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Duolingo

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Duolingo
HeadquartersPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Founder(s)Luis von Ahn, Severin Hacker
CEOLuis von Ahn
IndustryOnline education, Professional certification, Translation, Crowdsourcing
ServicesLanguage courses, Duolingo Test Center, Duolingo for Schools
Slogan(s)Free language education for the world
Websiteduolingo.com
Alexa rankPositive decrease 869 (January 2017)[1]
Advertisingyes
Registrationyes
Available in
Multilingual
Current statusOnline

Duolingo is a free language-learning program.[2] Its website and mobile apps can be used on iOS, Android, Windows 8 and 10 operating systems. Duolingo allows people to learn over 106 different language courses in 43 languages.[3][4] Duolingo also has two mobile-only courses for chess, music, and math (previously only on mobile, now available on desktop).[5]

History

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The project was created in 2009 by Carnegie Mellon University Professor Luis von Ahn and Swiss-born graduate student Severin Hacker. Von Ahn explained how expensive learning English was for people in his community in Guatemala. Hacker wanted to give an easy way for language-learning. Duolingo's mascot's real, official name, is Duo Keyshauna Renee Lingo, also known as Duo or Duo the Owl. Their mascot is green because co-founder Severin Hacker hates the color green. The main development language used was Python.

The product was, at first, funded by von Ahn's MacArthur fellowship and a National Science Foundation grant.[6][7] The founders wanted to create Duolingo as a nonprofit organization, but von Ahn decided that this business model was unsustainable. Their early revenue stream, a translatin service by users, was replaced by The Duolingo English Test certification program, advertising, social media, and paid subscription. [8][9]

In October of 2011, Duolingo announced that it had raised $3.3 million from Series A round Funding by Union Square Ventures, Tim Ferriss, and Ashton Kutcher's investing firm A-Grade Investments. [10] Duolingo released a private beta on November 30, 2011, and the waiting list had more than 100,000 people by December 13th. Duolingo was launched to the public on June 19, 2012, at the same time the waiting list had gotten up to 500,000 people.[11][12]

Several months later, in September of that year, Duolingo said that it had earned another $15 million from a Series B funding round by New Enterprise Associates, along with Union Square Ventures.[13]

Products and services

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Courses

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Language courses

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Duolingo has 185 language courses teaching 43 languages.[14]

CEFR based language courses for learners of Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish are available for all users.[15][16][17][18] Additional courses are also available for speakers of English (Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hebrew, High Valyrian, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Klingon, Latin, Navajo, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, Yiddish, Zulu), Chinese (Chinese (Cantonese)), Arabic (Swedish), and Spanish (Catalan, Guarani, Russian, Swedish).[needs update]

Offices and workforce

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Duolingo is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has offices in Seattle, New York,[19] Detroit,[20] Beijing, and Berlin.[21] Duolingo employs around 830 people.[22][23]

References

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  1. ↑ "Duolingo". Ranking. Alexa Internet. Archived from the original on January 9, 2019. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  2. ↑ Jill Duffy (August 6, 2015). "Duolingo". PC Magazine. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  3. ↑ "100M users strong, Duolingo raises $45M led by Google at a $470M valuation to grow language-learning platform". Venture beat. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Duolingo – Learn Languages for Free". Windows phone. Microsoft. Archived from the original on July 2, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  5. ↑ Team, Duolingo (October 11, 2023). "One app to school them all: the expanded Duolingo 🎶 ➗ 🇲🇽". Duolingo Blog. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  6. ↑ "NSF gave Duolingo its wings! | NSF - U.S. National Science Foundation". www.nsf.gov. December 22, 2022. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  7. ↑ #author.fullName}. "Learn a language, translate the web". New Scientist. Retrieved April 21, 2026. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  8. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (June 10, 2015). "Duolingo Raises $45 Million Series D Round Led By Google Capital, Now Valued At $470M". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  9. ↑ https://investors.duolingo.com/static-files/d667f9d1-8f7f-418c-b116-e699a30a9826
  10. ↑ "The Daily Start-Up: Kutcher-Backed Language Site Duolingo Finds Its Voice". Wall Street Journal. June 19, 2012. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  11. ↑ Steven (June 22, 2018). "When Duolingo was young: the early years - VatorNews". Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  12. ↑ University, Carnegie Mellon ($dateFormat). "Press Release: Duolingo.com Users Will Translate Web As They Learn a New Language - News - Carnegie Mellon University". www.cmu.edu. Retrieved 2026-04-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (September 17, 2012). "Duolingo Raises $15M Series B Round Led By NEA, Will Expand To More Languages And To Mobile Soon". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  14. ↑ Matt (February 20, 2023). "The Complete List Of EVERY Duolingo Language". Duoplanet. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved March 4, 2025.
  15. ↑ "Duolingo Launches 148 New Language Courses Expands Access to Popular Languages Including Japanese and Korean". Stock Titan. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Duolingo Launches 148 New Language". Globe News Wire. April 30, 2025. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
  17. ↑ "Duolingo Adds 148 Courses as AI Replaces Human Contractors". Analytics India Magazine. April 30, 2025. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
  18. ↑ "Unofficial Duolingo Course Data". duolingodata.com. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
  19. ↑ Budds, Diana (September 5, 2024). "Inside Duolingo's stunning new NYC office, where employees get to choose where and how they work". Fast Company. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  20. ↑ Perez, Sarah (July 9, 2024). "Duolingo acquires Detroit-based design studio Hobbes". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  21. ↑ "Duolingo Careers". careers.duolingo.com. Retrieved November 3, 2024.
  22. ↑ SeanColombo (September 27, 2024). "I'm not sure, we don…". r/duolingo. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  23. ↑ Patel, Nilay (October 14, 2024). "Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn thinks AI has a lot to teach us". The Verge. Retrieved November 2, 2024.

Other websites

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