you can converse in Romanian. Comes with an audio CD for listening practice.
RomanianPod101: For short audio and video lessons, turn to the reliable RomanianPod101. You can access its lesson library, vocabulary lists, and Romanian-English dictionary, watch informative and fun lessons on its YouTube channel, or listen to podcasts on the go!
First Romanian Reader for Beginners: If you’re a fan of storybooks, why not use one to learn Romanian? This bilingual reader includes funny and sometimes silly stories that’ll entertain and teach you at the same time. Its casual tone is great for acquiring conversational skills too.
Simple Romanian: With 74 lessons tackling a whole range of relevant topics, this solid resource is a must for any Romanian learner. Created by a native Romanian speaker, this website teaches vocabulary and breaks down grammar through dialogues. It features video and audio content and is absolutely free!
Cudoo: Perfect for both novice and advanced learners, Cudoo lets you study Romanian online at your own pace. The courses, which you can access on desktop and mobile, are offered in three levels and focus on helping you become conversational. There’s also a Business Romanian course for those who want to learn business terms and practices.
Clozemaster: A step up from Duolingo and other gamified apps, Clozemaster is ideal for upper intermediate and advanced learners who want more challenging exercises. Here, you’ll be asked to fill in the blanks with Romanian words solely based on context.
Romanian music: Listening to Romanian music is a great way to expose yourself to more native speakers, or in this case, singers. Sure, you can’t learn from this method alone. But it can complement other tools and it’ll help you be more familiar with Romanian words and phrases. You can start with Romanian pop songs or explore different genres if you’re feeling more adventurous.
Conclusion
The lack of a Babbel Romanian course shouldn’t prevent you from pursuing this language. As you can see from the list above, there are tons of Romanian learning resources available to you — you simply have to commit.
A good mix of apps, books, online courses, and immersive audio/video content is a recipe for success. Get started now and you’ll get to fluency faster than you think!