Privacy Policy

Who we are

BabelFriends is a language-learning platform that allows users to learn languages, practise their skills and connect with other language learners.

Our website address is: https://babelfriends.com

For the purposes of applicable data protection legislation, BabelFriends is responsible for the processing of your personal data collected through this website.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or about how your personal data is processed, you can contact us through the «Contact Us» section of the website.

What personal data we collect

Depending on how you use BabelFriends, we may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

• Account information
• Profile information
• Language information
• Learning information
• Communication information
• Technical information
• Support information

We only collect information that is necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy or that you voluntarily choose to provide.

User Accounts and Profiles

BabelFriends uses Ultimate Member to provide user registration, login and profile functionality.

When you create an account or complete your profile, BabelFriends may collect and process your account and profile information.

We use this information to:

• create and manage your BabelFriends account;
• authenticate you and provide access to your account;
• provide and display your user profile;
• allow users to find language-learning partners;
• enable communication between users;
• provide language-learning content and track learning progress;
• maintain the security and proper functioning of the website; and
• provide customer support and respond to your requests.

Some information in your profile may be visible to other registered users so that they can find and connect with language-learning partners.

You decide what optional information you provide in your profile. We recommend that you do not include sensitive or unnecessary personal information in your public profile.

Language Learning and Progress

When you use the language-learning features of BabelFriends, we may store information about the courses, lessons and learning activities associated with your account.

This information may include the languages you are studying, your current course and lesson, and your learning progress.

We use this information to provide the learning features of BabelFriends, remember your progress and allow you to continue your courses from where you previously stopped.

Private Messaging

BabelFriends uses Better Messages to provide private messaging between users.

When you use the messaging feature, we may collect and store:

• messages you send;
• file attachments that you send through the messaging system;
• information about the users participating in a conversation;
• message delivery and read information;
• online status and activity information used by the messaging system; and
• reactions or other interaction data associated with messages.

This information is used to provide and operate the private messaging service.

Message content is intended to be accessible only to the participants of the relevant conversation and to authorised website administrators where necessary for the operation, security or support of the website.

Recent conversation data may also be temporarily cached in your browser to improve the performance of the messaging system. This browser-stored information remains on your device and can generally be removed by clearing your browser data.

How we use your personal data

We may use your personal data for the following purposes:

• to provide and operate BabelFriends;
• to create and manage user accounts;
• to provide language-learning services and remember your learning progress;
• to allow users to find and communicate with language-learning partners;
• to provide private messaging functionality;
• to respond to questions and support requests;
• to maintain website security and prevent misuse;
• to diagnose and resolve technical problems;
• to comply with applicable legal obligations; and
• to protect the rights, property and security of BabelFriends and its users.

We do not use your personal data for purposes that are incompatible with those described in this Privacy Policy without providing appropriate information or obtaining consent where required by law.

Legal basis for processing

Where applicable, we process your personal data on the following legal bases:

• Performance of a contract
• Consent
• Legitimate interests
• Legal obligations

Cookies

BabelFriends uses cookies and similar technologies to provide essential website functionality, keep users logged in, remember preferences and, where applicable, support other website features.

Some cookies are strictly necessary for the operation and security of the website and cannot be disabled through the website's cookie settings.

Where required by law, non-essential cookies and similar technologies will only be used after obtaining your consent.

You can manage your cookie preferences through the cookie settings provided on the website.

For more information, please see our

Embedded content and third-party services

Some pages on BabelFriends may contain content or services provided by third parties, such as videos, images or other embedded content.

Embedded content from third-party services may cause those services to collect information about your visit, use cookies or similar technologies, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content.

The processing of personal data by these third-party services is governed by their own privacy policies.

Where appropriate, BabelFriends will provide information about these services through its cookie or consent mechanisms.

Who we share your data with

We do not sell your personal data.

We may share or provide access to personal data with service providers that help us operate BabelFriends, such as hosting, website infrastructure, email, security, technical support or other services necessary to operate the website.

These service providers may only process personal data as necessary to provide their services and, where required, under appropriate contractual and data protection arrangements.

We may also disclose personal data where this is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, respond to a lawful request from a competent authority, protect the security of the website or protect the rights of BabelFriends or its users.

Your profile information may be visible to other registered users where this is necessary for the language-exchange and social features of BabelFriends.

Third-party messaging and content services

Certain features of BabelFriends may use third-party services to provide specific functionality.

For example, embedded videos may be provided by services such as YouTube or Vimeo. When you interact with such content, the relevant third-party provider may process information about your visit.

If BabelFriends introduces additional third-party services that process personal data, this Privacy Policy and, where applicable, our cookie information will be updated accordingly.

Data retention

We retain your account and profile information for as long as your BabelFriends account remains active or for as long as necessary to provide the services associated with your account.

Learning progress and related information may be retained while your account is active so that you can continue using the learning features of BabelFriends.

Messages and messaging-related information may be retained while necessary to provide the messaging service and maintain conversation functionality.

If you request deletion of your account, we will delete or anonymise your personal data where applicable, unless we are legally required or otherwise permitted to retain certain information for a longer period.

Some information may need to be retained for security, fraud prevention, legal or administrative purposes.

Your rights

Depending on applicable data protection law, you may have the right to:

• request access to the personal data we hold about you;
• request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
• request deletion of your personal data;
• request restriction of the processing of your personal data;
• object to certain processing activities;
• request the portability of your personal data where applicable; and
• withdraw consent where processing is based on your consent.

You can also request information about how your personal data is processed.

To exercise your rights, please contact us through the «Contact Us» section of BabelFriends.

We may need to verify your identity before processing certain requests.

Account deletion

You may request the deletion of your BabelFriends account and the personal data associated with it.

When an account is deleted, we will delete or anonymise personal data where applicable, subject to any legal, security or administrative requirements that require certain information to be retained.

Deleting an account may also result in the loss of access to courses, learning progress, profile information and other account-related features.

Data security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, loss or destruction.

However, no method of transmitting or storing information online can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Users are responsible for keeping their account credentials confidential and should notify BabelFriends if they believe that their account has been compromised.

International data transfers

Some of the service providers used to operate BabelFriends may process personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

Where personal data is transferred outside the EEA, we will take appropriate measures to ensure that the transfer is carried out in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.

These measures may include the use of adequacy decisions, Standard Contractual Clauses or other legally recognised safeguards where required.

Children's privacy

BabelFriends is not intended to collect personal information from children in circumstances where such collection is prohibited by applicable law.

If you believe that a child has provided personal data to BabelFriends without the appropriate authorisation, please contact us so that we can take appropriate action.

Your responsibility when using the platform

BabelFriends is a platform that allows users to create profiles and communicate with other language learners.

You should avoid publishing sensitive personal information in your public profile or sending sensitive personal information to other users through the messaging system unless you consider it necessary and appropriate.

Information that you voluntarily make available to other users may be copied or used by those users outside the control of BabelFriends.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to BabelFriends, the services we provide, the technologies we use or applicable legal requirements.

When we make significant changes, we will provide appropriate notice where required.

The date shown at the beginning of this Privacy Policy indicates when it was last updated.

Contact

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, your personal data or the exercise of your data protection rights, please contact us through the «Contact Us» section of BabelFriends.

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your personal data, you may also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority.