‘Fun, free, and effective’: Duolingo’s Sean Colombo explains the app’s soaring popularity in India

Talking astir the genesis of Duolingo, Colombo said that the app was started successful 2012 by Luis von Ahn, the creator of Captcha, and Swiss machine scientist, Severin Hacker. The enforcement said that the company’s absorption connected connection evolved from its applicable interaction connected the earning imaginable of an individual. Unlike different acquisition pursuits that necessitate 1 to implicit courses for occupation applications, connection skills tin instantly heighten occupation prospects crossed assorted sectors, according to Colombo.

He admitted that the pandemic proved to beryllium transformative for the app’s growth. “There was specified a large summation successful request globally that changed however we bash everything, and it started to marque america much of a household name.” This detonation successful the app’s popularity coincided with its societal media beingness gaining traction, further consolidating its presumption successful popular culture.  

Why India is simply a cardinal market

For Duolingo, India represents a important maturation accidental arsenic the state is its fifth-largest market. “India has been increasing organically for a agelong time,” said Colombo, with regular progressive users exceeding a million. Over time, the level has adapted to India’s linguistic diverseness by offering courses successful Hindi, Bengali, and Telugu. The planetary VP said that the Tamil and Punjabi courses are successful the improvement stage.  

When it comes to the strategy for the Indian market, accessibility seems to beryllium Duolingo’s premier focus. Colombo said that considering the prevalence of Android devices successful India, Duolingo has been dedicating resources to optimise Android show and maintaining a tiny app size to scope users successful agrarian areas. “We’re making specified accrued investments successful India,” helium said, including plans to grow their beingness with caller hiring successful Bengaluru for merchandise and engineering positions.

Duolingo entered India successful 2016 arsenic an English learning people for Hindi speakers. The institution aboriginal introduced Bengali successful 2022 and Telugu successful 2023. Today, successful presumption of regular progressive users, India is the 5th largest marketplace for the company. Based connected ranking, English, Hindi, Japanese, French, German/Spanish, and Korean are the astir learned languages connected the app successful India. 78 per cent of Indian learners connected the app are nether 30. According to the company, caller learners successful India are chiefly motivated by factors specified arsenic world studies, nonrecreational growth, encephalon training, connecting with household members who talk overseas languages, and axenic fun. 

When asked what makes Duolingo successful, Colombo said that it stemmed from the app’s user-friendly plan and data-driven improvements. “We person this operating rule to trim complexity,” helium said, adding that the platform’s extended idiosyncratic information has allowed precise tuning of the learning experience. “We person had a batch of information from each our users for truthful agelong and that has helped america tune the merchandise to beryllium truthful bully – it stays amusive and engaging, which is 1 of the biggest challenges of learning languages.”

The app was nary longer constricted to languages arsenic it ventured into Math and Music acquisition pursuing its nationalist listing. Colombo noted that this diversification aligned with the company’s archetypal ngo of cosmopolitan acquisition access. According to the executive, the euphony people exemplifies the company’s innovative approach. Revealing upcoming features, helium said, “We’re going to beryllium moving connected transportation detection truthful you tin play a existent instrumentality and it’ll amusement up and prime it up successful the app.”

AI and connection learning

Recently, Duolingo integrated artificial quality marking a important translation successful its teaching methods. During the conversation, Colombo spoke astir the blase personalisation that goes into the platform. “We person AI models that tin foretell based connected the log of everything you’ve ever done whether you’re going to get a definite workout close oregon wrong.” According to Colombo, this exertion allows the level to make calibrated learning sessions that are “hard capable to beryllium engaging but casual capable to not beryllium discouraging.”

When asked however AI would signifier connection education, Colombo predicted, “A batch of connection learning, if you look a fewer years down the road, is going to beryllium generative AI-based”. The enforcement added that unrecorded conversation-based learning volition go progressively prevalent.

When asked to picture Duolingo’s appeal, Colombo emphasised on 3 cardinal attributes: “Fun, free, and effective.” According to him, this elemental formula, backed by “some of the champion linguists successful the world,” has created a level that maintains acquisition rigour portion engaging users done its gamified interface.