The challenge

Although Blinkist has access to classroom lessons, their Learning Manager wanted to make sure that languages were available in a digital format, so that they would be accessible to all employees. Therefore, Blinkist was looking for a digital language-learning solution to help unite their international team and improve their language skills efficiently.

Blinkist is a curiosity-driven, innovative company that prides itself on creating a meaningful product that truly adds value to people’s lives. The team of readers, writers, designers, developers, and strategists from over 40 countries enjoys a flat hierarchy and empowering work culture, so it’s no wonder that the team required an accessible and innovative language-learning solution that brings the company together.

The main challenge for Blinkist was to be able to communicate effectively with each other as well as with external partners. Just like in many Berlin-based startups, German is not a prerequisite to employment, and as a result many Blinkist employees were keen to either start learning German or improve the skills they already had.

Although Blinkist’s Learning Manager had already implemented classroom lessons for employees, he felt the company needed a digital solution to fit in their busy working day, and that employees would improve more quickly with short, bite-size lessons than in a classroom. To give employees the best possible start to their language learning journey, the key ingredients were good onboarding, 1:1 video lessons, as well as diverse and adaptable courses tailored to the working environment.

Why Babbel?

Blinkist was keen to offer a language solution as a corporate benefit. Not only would this increase employee motivation, but having people speaking additional languages would be a huge advantage to the company.

Babbel is a great fit because our offering met all the points the company needed. With Babbel Intensive, every employee at Blinkist has access to an onboarding session and 1:1 video lessons with professional teachers. Babbel allows every person in the company to learn at their own pace, at their own level, and in the language of their choice.

Although many Blinkist employees have chosen German as their primary language, many in the team are native German speakers and are keen to brush up on their Business English or start learning an entirely new language. Babbel gives every learner access to all 14 languages, at no extra cost to the company.

Blinkist has had some fantastic feedback since introducing Babbel. One employee said they’re better able to communicate with international colleagues, while another said they’ve improved their cultural understanding as well as their German skills. At the same time, the Learning Manager had been able to follow along, thanks to regular usage reports allowing him to keep track of the learning progress as well as the user-friendly Admin Portal where he could easily manage accesses.

And there are some important benefits for Blinkist as a company too. Not only have the improved language skills strengthened the company culture and internal communication, but the relationships with external partners are also improving as more and more employees are able to communicate more effectively.

Conclusion

Blinkist was looking for a digital language-learning solution as flexible and forward-thinking as their product. Babbel offered the perfect blended learning solution, with a combination of online and offline learning and flexible access for everybody, whatever their level.