Duolingo Creator: ‘I Wanted To Create A Way To Learn Languages For Free’
Luis von Ahn is a multi-talented individual, boasting titles such as a computer science professor, entrepreneur, and pioneer in crowdsourcing. Throughout his 20s, he managed to sell two successful companies to Google, and his latest project, Duolingo, is well on its way to transforming language learning across the globe.
"What I had in mind was creating a way for individuals to learn languages without paying exorbitant fees," von Ahn expressed. "Out of the 1.2 billion people learning a foreign language, about two-thirds are learning English to improve their job prospects and earning potential. However, most language courses are expensive, which is where our solution comes in."
In 2012, Luis von Ahn and his co-founder, Severin Hacker, launched Duolingo, which now has over 40 million registered users, being one of the world’s most popular ways to learn a language. In fact, more people in America use Duolingo than the US public school system to learn languages.
Many online platforms offer language learning, but what makes Duolingo stand out is its innovative approaches to teaching combined with an intuitive design, in addition to being free. Von Ahn believes that their success arises from these elements, and their methods are continually evolving.
"Our approach is effective because it’s enjoyable, with multiple aspects that make it feel like a game," he said. "An independent study has proven that using Duolingo for 34 hours grants the same progress as a semester of language learning at university. Our team has also worked tirelessly to improve our teaching strategies and offer a unique teaching experience tailored to each user."
Duolingo’s massive user base offers an enormous advantage to the company, allowing them to collect invaluable data on language trends and demographics. By doing this, they can keep track of the most popular languages (currently English, followed by Spanish and French) and observe fascinating insights such as the fact that "for some reason, Italian women learn English much better than Italian men."
The most recent feature by von Ahn’s team is the Duolingo Test Center, an in-app language test that came about following customer feedback. Aspects of the English language certification market inspired this idea, which he described as "archaic and absurd" due to the high and costly entry barriers. The costs for these standardised tests reach up to $250, and there is a need to travel to test centres, resulting in delay when receiving score results.
"We saw a need to help individuals who wanted to learn languages to increase their job prospects," von Ahn stated. "The Duolingo Test Center, costing $20, solves this problem by providing users with an app which they can use to take the tests, resulting in their scores back in 48 hours!"
Language learning democratization is Luis von Ahn’s lifelong vision. The primary Duolingo app will forever be free, and he believes that education via mobile devices is the key to the future. "Not everyone has access to good education, but in the next ten years, many will own smartphones. We see this as an opportunity to deliver education to everyone," he said.
