Babbel.com donates 200 online language courses to Doctors Without Borders’ volunteers

Sept. 9, 2011 - PRLog -- Learning additional languages always helps aid workers work more effectively in the field. The online language learning platform Babbel has provided the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) with 200 year-long courses. MSF aid workers from the U.S. will predominantly have access to French courses, which is especially important since about half of MSF’s projects are in francophone Africa.

Meanwhile basic and advanced courses are also available in Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, German, Polish, Dutch, Turkish, Indonesian and English as a Second Language.

Babbel’s flexible, individualized learning technology makes efficient, mobile study possible. Available online or as an iPhone or iPod Touch app, myriad themes such as “Communication,” “Culture,” “Feelings and Attitudes” or “Transport and Travel” can be studied. Personalized vocabulary lists can help aid workers communicate with other cultures on the ground.

“MSF is grateful to Babbel for its donation of language classes for our aid workers,” said Jennifer Tierney, Director of Development for MSF-USA. “Currently, MSF is providing emergency medical care in almost 70 countries – treating more than 12,000 people for malnutrition in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya and scaling up activities in drought-stricken Somalia.”

“We at Babbel know how important language skills can be and are proud to support Doctors Without Borders’ exceptional work,” adds Babbel’s Managing Director, Markus Witte.

Further information can be found here: http://www.babbel.com/home/about/press



About Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971. Today, MSF provides independent, impartial assistance in nearly 70 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters. In 1999, MSF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  For more information visit www.doctorswithoutborders.org

About Babbel
With the online learning system Babbel (http://www.babbel.com), both beginners and continuing learners can study English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Swedish, Dutch, Indonesian, Polish and Turkish. Babbel.com offers interactive online-courses and has iPhone apps for learning a language on the go. 1 million people from over 200 countries have already registered with Babbel, while the iPhone app has passed the 1 million download mark.

The company behind Babbel, Lesson Nine GmbH, operates out of Berlin, Germany. Founded in August 2007, it now has around 70 full-time and freelance employees. Since July 2008 Lesson Nine has been funded by Kizoo AG and VC-Fonds Berlin. Further information at http://www.babbel.com/home/about