Duolingo is a mobile service that allows users to learn more than 30 different languages for free in the manner of a game. The fact that options are suitable for users of varying ages is one feature that sets this app apart from others. As a result, it is suitable for use by both children and adults.
The service divides the language into its component parts, which are referred to as skills. These include things like food and the weather, as well as nature and health.
What kinds of benefits do people receive from the system? Users can unlock new levels and earn crowns for their achievements when they complete assignments. The courses are brief, and you won’t even need to use your voice most of the time. Therefore, you can consume them while performing other activities, such as waiting in line at the grocery store.
People who have never even considered the possibility of learning a foreign language in the past are drawn to Duolingo because of its gamification, responsiveness, and rewards.
How is started
A professor at Carnegie Mellon University named Luis von Ahn decided in 2009 to improve the lives of millions of language students more enjoyable. He was raised in Guatemala, where it was financially impossible for average citizens to study the English language. Severin Hacker, a post-graduate student, participated in the endeavour because he was certain that “free education can genuinely alter the world.”
They developed the app, but they lacked any prior experience in the field of teaching international languages. As a result, they improved their processes by doing A/B tests and learning from the lessons their failures taught them.
However, making money off of the firm became an important issue. In its early stages, Duolingo was successfully luring investors thanks to its capacity to translate online information on a massive scale. Therefore, individuals worked their way through the assignments and translated the sentences. In addition, businesses pay for the translation services provided by the resource.
Duolingo today
Duolingo attracts users not just because it teaches more languages than Rosetta Stone (which only offers 25) but also because its basic edition, sponsored by advertisements, is free. Rosetta Stone costs its 500,000 subscribers an annual fee of $120. Another competitor, Babbel, based in Berlin, claims that the annual subscription cost of $85 that it charges its more than one million users is what drives its revenue of more than $115 million.
Although only 1.75 per cent of Duolingo’s users pay for the ad-free version (which costs $84 per year), the company’s income reached $36 million in 2017 due to the sheer size of its user base. According to Von Ahn, this number is projected to reach $86 million in 2019 and $160 million in 2020 due to an increase in the number of users who sign up for and pay for the premium app, which will attract them with additional features. The number of staff members will increase from 170 to 200 by the end of the year.
The language-learning app Duolingo has had phenomenal success. It has attracted a total of 500 million learners, has 40 million active users, has 1.5 million premium members, and has booked sales of $190 million in 2020. In the form of the owl Duo, it has become a popular mascot, and it also possesses an original and interesting product in addition to having ambitious objectives for business growth.
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