1. Data Collection
When you create a Babel Free account or use our services, we may collect the following information:
- Account information — Name, email address, and a password (which is stored only in hashed form, never as plain text)
- Language preferences — Your native language and target language(s), used to personalize your learning experience
- Date of birth — Used to verify age eligibility and to tailor content appropriateness
- Country — Used for regional content adaptation and language variant selection (e.g., Latin American vs. Castilian Spanish)
- Phone number (optional) — Provided only if you choose to add it for account recovery purposes
- Learning progress — CEFR level, completed destinations, vocabulary mastery data, game scores, and personal lexicon entries
- Feedback and forum contributions — Any content you submit through our feedback widget or grammar forum
We do not collect data beyond what is necessary to provide and improve our language learning services.
2. Purpose of Data Use
We use the data we collect for the following purposes:
- Language learning personalization — Adapting content to your CEFR level, native language, and learning history. At A1–A2 Basic, instruction appears in your native language; from A2 Advanced onward, the course transitions to full Spanish immersion.
- Progress tracking — Recording which destinations you have completed, which vocabulary you have mastered, and which areas need further practice.
- CEFR level adaptation — Automatically adjusting the difficulty and scaffolding of activities based on your demonstrated proficiency.
- Service improvement — Analyzing aggregated, anonymized usage patterns to improve our content, fix errors, and develop new features.
- Communication — Responding to your feedback, support requests, and forum posts.
- Account management — Authenticating your identity, enabling password recovery, and maintaining your account.
3. Storage and Security
We take the security of your data seriously and implement the following measures:
- Encryption in transit — All data transmitted between your browser and our servers is encrypted using HTTPS (TLS/SSL).
- Password hashing — Passwords are hashed using industry-standard algorithms before storage. We never store passwords in plain text, and our staff cannot view your password.
- Access controls — Access to personal data is restricted to authorized personnel who need it to operate, develop, or improve our services.
- Regular security audits — We conduct periodic security reviews of our systems and codebase.
- Server security — Our servers are maintained with current security patches and monitored for unauthorized access.
While no system can guarantee absolute security, we are committed to protecting your data using reasonable and appropriate technical and organizational measures.
4. Cookies
Babel Free uses cookies in a limited and transparent manner:
- Session cookies — Essential cookies used for authentication and maintaining your logged-in state. These expire when you close your browser or after a reasonable session timeout.
- Preference cookies — Used to remember your language preference and display settings (e.g., English or Spanish interface). These are stored in your browser’s localStorage.
We do not use third-party tracking cookies. We do not use cookies for behavioral advertising, cross-site tracking, or profiling.
If our site displays advertisements, any ad-related cookies are managed by the ad network and are subject to their own privacy policies. We do not share your personal account data with advertisers.
5. Third Parties
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to any third party. Full stop.
We may share limited, anonymized data with the following categories of service providers, solely to operate our platform:
- Hosting providers — For server infrastructure and data storage
- Email services — For sending account-related communications (password resets, feedback responses)
Any service providers we work with are contractually required to protect your data and use it only for the purposes we specify.
6. Your Rights
In compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and similar data protection laws, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- Right of access — You can request a copy of all personal data we hold about you.
- Right to rectification — You can request correction of any inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Right to erasure — You can request deletion of your personal data (“right to be forgotten”).
- Right to restriction — You can request that we limit the processing of your data.
- Right to data portability — You can request your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
- Right to object — You can object to the processing of your data for specific purposes.
- Right to withdraw consent — Where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at privacy@babelfree.com. We will respond to your request within 30 days.
7. Marketing Communications
We respect your inbox. Our approach to marketing communications is straightforward:
- Opt-in only — We will only send you marketing emails if you have explicitly opted in to receive them.
- Easy unsubscribe — Every marketing email includes a clear unsubscribe link. You can opt out at any time with a single click.
- Transactional emails — Account-related emails (password resets, security alerts, direct replies to your feedback) are not marketing and will be sent as needed regardless of your marketing preferences.
8. Data Retention
We retain your personal data as follows:
- Active accounts — Your data is kept for as long as your account remains active. This includes your learning progress, personal lexicon, and all associated data.
- Inactive accounts — If your account remains inactive for an extended period, we may contact you before taking any action on your data.
- Deletion requests — When you request account deletion, we will remove your personal data within 30 days. Some anonymized, aggregated data may be retained for service improvement purposes.
- Forum contributions — Public forum posts may be retained after account deletion in an anonymized form to preserve the integrity of community discussions.
9. Children and Minors
Babel Free and La senda del jaguar are intended for users aged 13 and older.
- We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 13.
- Users between the ages of 13 and 16 (or the applicable age of consent in their jurisdiction) should have parental or guardian consent before creating an account.
- If we become aware that we have collected data from a child under 13 without parental consent, we will delete that data promptly.
- Parents or guardians who believe their child has provided personal data without consent should contact us at privacy@babelfree.com.
Our course content is designed to be appropriate for all ages, but the account and data collection features are intended for users who meet the minimum age requirement.
10. Contact Us
If you have questions about this privacy policy, want to exercise your data rights, or have concerns about how your data is handled, you can reach us through:
- Privacy inquiries: privacy@babelfree.com
- General contact: info@babelfree.com
- Contact form: babelfree.com/contact
We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 30 days.
11. Policy Updates
We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements, or other factors.
- When we make material changes, we will notify registered users by email and/or by displaying a notice on our website.
- The “Effective date” at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised.
- We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your data.
- Continued use of Babel Free after a policy update constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.
If you disagree with any changes to this policy, you may close your account and request deletion of your data at any time.
Política de tratamiento de datos personales — Colombia (Ley 1581 de 2012)
Esta sección complementa la Política de Privacidad anterior y aplica específicamente para los Titulares de datos personales en la República de Colombia, en cumplimiento de la Ley 1581 de 2012, el Decreto Reglamentario 1377 de 2013 y demás normas concordantes.
1. Identificación del Responsable del Tratamiento
El Responsable del Tratamiento de los datos personales recolectados a través de este sitio web es:
- Nombre: Babel Free
- Sitio web: https://babelfree.com
- Correo electrónico de contacto: privacy@babelfree.com / info@babelfree.com
2. Finalidad del tratamiento
Babel Free recopila y trata datos personales con las siguientes finalidades:
- Personalización del aprendizaje del español según el nivel MCER, idioma nativo e historial de aprendizaje del Titular.
- Seguimiento del progreso académico (destinos completados, vocabulario dominado, puntuaciones).
- Gestión de cuentas, autenticación y recuperación de credenciales.
- Comunicación con el Titular en respuesta a sus solicitudes, retroalimentación o aportes en el foro.
- Envío de notificaciones del producto y, si el Titular lo autoriza expresamente, comunicaciones de mercadeo.
- Mejora continua del servicio mediante análisis de patrones de uso anonimizados.
3. Datos personales recolectados
Babel Free puede recolectar los siguientes datos: nombre, correo electrónico, contraseña (almacenada en forma cifrada), idioma nativo e idioma(s) objetivo, fecha de nacimiento, país, número de teléfono (opcional), progreso de aprendizaje y aportes en foros o formularios. Babel Free no recolecta datos sensibles en los términos del artículo 5 de la Ley 1581 de 2012.
4. Derechos del Titular
De conformidad con el artículo 8 de la Ley 1581 de 2012, el Titular tiene los siguientes derechos:
- Conocer, actualizar y rectificar sus datos personales.
- Solicitar prueba de la autorización otorgada al Responsable.
- Ser informado, previa solicitud, respecto del uso que se ha dado a sus datos personales.
- Presentar quejas ante la Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (SIC) por infracciones a lo dispuesto en la Ley.
- Revocar la autorización y/o solicitar la supresión del dato cuando en el tratamiento no se respeten los principios, derechos y garantías constitucionales y legales.
- Acceder en forma gratuita a sus datos personales que hayan sido objeto de tratamiento.
5. Procedimiento para ejercer los derechos
El Titular puede ejercer sus derechos enviando una solicitud al correo privacy@babelfree.com, indicando claramente:
- Nombre completo y correo electrónico asociado a la cuenta.
- Descripción del derecho que desea ejercer (consulta, rectificación, supresión, revocación, etc.).
Babel Free atenderá las consultas en un plazo máximo de diez (10) días hábiles y los reclamos en un plazo máximo de quince (15) días hábiles, contados a partir del día siguiente a la fecha de su recibo, conforme a los artículos 14 y 15 de la Ley 1581 de 2012.
6. Autorización
Mediante el envío de cualquier formulario de recolección de datos en este sitio (incluyendo el formulario de acceso anticipado de La senda del jaguar), el Titular autoriza expresamente a Babel Free para el tratamiento de sus datos personales con las finalidades descritas en esta política. Esta autorización podrá ser revocada en cualquier momento mediante el procedimiento descrito en el numeral 5.
7. Transferencia internacional de datos
Los servidores donde se almacenan los datos personales pueden estar ubicados fuera del territorio colombiano. Babel Free se asegura de que los proveedores de servicios de hospedaje cumplan con estándares razonables de seguridad y confidencialidad equivalentes a los exigidos por la legislación colombiana.
8. Tratamiento de datos de menores de edad
Babel Free reconoce el carácter de protección especial que la Constitución y la jurisprudencia colombiana otorgan a los datos personales de los niños, niñas y adolescentes. La recolección y tratamiento de datos de menores de 18 años requiere autorización expresa del padre, madre o representante legal, salvo en aquellos casos previstos por la ley.
9. Vigencia
Esta política rige desde su fecha de publicación y permanecerá vigente mientras Babel Free realice tratamiento de datos personales. Cualquier modificación será informada a través del sitio web babelfree.com.
10. Autoridad de control
La autoridad competente en materia de protección de datos personales en Colombia es la Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (SIC). Los Titulares pueden presentar quejas a través del sitio web https://www.sic.gov.co.
Fecha de entrada en vigencia de esta sección: 29 de abril de 2026.