Are you traveling to a new country soon and want to learn a new language? Babbel is a Flex application that can help you. Babbel shows you images and audio of new words for you in a foreign language - users can select from Italian, German, French and Spanish. When you launch the application you are given the option of learning new words in sections (eg. "Movement") and then learn words about that topic ("Going downstairs", "to go", "to go away"...).

TechCrunch details some of the social aspects of Babbel. Users will be able to submit new content - images and audio - to the site, to augment the content that is already available. You can also send messages to other users, and form lesson plans with other people - great if you need motivation to help you learn.

Technically, the site is running on a Ruby on Rails backend, with the servers and data using Amazon's web services (S2 and EC 3).

The site launches in public beta today, and is accepting registrations from anyone.